Ashtyn's Signs

Ashtyn loves to sign. She loves watching signing time, she loves when we sign to her, and she loves trying new signs. She sure tries, but she can't quite get all of them and she almost always does every sign with both hands. It's really cute. Here are some of the signs she does.

Please. You rub your flat palm over your heart in a circle. She does with both hands and if it's something she really wants, she does it very enthusiastically.

More. You pinch your fingertips together on both hands and tap them together. She used to only use her pointer fingers (which is the sign for owie), which was really cute, but now she pushes her pointer finger and thumb together as hard as she can. It's super cute. She uses this one all the time.

Hat. You pat your head. She loves hats and she loves the sign for hat.

Bird. You put your hand in front of your mouth and make a beak with your fingers. Ashtyn does it with her hand facing her face (and sometimes even accidentally pokes her eye) but her attempt is really cute. Ashtyn really loves birds right now.

Flower. You pinch your fingertips together and bring them to your nose like you're smelling a flower. Ashtyn, again, does with her pointer finger and thumb pressed together, but it's cute. She also really loves flowers right now (I think mainly because she knows how to sign it).

All done. You turn both hands back and forth up in the air. She does this when she wants to be done with something (like if I'm clipping her nails or changing her diaper but am not actually finished yet) or mainly when she wants out of her chair.

Red. You use your pointer finger and draw it from your lips down your chin. I think red is her favorite color. She knows how to identify it and always does the sign when she sees it.

Green, yellow, blue, purple. You sign the first letter of the word and shake it. For all of these, she pinches her pointer finger and thumb together and shakes that. Sometimes she'll get closer on yellow or blue. Sometimes.

Orange. You squeeze your fist like you're squeezing an orange under your chin. This is for both the color and the fruit. She loves this one. Sometimes she'll do it when there isn't any orange around.

Apple. You bend your pointer finger and turn our knuckle on your chin. Ashtyn actually gets pretty close with this one. Whenever she sees an apple or a picture of an apple, she'll say it and sign it. She loves to eat whole apples and actually gets the majority of it eaten (over the course of a few hours).

Cheese. You rub your flat palms together. This is one of the first signs Ashtyn learned (and she's really good at it), because she loves, loves, loves cheese. We usually eat apples and cheese together as a snack.

Water. You sign W and tap it against your chin. She doesn't make the W, but she taps her hand against her chin and says a word that sort of sounds like water, so I almost always know what she means. She says it often and loves to drink water.

Bread. You make a fist and your other hand, flat, cuts the bread. Ashtyn doesn't quite get the mechanics of this one, but she loves to try. She does this the most often when we're in church waiting for the sacrament.

Baby. You cradle your arms and 'rock' the baby. This is one of Ashtyn's favorite signs (and words). She loves babies and baby dolls and pictures of babies. She does this sign all the time, even if there isn't actually a baby around.

Outside. You open and close your hand while moving it 'outside'. Ashtyn doesn't go outside tons right now, since it's freezing, but she loves looking out the window and when it was warm, she loved going outside (that was how Ben's dad got her to go to him at first). She's actually pretty good at signing this.

Hot. You cup your mouth, then turn your hand away. Ashtyn loves the sign for hot. She will stand in front of the stove at Ben's parents house and sign it over and over again. Anytime she sees steam or something similar to steam or sees me cooking, she'll sign it. She'll also do it when I give her food, whether it's hot or not. Sometimes when she first was learning it, we'd go outside and she'd sign it (she didn't know that cold was different than hot).

Cold. You make fists and shake your arms. Ashtyn also loves this one. Anytime we go outside, she signs it (I think because we taught her to, not because she's actually that cold). She does it sometimes with a closed fist and sometimes with her hands flat and open. Either way, it's cute.

Warm. You cup your hands over your mouth and then open your fingers. Ashtyn does this most often when standing in front of the heating vent.

Food/eat. You scrunch up your fingertips and mime like you're putting food in your mouth. Ashtyn usually does this only after I ask if she wants to eat or wants food. She gets really excited though. She loves eating.

One. Same as normal life, you hold up your pointer finger. Ashtyn can do one and five, but she can't get the numbers inbetween yet.

The letter O. You make an O with your hand. Ashtyn loves signing O, whenever she sees one. She scrunches up her hand into a fist, but it's close and really, really cute. She knows some other letters (A, B, D, H, K, M--sometimes, a lot of times, M is also W--, O, R, S, T, W, and Y), but other than signing B with me sometimes, she doesn't ever sign the others. She loves when I sign them though.

She also loves to copy new signs, especially while watching Signing Time in the morning. Some of her favorites are old, sports, football, ball, walk, and march.

I'm sure I'm missing some here. She's learning so fast and loves to move, including her hands. I think she makes up signs, because sometimes she'll do something that looks like a sign but I have no idea what it means. I really want to teach her more signs, especially for food and animals (food, so when she says please maybe I'll know what she means and animals because animals are her favorite thing). That means I'll have to learn them first, though.

It's really fun to be learning these and to see how much Ashtyn loves learning them. I know how good it is for kids to learn sign language, but I think it's also really good for the parents.

This is definitely something I want to keep doing with all our subsequent kids.