If you are a mother or father I am sure you look forward to the day when your children are potty trained.  We don’t begrudge our children needing to wear nappies such as MCNs, terry nappies or disposables for the first two years or so of their lives, but they are still smelly to deal with and can be messy to clean up.  Plus, it is nice when your child is able to communicate with you more, and that’s a big deal in itself and one of the reasons that gentle parenting likes to take it easy with potty training so that children aren’t put off communicating with us.

One thing that is really catching on lately is baby hand signs.  Babies can actually learn to make hand signs long before they can say the words, so you are able to start comunicating distinct actions or words with your child before he or she is verbal.  This is not a process to try and speed up cognitive understand or to try and make them speak faster – although, this may happen – it is emphasised that doing baby sign language with your child is about the communication and the joy of communicating with your baby.

Now just say that your baby is making a squatting position when he or she is needing to do a pee.  When they are walking, you can start making the hand sign when you can see that they are doing a pee.  You can also reinforce it by saying “pssspssssss, yes, you are doing a pee!” or whatever word you intend to use.  If you use terry nappies they are quick to undo if you want to start putting the potty under baby when you can see that they need to go. After a while they will catch on that you make this sign when they do a pee.  Now sooner or later they will start making the sign back to you.  So you may find that this helps with potty training enormously, because one of the first steps in potty training is for your child to communicate when he or she needs to go.  Using a hand sign lessens the need for the child to tell you with words that they need to go.  But again, remember, the emphasis is on communication – never coercion or hurrying your child beyond his or her developmental stage.  Above all have fun using baby hand signs!

As signing with babies becomes more and more popular, it’s only natural that parents will turn to the internet for advice about which baby sign language DVD to use. After all, learning a hands-on lanuage like American Sign Language is difficult (at best) to learn from a book. Who knows if you’re making the gestures correctly? Watching a pro teach sign language on DVD is the best way to learn!

Every DVD series tackles sign language in its own unique way, so parents should definitely explore multiple DVDs to decide which suits their style. Baby sign language is a beautiful language, and it’s amazing to discover how much they have to tell you before they learn to talk!

1. Signing Time
Learning sign language with Signing Time is a treat. The series stars co-creator Rachel Coleman, her daughter Leah, and her nephew, Alex. The trio sings, dances and signs through songs, rhymes, and animated segments. Each segment features clips of real kids using sign language so little viewers can identify with what they’re watching. The key to Signing Time is fun.

The Signing Time series consists of, at the time of this writing: 34 DVDs, 3 board books, 8 flash card sets, 12 music CDs, and a number of related products, like Practice Time DVDs and Playtime Kits.

Here at BabySignsDVD.com, we’re partial to Signing Time, as it is the baby sign language DVD series that we’ve had the most success with ourselves.

2. My Baby Can Talk
This award-winning set of three DVDs is a nice way to learn baby sign language. The music is soothing, and the narration calming. The series is fun, but in a low-key way. Puppets are used extensively, which little ones can really enjoy. Priced reasonably, My Baby Can Talk is a great addition to the library.

3. Baby Einstein
Many parents know of Baby Einstein and the many, many products the company produces. The My First Signs DVD from Baby Einstein does not have a whole lot going for it other than the massive brand recognition that Disney has cultivated for Baby Einstein. The video is only 27 minutes long, and covers only 20 signs. It does star Marlee Matlin, so it’s got that going for it, but we can’t recommend this as a sole resource for baby sign language – it simply does not cover sign language in meaningful enough way.

A guest article submitted to BabySignsDVD.com

When I first found out I was pregnant I was like most moms-to-be: absolutely thrilled. My husband and I decided early on that we were going to do certain things during and after my pregnancy to help with our child’s development, such as playing Mozart, reading aloud, eating organic and teaching our baby sign language. We had heard through some various pregnancy groups that babies can communicate much earlier than we give them credit, but due to the lack of development of their vocal cords, they aren’t able to articulate much. This is where the beauty of sign language comes in.

According to our doctor, basic motor function such as grasping and hand motions are one of the first things to develop in a baby. Some friends of ours at church gave us a book called Faith Speaks! Expressing God’s Word in Sign Language. We were appreciative at the gift, but had to chuckle a bit as this book is perhaps a tad advanced for someone three months old! They chuckled too and agreed, but commented that if we were going to learn sign language we might as well learn how to sign God’s word. Well we couldn’t argue with that!

As far as music goes, I’m not 100% convinced that Mozart is the only music that assists in a baby’s development, but I do know that I can only listen to little kid music for so long before I start to go crazy—so I figure that Mozart has the benefit of relaxing me and when I do finish listing to a symphony I do tend to feel about 10% smarter (sounds crazy I know.)

We have made a lot of major changes in our lives during the past five months. Everything we eat is now organic (and we feel so great, we’ll never go back to eating “regular” food), we listen to classical music, we spend our evenings reading aloud to each other and our unborn baby, and we have increased our sign language vocabulary to about three hundred signs, and most importantly we already feel a close bond with each other. My husband and I know that these quiet moments we have together won’t last much longer, but that’s okay, we are excited about the arrival of our little one and can’t wait to share the joys of life with our baby.

A guest article submitted to BabySignsDVD.com

I was really looking forward to a great weekend when we pulled out of the garage last Fiday on our way to pick up my brother and his kids for a few days of fresh air and camping in the nearby foothills. Far enough to get away from everything but close enough to have just a 40 minute drive.

We pulled up at Brad’s place just after 7 and he was all ready to go. His wife had a weekend seminar to attend and she had already left so he had packed everything himself and met us in the driveway as the kids bustled around for things they couldn’t do without. Teddy, the older boy is about 5 years old and quite independent but Melissa is hearing impaired and needs a lot of close watching, she’s not quite three now and follows Teddy around hanging on his T-shirt. They’re good kids and we’ve all gone on a few trips before, but never without their mom.

As we pulled onto the expressway, Brad started telling me about the latest news they had about Melissa’s hearing. They had just recently started working with a therapist that was introducing their whole family to sign language. The kids were doing better at it than their parents but he said it was something they all wanted to do and they worked on ways to make learning fun for all of them.

We pulled in at our favorite camping spot and found two other families there who were planning to spend the whole week right there doing some amateur prospecting. They seemed like nice folks and had left plenty of room there for us to set up so we pitched our old family tent and started unpacking the SUV. To keep an eye on Melissa, Brad had brought along their new Jeep baby carrier that let him carry her close while his hands were free to carry and help set up the tent. It sure looked weird until Melissa was in it, then it looked like it was just made for her.

Once we were all settled in the “prospectors” invited us all over to their campfire where they shared marshmallows and told us all about looking for gold and invited us to join them in the morning to show us their homemade sluice. It looked like we were all in for an adventurous weekend.

Finger painting is a fantastic way to get little hands exploring new ideas. This activity is fun for both child and parent as it’s full of opportunity for messes but very easy to clean up (and non-toxic too). Painting with any medium offers an opportunity to explore colors and how they mix with one another. Finger painting is unique in that it also encourages the use of touch along with other senses while being creative and encouraging imagination.

The Creative Space:

Make sure you have a nice clean open space to finger paint. Allow for some good elbow room. Unlike water color painting, kids need room to move around a bit to really explore. Because this is literally a “hands on” activity, make sure your child is wearing a full paint shirt (dad’s old t-shirt works great) and your table is free of clutter.

The Paper:

You need a slick coated paper for finger painting so that the paint glides on the surface rather than soaks into the paper. You can easily find paper specific for finger painting, however if need be a parchment paper should work well. Wax paper will work for the painting aspect, but won’t dry/set up very well.

The Paint:

There are a number of recipes available to make your own finger paint if you’re worried about tiny hands going into tiny mouths. However all use some kind of a food coloring, gelatin or kool-aid for color which tends to temporarily stain little fingers. Instead try using edible items such as pudding mix or yogurt as the paint. A finger painting kit, however is the best way to go as it offers the best colors, is washable and comes in resealable packages ready to use.

There are no rules of finger painting. Just add a spoonful or two of paint to the paper and let the kids have at it!

Note: You might have to get your own fingers a little dirty, showing your child how to paint, be careful, you might enjoy it.

Explore more finger painting ideas

A guest article submitted to BabySignsDVD.com

Once you’ve brought your little bundle of joy home from the hospital and settled into life as Mommy and Daddy, it doesn’t take long before you get the itch to teach your baby everything they’ll need to know to survive and thrive in this great big wonderful world of ours. You probably want to jump right into the good stuff, like reading, writing and arithmetic. Before you get too carried away, don’t forget that there’s a good bit of early learning that must take place before the other skills are even possible. Your child’s early learning experiences will provide the foundation for all learning to come in their future. Why not dedicate yourself to becoming the best teacher you can be to your child?

When I think of early learning I think of things like learning the alphabet, learning to count, learning about colors, shapes and sounds. This is the fun stuff that you share with your child through quality time spent together reading children’s books, playing with flash cards and memory games, working on puzzles, listening to music, etc. The opportunities for early learning are endless. Babies and toddlers learn a lot from their surroundings, so it’s important to provide them with a stimulating and encouraging environment. Bright colors, high contrast, large shapes, and subtle motion are some of the most popular features of baby and toddler décor. From hanging mobiles, colorful crib bumpers and large ABC and 123 wall decals to the toy box full of books and games, your baby’s room is the center of their learning universe.

Here’s a little something that you might be surprised to learn. Babies and toddlers can learn simple sign language. Yes, you read that right. Babies can learn to communicate through sign language before they can speak with words! A growing number of families are teaching their young children sign language at an early age using early learning sign language instructional DVDs. This is not only for hearing impaired children, but for any child. You might be asking what the point is of teaching your baby or toddler sign language. Would you also ask what the point is of teaching your child to communicate? Probably not, and that’s the biggest reason to teach sign language. A young child who can express themselves and be understood is a child who can communicate. Isn’t that wild? And if you stick with the sign language training for a little while, your child will grow up with a rare and powerful skill that will pay dividends throughout their life.

Early learning lays the foundation for all advanced learning. Prepare your child for the world by teaching them the basic building blocks for learning success. From the ABCs and 123s to baby sign language, it’s just another brick in the wall.

A guest article submitted to BabySignsDVD.com

We have 10 grandchildren between two daughters, and both of them like to teach their children to sign before they can talk. My wife had learned to sign during her years of volunteering at the nursing home nearby. One of the residents was uniquely handicapped. He couldn’t see, hear, or speak. She would make signs and he would feel her hands to get the meaning, and some of the older grandchildren would go with her and do the same thing.

My wife was the only one that could communicate with this poor fella as none of the staff at the home knew any sign language at all.

She is always looking for new ways to have fun with the grandchildren, and the other day she came up with an idea. She turned off all the lights in a room and used a battery lantern to make hand silhouettes on the wall. We have probably all done that at one time or the other and called it hand puppets. It’s easy to make the donkey, the bird, and a few other things.

We started signing and throwing the silhouette on the wall and the kids joined right in and had a blast. Not every sign works in silhouette but enough do. If you’re teaching your kids. Try it and it might work for you. We are thinking the same lantern, similar to this battery camping lantern, would work in a tent.

Everybody that’s ever camped in a tent has made silhouettes on the walls of the tent, and with a good battery lantern it would be safe and you wouldn’t have to worry about fire or carbon monoxide.

A guest article submitted to BabySignsDVD.com

Having a baby changes your life is so many wonderful and unexpected ways—and in many not-so-wonderful ways. When I first found out I was pregnant, I had tons of advice coming in from every direction possible, from well intentioned friends and family to total strangers telling me what to avoid or not avoid. If you think total strangers giving you advice seems strange, wait until you hit your eight month mark. Total strangers will start walking toward you giving advice as they are reaching out to touch your stomach! Sounds crazy, but it happens all the time! People think that just because you are pregnant that they can rub your stomach or drop down on their knees to see if they can hear or feel the baby move—keep in mind that they are total strangers!

So when I had a total stranger recommend to me that I read some books on teaching my baby sign language, I thought she was nuts just like all the rest. After little Simone was born, I found myself at the library cruising the aisles in a panic to read everything about child rearing and I came across a book on sign language for babies. I checked it out and started it as soon as I got home. I found the book just absolutely fascinating.

Did you know that babies communicate verbally last, and that odds are most babies are communicating (or attempting to communicate) with us way before they can ever make a sound? Neat stuff huh? So, I excitedly told my husband all about Simone and how she was communicating.

A couple of months went by and I was working daily with Simone on how to sign. All the while my husband was thinking I was nuts. As a cute joke for my birthday he gave me a present with the card reading, “From Simone”. I giggled, and let out a pretty good chuckle when I saw what he got me: a sign language coffee mug with the sign language sign for “I love you”. I showed it to Simone, her eyes grew large and then she said “love” …her first word!

I was thrilled and my husband burst out laughing, turns out she had been paying attention! I told him it was a good thing that he didn’t get me some sort of sign language gag gift as who knows what Simone would be babbling right now!

A guest article submitted to BabySignsDVD.com

People probably think that we are pretty strange. Then again, aren’t we all in our own way strange? Anyway, we met this family at one of the annual county fair events. They were about the same age as we were and they had a small baby that was not yet old enough to speak. And yet, we saw this baby clearly communicating with his parents.

Now you might be asking how that is even possible. I know that is what we thought. So, being intrigued, we approached them and began conversations. Well, it turns out that they had heard about this baby signing program that was available on DVD. And from the moment that the baby was born had been practicing sign language with him.

We asked the obvious (well it seemed obvious at the time – now it seems kind of ignorant) question regarding whether their child could hear and if that was why they had begun this type of education. And they replied that he could hear fine. We learned from them that there are many other reasons to learn sign language other than a hearing disability. They began because they had learned that with sign language they would be able to clearly communicate with their baby before he would be able to speak words. And we witnessed the truth in that.

You might be wondering how that makes us strange? Well, here we were thinking that this family was fascinating and they happened to mention that they often were considered “strange”. We laughed because we could certainly relate to that. We shared that our family has been labeled as strange for quite some time. Not because we were using sign language but because a few years back we started to completely change the way that we lived. We became organic.

As we got to know this family from the fair grounds that day, little did we know that it would be the beginning of a very long and lasting friendship. We ended up buying the baby signing course and they started buying organic kids clothes and changing toward a more organic lifestyle. And today we are still best friends.

A guest article submitted to BabySignsDVD.com

Okay, I confess, I’m a football addict and despite this character flaw, I am lucky enough to be married to a woman who, though she doesn’t share my enthusiasm for sports, is extremely tolerant of my addiction. After all, she has hers too. I can’t even talk to her if American Idol is on. But it’s okay, because the rules are the same when I’m watching the game.

Last weekend our friends Jonathan and Elise were over for dinner and we were joking how my wife and I are so adament about the no talking rule while our favorite shows are on that we started to communicate in sign language. Not real sign, mind you, but our made-up version of sign language. It’s nowhere near as evolved as baby sign language and there won’t ever be DVDs about it, but my wife and I understand each other perfectly if you get my drift.

Over the years my wife and I as a couple have always developed our own things that are just ours. As embarrassing as it is to admit, we have our own form of baby talk, like many other couples who might not be so bold as to admit it. You know who you are.

As a married man of over five years I can honestly say that being married kind of reminds me of being a kid, when you used to have that secret club with your best friends either in a treehouse or in the backyard and you had a secret handshake and code for everything. That’s what married life is like. Once you put on that tuxedo and say I do, you have this person, or partner in crime if you will, who you forge unspoken communication with and over the years create your own secret club of sorts. But I have to admit that our club house today is far more comfortable than the makeshift clubhouse I shared with my friends Bob and Jake in grade school. Better facilities too, plus we have cigars.