Tag Archives: American Sign Language

Potty Training and Beyond!

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Oh, potty training.
I get asked what the American Sign Language sign is for POTTY a lot in my baby sign language classes. Some parents are starting earlier rather than later, with their newborns and babies, like my mom-friend Lindsay Coulter, who writes the Queen of Green blog for the David Suzuki Foundation. Check out her son, Wyn, on the potty at 4 months old!

The sign for POTTY should be added to the conversation whenever babies and kids use the TOILET or POTTY -it’s the same sign for both. The visual cue (sign) as well as your spoken language (word) creates two opportunities for your kids to learn and follow your prompting about potty training. To sign POTTY, make a fist and tuck your thumb underneath your index finger, and then twist your whole hand at the wrist sideways few times.

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Newborns to toddlers, every child needs to be potty trained at some point. I trained both of my two kids at around age 2 1/2. One was easier than the other, but for both it took between 4-6 months until they were diaper free in the daytime.

Nighttime was a different story

Potty training takes patience. Even once my daughter mastered daytime potty training, we went through many, many, many months of nighttime wetness. It seems that little bodies that know how to go to the bathroom during the day don’t necessarily wake up at night to go pee. My son’s body had a long go of it, he was 7 years old before his body was automatically waking up to get himself to the bathroom. So for both kids I spent many nights washing sheets and remaking beds.

In the dark.

While my naked toddler sat on the floor shivering.

My history with nighttime potty training is looooong and wet. And I will admit, it made me quite cranky to change wet sheets in the dark while also trying to soothe my wimpering, shivering, cold child (and avoid the pee myself!).
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I thought I was so smart when I started double-making the bed: 1 plastic sheet + 1 fabric sheet + a 2nd plastic sheet + a 2nd fabric sheet. When I got the warbly call from their bedroom that they were wet, I’d pull off the top sheet and plastic sheet, get my kid redressed and back into bed, and throw the wet sheets in the laundry. Not bad, but my genius idea exhausted me; I still had a full set of sheets to wash in the morning, and then re-make the bed each day. Every day. And those plastic sheets were crinkly and made my kids sweat like crazy.

I wish I had been as smart as my friends, Liz and Amanda! They’ve created a brilliant solution: PeapodMats -a soft, terry-cloth mat that doesn’t slip or leak and goes ON TOP OF your child’s sheets. It absorbs and locks in the wetness within its waterproof backing. Yes, that means all you have to do is pull off the mat and throw that in the wash.

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Your sheets and mattress stay dry.

No wet sheets, no remaking the bed, only one thing to wash. Simple, soft, and effective. And it doesn’t take away the sensation of being wet on the top, so kids’ bodies still learn that they need to wake up. I love them for nighttime sleeping, and also for daytime playing, strolling, and sitting.
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PeapodMats are eco-friendly, washable, waterproof and useful (which I know my friend Lindsay will love)! And Liz and Amanda have given me one to giveaway!

Enter to WIN A PEAPODMAT of your own. Contest ends June 7th, 2014.

More info about Peapodmats and what they’re made of HERE
Photos by Tracy Paterson Photography

The Colours of Sports Day

Education, Parenting, Sign Language, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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Every year my school-aged kids have Sports Day, and I have to admit, I love it. I have vivid memories of my own sports days as a kid – I absolutely loved the running, the games, the parade, the 3-legged race, the relays, and admittedly, I loved the doughnuts and hot dogs. All that still happens at my kids’ school now (including the doughnuts!), and it’s like a fantastic jump back in time for me. Literally. There’s a hilarious Parents-Only Sack Race & 3-Legged Race at the beginning to kick off the kids’ day.

Another big part of Sports Day is the COLOURS (yes, in Canada we spell it with a U, bear with me, my south of the border friends!) Each year the kids are assigned to a team with a team COLOUR. For me, I was always on the orange team, which was almost impossible to find clothes in, of course, but my mom did her best to make sure I had one tee shirt with some scrap of orange for sports day. Now that I’m the mother, it’s my job to dig through the dresser drawers for the right tee and shorts to match my kids’ team colour, which changes each year. Sigh.

You should know that I refuse to buy
clothes just for one day. I won’t.

And for some reason, neither of my kids has EVER been on the blue team. Why not? Blue clothes are stacked aplenty in our closets. And why hasn’t there ever been a pink or purple team? That would be handy for the two entire years my daughter refused to wear anything that wasn’t pink or purple. Instead, I’ve repeatedly had to find green, yellow and red, which are unfavoured, scarce clothing colours in my house.

Last year, Ian was on the red team, and I managed to find a red-ish tee in his closet, yay! But it was a scorching weather week, and as Sports Day edged closer I realized he would need a hat to stay cool and protected. That morning, digging through the front closet yielded a cargo green hat. Green! Dagnabbit, I needed something red. After some thought, I decided I’d paint the hat red. I know, I know, that is a pretty silly idea, but I was determined to use what we had. I didn’t have time to paint the whole hat, so I thought about something that could make the hat appear more red than it was, at least from the front, and I remembered something Ian loved that could ensure the hat was a success and worn for Sports Day.

TAH DAH!
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Not bad for an 8am paint job.

Sports Day has rolled around again, and Ian informed me that he is not on the red team again, but on the green team this year. Green.
Of course.

What lengths have you gone to for Sports Day colours?

For more COLOURS, check out these Signs of the Month on my website
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No Means No

Education, Parenting, Sign Language, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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Kids have all the time in the world to keep asking you something even when you’ve already said NO. When I’m busy or tired, I often have far less resources -time, energy, patience, diligence- than my kids, so they’ve figured out that pestering can sometimes work. When they really want something, their enthusiasm and excitement for immediate gratification can eclipse my voice. So, saying NO and meaning it is a message I am always working on with my kids. Adding in a firm NO in American Sign Language gives my verbal answers a big visual punch to let my kids know I mean business.

My kids are 4 years apart, so when my son came along, I already had a very sign-savvy preschooler to help me teach signs to her baby brother. We started right away, and she loved signing our beginner signs like MILK and BATH and ALL DONE. My son is now 8, and the ASL signs I find myself using with him and his sister are more command-oriented since they are fully functioning people in the world: STOP, YES, NO, WAIT, NO, PLEASE, THANK YOU, NO… (did I already mention NO?).

No means No.

The other day after school at the playground, I noticed my son, Ian, and his friend were having a wild wood chip fight, scooping up piles of wood chips from the ground and throwing them at each other. They were smiling and giggling and having a blast, and neither boy seemed to consider what I saw to be massively dangerous, but I knew their fun could change quickly and I called his name. He was too far away for me to yell out a full command, so I just signed NO when he looked at me. He knew we already had a strict rule about not throwing wood chips but had forgotten in that moment of fun.

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Of course, right then as Ian looked to face me, his friend tossed a huge bunch of wood chips right at him, and my son quickly bent down for ammunition to retaliate. I called his name again and signed NO once more as he held an armful of wood chips, ready to fly. My face meant business and he saw that. My hand was also speaking loud and clear, backing up my voice and my face. So he dropped the pile of wood chips and stepped away, but I could tell he was very annoyed at losing not one but two wood chip battles that day -with me and his friend.

It all ended there and I didn’t need to explain myself or talk to him. I signed GO PLAY, and he ran off with his pal to the monkey bars. I felt relieved that I could shut down the wood chip fight without embarrassing either of us, or his friend, with just a call of his name and one ASL sign.

No means no (unless you say yes).

 

See more Signing Babies Sign of the Month
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Meyer Lemon Pancakes and Homemade Lemon Syrup

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My husband brought home a bag of gorgeous, organic Meyer LEMONS, which are in season now (January-March). Meyer lemons are thought to be a cross between lemons and mandarin oranges, so you can imagine they have a sweetness to them in addition to the usual tang you find in lemons. Meyer lemons are also juicier, more tender and have a thinner peel than regular lemons. Swooning!
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These pancakes were INCREDIBLE -fluffy, a little sweet but tangy from the lemons, they cooked like a dream. I did some research to find recipes to use up these beauties and decided breakfast was the way to start: Lemon Pancakes amped up with the tangy sweetness of the Meyer lemons.
BUT WAIT!
Before I started on the pancakes, I made some Homemade Lemon Syrup from this recipe using freshly-squeezed Meyer Lemon juice. This quick and easy homemade syrup is full on lemony-goodness that makes a perfect complement to the lemon pancakes. In fact, I’m pretty sure they’re dating now.

Homemade Lemon Syrup

1 1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup water
peel of 1 lemon, in large chunks

Place sugars and water in a medium saucepan. Heat over med-high heat, stirring occasionally. Add lemon peels and bring to a boil. Let boil for 2-3 minutes for thin syrup, 4-5 minutes for thicker syrup.
Recipe adapted from jensfavoritecookies blog
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Lemon Pancakes

1 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup icing sugar (or 1/3 cup granulated sugar)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup plain yogurt or sour cream
1/3 cup milk
zest of 2 lemons
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
3 Tbs butter, melted
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In another bowl mix together the remaining ingredients. Pour this wet mixture into the dry and stir quickly, only until just blended. The batter will be thick and bubbly. Pour about 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake onto a preheated hot griddle. Cook until bubbles come up and other side is golden brown. Flip over and cook for 1 more minute.

Serve with Lemon Syrup (above).

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Recipe adapted from “The Joy of Cooking”

YUM!

Here’s how to sign LEMON in American Sign Language.
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What do you do when life brings you LEMONS?

I Heart Chocolate

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Purdyshearts
Oh boy, it’s almost Valentine’s Day, and I met a woman yesterday whose family is partly responsible for bringing me some of my fondest memories of Valentine’s Day as a child. Her name is Karen Flavelle, and she is the owner of Purdy’s Chocolates in Vancouver, a company that currently ranks in the top 50 in Canada to work for. Karen spoke at my mom’s group, mCentred, and she lit up our boardroom full of moms telling us about growing up as the daughter of Purdy’s owner since 1963, Charles Flavelle. Now, as a mother of 3 grown kids, she explained how she and her husband managed to raise them while also lighting their own work worlds in business and finance on fire (lots of planning, teamwork and strategizing).

Apparently, chocolate didn’t play much into her own childhood unless they had parties and dinner guests, but if she and her siblings helped out at the factory on Saturdays, they were allowed to eat the chocolate at the end of the day -tummy aches usually followed. After university, Karen didn’t start out her business life working for her father, but she did work her way up the corporate ladders at General Mills and Cara Operations in Toronto before purchasing Purdy’s from her dad in 1997. She’s been hands on since then while also embodying one of the most dynamic and business savvy women in Canada. It was such a pleasure to meet her yesterday and hear her honest account of both the difficulties and triumphs of being a woman in a predominantly-male field. One member of our group asked her about the proverbial “glass ceiling” in the workplace for women.

Karen replied that the idea of a glass ceiling is directly related to how you look at problems and that a ceiling describes something you cannot control. She prefers to look at difficulties as hurdles. Hurdles are just obstacles to get past: you figure out the best way to do that -over, under, around, whatever -and keep making your way.

Now that’s what I call great advice!

Karen brought us 2 of Purdy’s new artisan Single Origin dark chocolate bars from Peru (slightly fruity, intense chocolate flavour) and Ecuador (roasty, more fudgy flavour) to taste test, and also some Himalayan Pink Salt Caramels to sample. I was swooning!
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So yes, I got my chocolate fill yesterday in that boardroom with Karen Flavelle, and also some amazing nuggets of wisdom from a fellow mom and business woman. But I’m still putting together some little bundles of love for my kids for Valentine’s day -I like to give them a small jar to fill with some candies & those beautiful foil-wrapped Purdy’s heart chocolates, as well as a new book. After school, we’ll come home and eat some chocolate and read by the fire before (a super-healthy) dinner. I can’t wait!

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Here’s Karen and I signing the ASL sign for CHOCOLATE:
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Thanks, Karen! (And I think I owe some credit to my mom for passing on her love for Purdy’s chocolate at Valentine’s Day, too!)

Happy Valentine’s Day to you, and your lovies!

Year of the Horse (and Noodles!)

Education, Parenting, Sign Language, , , , , , , , , , , ,

My husband is half-Chinese, and our daughter was the first grandchild born into his side of the family so we were all very excited to celebrate Ella’s first Lunar New Year when she was not quite one year old. I didn’t know much about Chinese culture, but during my pregnancy I had looked at the characteristics of being born under the sign of the HORSE (which is also the Chinese zodiac sign we just came into this week for 2014). By New Year’s, Ella was eating solids, and her proud Grandma made an incredible feast of traditional Chinese dishes meant to bring us good luck and fortune in the new year. One of the dishes Grandma made that Ella could eat was NOODLES.

Long noodles [mee-yan]

Traditionally, long NOODLES symbolize longevity and are served uncut. If the NOODLES are cut, it symbolizes cutting your longevity short. Only I didn’t know that -all I knew was that mealtime usually meant me sitting next to the high chair helping Ella keep bite-sized foods on her tray and hopefully into her mouth. Uh-oh.

Ella was hungry by the time we arrived for our New Year’s dinner that night, and I had plunked her right into the high chair as Grandma brought her a dish of NOODLES to get started on. I reached across to start cutting Ella’s NOODLES and I heard a gutteral, “Nooooooooooo…. don’t cut the NOODLES!” as she spied me while heading back into the kitchen for more food. My husband chuckled at the puzzled look on my face, and I was informed about the symbolic nature of long NOODLES.

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Oh dear. I had cut some of the NOODLES before she managed to eat any. I quickly scooped up the short NOODLES and replaced them with fresh, long ones. And against my better judgement and experience as a mother, I let Ella eat the rest of the long NOODLES, and she was in heaven! Anytime Mom lets food be fun is great, of course.

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I sat nice and close to supervise the eating, and we giggled a lot together as she manoeuvered the long, slippery NOODLES. My husband took these photos to remind me of the time I almost blew Ella’s first Chinese New Years (there are some short noodles on her bib, but we picked up the rest and replaced them with ones that would ensure a long, healthy life)!

Somehow along the way, her nickname became NOODLE, and we still affectionately call her that today.

Oh, mealtime is always an adventure!

Here’s Ella today doing the ASL sign for NOODLES:
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And the ASL sign for HORSE:
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Happy Lunar New Year to your family from ours!

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Shoe Crazy

Parenting, Sign Language, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Today got silly. After walking my son into his classroom this morning and kissing him goodbye (that’s not the silly part, he still willingly kisses me in public), he called out, “Shoe, take Mommy back outside!”. I laughed and said, “Oh nooooooo…”. Then I started to shake my right shoe towards the door and hop, mimicking that my shoe was, in fact, taking me outside by force. Ian giggled like crazy, and his teacher looked at me like I was actually crazy. Sorry, Ms. S, no time to explain!

ImageBut here’s what happened. Fifteen minutes prior to that exchange at school, I had asked Ian if he could find my other running shoe within the mountain of shoes and boots by the front door, while I searched for it in our equally disastrously full hall closet. Once found at the back of the closet, I pretended the shoe had been willfully hiding on me. “Look, Ian! Now it’s trying to escape and not join the other one on my foot!” I said, as I pretend-wrestled the shoe on. That lead to big giggles on the floor in our hallway. Then Ian took my lead and commanded the shoe to sit still while I tied it up, which brought on some full-on belly laughs. He continued to command the shoe to make me hop, jump up and down, and finally head outside to go to school with him. 

A truly silly moment that came out of nowhere.

I love those silly moments. Mindful parenting is no mean feat, and I learn on the job everyday. Ups and downs, hills and valleys, keep walking. But those silly, giggling moments together are what keep me feeling light in my heart. Truthfully, I will admit that I have days where it seems like there’s a disproportionate amount of seriously grumpy parenting moments verses silly, fun, and creative ones. And I think that’s part of why I write this blog, to keep myself accountable and to remember to BE silly and enjoy the lighter moments of parenting. My kids know the ASL sign for SHOES, and I don’t have to say it out loud when I want them to get their shoes on. I just call their name to catch their eye and sign it. Except when we pretend my shoe is controlling me, of course. Then we just giggle.

 

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Try using the ASL sign for SHOES when you are heading outside. The visual cue of signing SHOES while you say, “time to get our shoes on” can help kids of any age learn a very common routine, and stay on-task, without you even needing to use your voice.

Please tell me I’m not the only silly mom?

Garden Variety Family Walk

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We wanted to venture outside today beyond our soggy backyard, so my hubbie & kids headed back to the UBC Botanical Gardens -our first visit since August. Earlier this week one of my returning signing clients had asked me about the gardens after reading my summer canopy walk post, and I remembered we still hadn’t gone back to check out the cultivated gardens. The canopy walk is now closed for the season, but the forest trails and formal gardens are all open and admission is FREE now until spring! Lots of great exploring for little feet. Here are some photos from our day visiting the cultivated side of the gardens, which were still showing lots of colour and activity despite being November.
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My kids loved seeing all the veggies & plants growing in the huge Food Garden area:
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Ian chomped on some kale, literally (oops! we realized too late not to pick!):
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Have you ever seen a cultivated fruit tree growing flat against a structure? This is the side view of a full apple tree: (how did he get more kale?)
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We decided it was WAY more fun to read the Alpine Garden’s trough plant names out loud like they were spells from Harry Potter…
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…Scutellaria PONTICA!!
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There’s also a beautiful outdoor amphitheatre:
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Multilayerd stone & cement walls surround the amphitheatre:
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My daughter was inspired to show us the duck calls she learned at outdoor ed camp this week:
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To end, we raced the Labrynth around and around to the end -no skipping over lines!
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BYE-BYE!

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Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow…

Parenting, Sign Language, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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My little girl left yesterday to go to outdoor education camp with her grade 6 class. Okay, she’s not actually that little, I know, and she’s more than ready for a week away with her friends and teachers from school. But I was a bit teary and feeling tender as we pulled up to the school and schlepped her gear to the waiting bus. She saw my moist eyes and shot me a wide-eyed look of despair: please, please don’t gush and embarrass me with a million kisses and hugs, Mom! But that’s all I wanted to do.

I wanted to squeeze her until the very last minute before she got on that school bus.

I held my enthusiasm in as much as I could. I know she needed me to send her off strong. I took a deep breath and gathered my reserves. Suddenly I had a vivid memory of the first day I took her to daycare at 2 1/2 years old. She was a very social kid and was interested in the new toys and teachers that greeted us. I was encouraged to stay and play for a little while but then wisely told to move on without a lot of goodbyes or delays (those teachers were so smart!). It was terribly difficult to leave her, but I knew I had to go. I looked her in the eye as I stood at the door and signed “I Love You” before heading outside. I did that each and every time I left her at daycare, and it very slowly got easier to turn away and head out the door. Some days she cried when I left -tears would literally pour out of her eyes as she signed “I love You” back to me. But some days she didn’t cry. Some days I would have to call her name to catch her eye as she ran in and began playing with another little friend. But either way, soon enough we created a routine that always included saying “I Love You” in sign language before separating, and it was all ours.

Back at the school bus yesterday, I gave her a long hug and told her I loved her, and to enjoy every minute of camp and to tell me all about it when she got back. Then, because it was time for her to go, she turned around and started walking away, but before she got too far, I called her name and signed, “I Love You”. She smiled and signed it back to me, and I felt so much better.

LeeAnn&Kids

Ella signing “I Love You” with me & her brother, 2010

HATS (not) Optional

Education, Parenting, Sign Language, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

HAT in ASL www.growingsigns.com

I love hats!

In summer, I know wearing a hat is the best way to protect myself from overheating, sun exposure, and glare. Same goes for winter, but for warmth and keeping dry (hats also really help on days when my hair could use some extra TLC but there’s no time to give it any).  But my family hasn’t always shared my same enthusiasm for wearing hats.

My first baby was born in early springtime, and by June, the rays of summer came hot & heavy upon us as we strolled and took in summer fun around town. Besides always using the stroller’s built-in sun shade, I remember popping lots of cute bonnets and brimmed hats into my diaper bag for her. By August, as she got older & more dextrous, I remember lots of cute bonnets and brimmed hats being tossed out of the stroller -she did NOT like wearing a hat.

Every time she’d pop her hat off, I’d pop it back on and sign HAT. Every day, over and over. Sometimes I’d try really roomy hats that I’d hope she wouldn’t feel being stealthily put on her from behind…no good. But I kept trying. HAT. We wear our HAT. Mommy’s putting on her HAT. Here’s your HAT.

The following summer when she was one, I found myself repeating HAT a lot: Let’s put on our HAT! Even though she was talking, I’d realized that it really helped to use signs along with my verbal words for commands or, shall we say, emphatic statements. One day, after weeks and weeks of relentless hat tossing (why do babies never tire of some things?) and HAT signing (well, I’m pretty stubborn too), I was almost blown off my own feet. As we were leaving the house for our daily jaunt, the sunlight almost blinded us through the open door: “Mommy, I need HAT!” Wait, what? She was reminding me!

Now, I keep hats for all of us by the front door and back-ups in the car. My kids know wearing their hat is part of being outside, and thankfully, you can find cool-looking kids’ hats everywhere now. Luckily my son has been more amenable from a young age to wearing a hat and doesn’t fight me on it (there’s other battles, don’t worry).

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Yesterday, our family strolled down Fourth Avenue in the blazing sun and took in the annual Khatsahlano Street Party music festival, all in our straw hats.

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Don’t give up if your baby resists your efforts to wear a HAT. Try signing HAT every time you see hats, wear hats, pick up hats, put on hats. As I’ve realized is true with all parenting efforts, including teaching signs: consistency and repetition are key. And it helps if you wear a hat, too!

How to Sign HAT in American Sign Language

The American Sign Language sign for HAT is tapping at the top of your head with a flat hand to indicate where a hat is worn.