My little copy cat

I think my son is trying to sign to me. bThe sign I have been most consistent with is "all done" (where you flip your hands over a few times). He has been practicing this movement - but it isn't at the "right" time. For example, this morning at 5:30 am when he wanted out of bed he started trying very hard to flip his hands and communicate with me. Last night at 11ish when I changed his diaper for the night he looked like he was trying to do the sign for light. I was VERY tempted to turn on the light for him - but that would not help him sleep. It's pretty exciting to see him start figuring things out.

On another note, I am reading the Baby Read Aloud book. It covers a lot of things I already know (because I read about this stuff incessantly). I am still struck by the difference in the number of words kids from different backgrounds are exposed to. It really is a great advantage to have a mom who is a blabbermouth and has a somewhat sophisticated vocabulary. I like the Jim Trelease quote in the book

"If the child has never heard the word, the child will never say the word; and if you have not heard it nor said it, it's pretty tough to read it and to write it."

Another little ditty from the read aloud guru (my parents had his books when we were little):

If your child is old enough to talk to, she is old enough to be read to. It's the same langauge.

I am preaching to the choir here. It really makes we want to support organizations like First Book. This organization helps put books in the hands of children who normally wouldn't have any books. You can easily support them by making and sending a card for Dr. Seuss's birthday so that Random House will donate books to children. You have to do this BEFORE MAY 1st though!