9:28 – Share
Oscar is the quintessential only child. He has no real concept of sharing or waiting for his turn. Two concepts we met frequently on our weekend get-away. We ended up riding the carousel half a dozen times simply because there was little to no wait, unlike his other favorite ride (Dumbo). He was able to wait patiently for a few minutes but anything more than five minutes got him to his boiling point.
I tried to use this as an opportunity to teach him the concept of sharing and your turn/my turn. Sharing is signed by opening both hands with the fingers together meeting at a 90 degree angle. Move your right hand towards the thumb of your left hand and then back to the right. The movement of the hand represents dividing up things that are to be shared. Oscar didn’t repeat this sign, but he’s getting hit with it hard right now, since I’d prefer not to have an over-indulged, non-sharing child.
An example? Here’s Oscar running to meet Mickey. Sweet, huh? Yeah, until you find out that he cut to the head of a line of at least 25 people. People waiting in line to meet Mickey are not nice. Not even to a cute 2 year old bursting at the seams at the thought of meeting a mouse. Just thought you should know.
8:28 – Sister
I know that I’ve already told you that Oscar knows how to sign “sister” (rub your thumb along your right jaw and then take both index fingers and meet them together in front of your chest), but please indulge me. Despite the fact that we already know this sign, we gave it some practice today – and Oscar even said the word “sister” using his words. Anyone know why?
7:28 – Swim
Let me first say that I now get the Disney thing. We never went to Disneyland or World until I was in college, so I truly expected this to be a bit of a wasted experience for Oscar on most levels. Fun, yes, but I thought he’d miss most of it. Wrong.
My somewhat reserved little guy bolted from his stroller in a dead run when he spied Mickey Mouse holding court on Main Street. When I started humming It’s a Small World he didn’t hit me or grunt repeatedly as he usually does when I dare to sing. Instead, he put his hands on either side of my face and rested his forehead on mine. Remarkable, really.
This afternoon we returned to the hotel for a break and I taught him the sign for “swim” (small breast-stroke moves) and he repeatedly signed it back to me. I was so proud of him that I took him swimming despite the fact it was about 55 degrees outside. Alternating between the somewhat heated pool and overheated hot tub bought us two hours of fun before Oscar’s lips turned, and stayed, blue. Even the magic of Disney wasn’t enough to save us from the biggest fit since Vietnam when I forcibly removed him. He’s sleeping it off now before we head back for our final hours at the park. Two days was nowhere near enough.
6:28 – Happy
Jeesh, what a day. First, we made it to Disneyland. Who knew so much went into taking a two year old away from the house for two nights? With all the stuff I packed, we may as well be gone for a month. So much for packing light.
Oscar is still a pretty good traveler, but he’s exerting his independence much more. Makes being in a confined space an absolute joy. Can’t wait to try it on a flight to Dubai.
We didn’t spend a ton of time learning new signs today, but I did teach him “happy”. What else would work here? Happy is signed by making a circular motion with both hands (flat) at chest level, moving down and back up, slightly hitting your chest. He didn’t even attpt this one, but that’s okay. We’ll keep on it.
He’s definitely feeling happy, though. Aside from an expected meltdown when he couldn’t ride Dumbo or the carousel for the third time each, he’s had an extremely happy day. If I had brought my laptop, I could post real pics, but for now all I have is this from the parking lot this morning.
5:28 – Signing
Since I spent the evening packing for our weekend getaway, most of Oscar’s sign language came via our Signing Time DVD tonight. However, I did work with him on the word “signing”, which I’m trying to use with him as a cue (if he can’t say a word, I’m trying to both say and sign “sign” so he knows the two are interchangeable. Not sure he gets it yet, but I think he might. Off to Disneyland in the morning!
4:28 – Yes
Oops, got home too late to post last night, but Oscar came through with another sign. He’s seen this one for a very long time, but has refused to actually use it. Oscar will not answer “yes” or “no” to any question ever posed. Ever. He grunts, he yells, he arches his back. You get the picture . . . but he doesn’t actually say yes or no (or sign them).
Last night, though I did manage to get him to sign “yes” to milk [you sign yes by making a fist with your right hand and bending your wrist down and up (like you're nodding your fist)]. You know how salespeople trick you into buying things by getting you to say yes to little things they know you’ll say yes to (getting you in the habit of responding positively to them) and then hit you with the big sales push? I used this technique on Oscar last night. I knew he wanted milk. I asked him a series of questions to which the answers were all yes. I let him give me his standard grunt that means yes. He did. And then I pushed him to actually give me the sign when I asked him if he wanted milk. Success. Sadly, I think this is only going to work in extreme cases, but for the time being I’m okay with it. Baby steps.
3:28 – Mouse
When I was in college my family had this incredible dog named Sammy. He was the wildest, smartest, sweetest golden retriever ever known to man. When Sammy was a puppy, he came in contact with some tiny little mice and after that experience every time we wanted to make him insane we’d point across the room and yell “mouse.” Sammy would completely lose it, chasing after the invisible mouse. Somehow it never got old.
Oscar is not Sammy, of course, but in celebration of our upcoming trip to Disneyl*nd, I thought I’d introduce him to the term “mouse.” He has a Mickey M0use doll that has been sitting in his grocery cart for the past year or so. Every once in a while he’ll push him around the hall. “Mouse” is signed by brushing the tip of your nose twice with the tip of the index finger of your right hand. Very easy. Oscar picked this one up with no problem at all. I even captured it on tape with some success.
Today’s real reward, though, came when the little guy curled up with me, looked up at me a little shyly and signed “hug.” I love sign language.
2:28 – Fatal Flaw
It never occurred to me that there might be a problem with my 28 signs in 28 days plan. Oscar alerted me to it early today, when he point-blank refused to engage in my attempts to learn new signs. What’s the saying . . . you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it float on its back?
I tried to teach him ”tickle”, which he thought was funny, but wanted none of, and then I thought we’d ease on over to “grandpa.” Now, this should not have been difficult. He knows the sign for “grandma,” which he uses all the time. He also has seen the sign for “grandpa” a number of times. I know he knows how to do this sign. So, I’m trying it over and over, Nanny Norma starts in too, all to no avail.
It becomes clear Oscar wants nothing to do with this today. We tried a number of times and he wasn’t having any of it. Eventually he started a hybrid “grandma” / “grandpa” sign, which appeared to have been borne out of sheer laziness or stubbornness, and I’m certain it was done in disdain. “Grandma” is signed by touching the thumb of your hand to your chin and moving it out in two arch-shaped motions. “Grandpa” is similar, but you touch your thumb to your forehead before moving your hand out in the same two arches. Oscar has decided that if we’re going to press this, he’s going to meet us in the middle. No more signing “grandma” properly. Now, when we say sign “grandma” or “grandpa”, he’s decided that he’ll do the arching gesture, but he’ll do it in the middle of his face – not where his hand should be for either sign – but right in the middle. Why bother with two signs when one sign in the middle gets the point across just as well? I swear, if he knew how to roll his eyes, he would have while he threw his “grandparent” sign at us.
I now see the error in my ways. The 365 projects most bloggers engage in are within their control. Sure, their pictures may suck some days (none of yours, nach), but no one can keep them from their objective, unless someone breaks their camera. My error was in not taking into consideration that my project is entirely dependent on Oscar’s willingness to learn what I’m trying to teach him. Sometimes that is an uphill battle.
1:28 – Hug Me
Turns out one really needs a video camera to capture signs. Who knew? Taking the lead from a couple of you, tonight’s word was “hug”, which I tried to turn into “hug me”, but Oscar refused to go there. He did, however, latch onto “hug” within two seconds, which led to a very enjoyable hour in which it seemed like hugging was apparently something he had wanted to do a lot of. We’re pretty touchy feely around here, so I’m hopeful that he hasn’t been feeling like I’ve been a little chintzy on the hugs. I think tomorrow’s word will be “tickle.”
A cross section of hug (which you do by simply crossing your arms in front of your chest). And, just to share, behind Oscar was my weekend’s project. An attempt to organize the three million toys that have invaded Oscar’s room. I’m quite proud of it – it was in a million pieces, which I put together all by myself. I even decorated the his and her globes – little rhinestones for each city Oscar and Etta have visited or lived in (I just marked Addis for Etta for now). I’m hoping theirs will be as encrusted with little jewels as my bigger globe is in my office.
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Etta’s Hats
Where I’ve Been
