Sign like a celebrity, baby
Filed Under Stuff | August 31, 2007
While it’s unlikely that your little one will be going on playdates with Shiloh Jolie-Pitt or Gwyneth Paltrow’s little Moses, there’s no reason your baby can’t sign just like a celebrity tot.
Local entrepreneur Serena Lohan has created Canada’s first baby signing DVD. Mimic Me, is an instructional DVD that makes it easy and fun for parents to communicate with their little ones using American Sign Language. There are lots of classes around town to help your baby learn how to sign, but the DVD allows you to learn in your own time, around your baby’s schedule. It’s also great for younger siblings, who tend to get less class time than first borns, and big sisters and brothers tend to be very enthusiastic signing teachers.
Signing with your baby can help alleviate their frustration around telling you what they want (which is why one of the most popular signs is “more”), and encourages early verbal language, self-esteem, larger vocabularies and better social skills. And who wouldn’t want all that for their babe?
Mimic Me is packed with over 100 ASL signs, sing & sign songs, story time with sign language, an original theme song by the ever-popular Marnie of Music with Marnie, plus a handy reference guide of signs for parents.
And it brings you one degree closer to the glamourous life. Lohan’s DVD was part of the 2007 Academy Awards gift baskets, which means Angelina Jolie, Gwen Stefani, Gwenyth Paltrow and Cate Blanchete all got a copy. Plus at the pre-party SWAG event at the Golden Globes, Mimic Baby CDs were snatched up by celebrity mamas such as Marcia Cross, Tia Carrere, Angela Bassett, and Joely Fisher.
Mimic Baby Sign Language: www.mimicbaby.com
New today on our list of things to do around town that aren’t affected by the strike:
What about going on some ethic adventures? You can explore Chinatown, the night market is running until September 9th. Other ethnic neighborhoods to explore include Little India and Little Italy on Commercial Drive. Who knows, you may even get your kids to try new, exciting and different foods – or not.
Dinosaur fans will want to visit the Pacific Museum of the Earth in the Geological Science Centre at UBC. There are lots of rocks and fossils, but the star attraction is the 80 million-year old Lambeousaurus skeleton.
2 Responses to “Sign like a celebrity, baby”
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Let us know what you think or share your great finds with us so we can share them with other Vancouver mothers!
FYI it’s really important if you are going to sign with your baby that you ALWAYS speak along with the signs. It is true that signing can reduce some communication frustrations before your child has developed an expressive vocabulary. Studies have shown however that if you don’t always speak as you sign (important both for your child’s understanding and expressive language) that language development can actually be delayed.
On a similar theme (language development) but different topic, readers might be interested in this link
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2007/08/07/babyvideos.html?ref=rss
I haven’t actually read the research yet but this article is interesting and apparently the interview is worth a listen.
To the previous poster, Bev. You stated you did not read the research. If you had, you’d see that this is not what the article is talking about. It’s saying that videos are bad for babies and toddlers.
It’s better to teach signs directly to your baby instead of your baby relying on videos to learn.
It really doesn’t matter if you use your voice consistently or not with the signs. Our son has used baby sign language since he was 5 months old, and has been using speech since age 7 months.
We sometimes used the signs with voice and sometimes not. It really doesn’t matter, as the baby hears speech all day long.
Please don’t confuse other parents with improper information, especially if you haven’t read it yet.
Our son is now 6 years old, has a reading level of a 3rd grader, and has amazing vocabulary and speech. We are not the only ones with successes like this. :-)
Sincerely,
MJ Williams
http://babies-and-sign-language.com