A day in the life of Bo Allison

I had Tuesday-Friday off this week, and for most of it I still sent Bo to daycare, so I could get things done around the house.  Like laundry, cleaning the mattress, and just getting some much needed sleep.  However, today I decided to keep her home so we could have some fun mommy daughter time. 

 

The day started at 7:00am with jabbers and signs.   She has gotten really good at signing lately.  Here are some of her favorites:  ALL DONE, PLEASE (her two favorite), school, friends, dog (for Pistol), cat (for Wrigley), drink, change (diaper), sit, (which she actually signs knife for, but I know it's sit because instead of sitting she just signs it at me) and, dad (really she just hits the side of her head for this one, which make both Josh and I laugh).  She responds to a lot more and surprises me with a new one everyday, ones I have been teaching her for months, she suddenly will start signing on a regular basis.  Today she signed eat for the first time. Well enough of that, time to talk about our great day together.

We had breakfast,

We watched My Little Pony and Strawberry Shortcake

We took a bath

Nap time

Library

Playing in the yard

Going to my new favorite store Trader Joe's check out all of their gluten-free products

More playing in the yard

Dinner time

PJ time

Time to read

Basement time

Bed time

Check out more pictures of our day in my google+ photos.  

What a great day, we have one busy active little girl.

 

I can't wait for summer!

Signing Time

While I was in college I took two semesters of American Sign Language (ASL), it was a class I really enjoyed and I wish I would have kept it up because at the time I was really good at it.  Through the years I watched my sister-in-laws teach my nieces and nephew basic sign to communicate the basic needs of their children.  At that point I promised myself that when I had children I would teach them ASL so I could understand their needs before they could forms the words to communicate them.

Within the last year we found out that one of my best friends children was never going to hear on his own and would need to learn to sign to communicate, so from that point I wanted to make sure I didn't just teach Bo the basics but I wanted to learn more and teach her as much as possible.  Therefore, I started doing research and I learned so much more about the benefits of teaching your child to sign at an early age it  reduces tears, tantrums, and frustration, makes learning to talk easier, boosts self-esteem and self-confidence, stimulates intellectual development, and strengthens the parent-child bond.  Not to mention a number of other benefits.

I have never been very good at the English language nor have I ever been able to speak another language, but was quite good at learning and remembering ASL.  Starting to teach Bo this has only reminded me how much I love doing it, and how very much I am enjoying watching Bo communicate with us despite her inability to form real words yet.

We started watching Signing Time on PBS, and I swear each day she uses a new sign we have been practicing and shows us more of what is going on in that adorable little head of hers. 

Walking thur the Zoo

Cute Baby signing