?? Baby Sign Language. And also cleaning bath toys. ??

jbBeans

Two completely unrelated questions:

Baby signers: How is your baby doing? Does he/she sign back? How many signs? Linden only seems to sign "milk," sometimes, and it's confusing b/c I know it's also "nurse" to her, so I think she does it as much when she just wants to comfort nurse as when she wants milk. And it's onnly when she's upset, so she might just be going nuts with her hands and not actually signing at all. I also try to do more, water and all done. SHe seems to understand them, but does not do them back. Is she kind of late to the game here? I'm a bit frustrated, tbh.

Bath toys: How do you clean them? We have some rubbery ones that take in and squirt out water. I try to empty them out after each bath but obviously they're still a bit wet inside. I just noticed one of them has some mildewyness in it and I'm not sure how to clean it.

thanks.

danabsd

jbBeans said:

I try to empty them out after each bath but obviously they're still a bit wet inside. I just noticed one of them has some mildewyness in it and I'm not sure how to clean it.

 

Toss it.  That's all I got.

MrsManny

Baby signing-  He's been doing great on signing!  It seems to have really taken off in the past month.  I have been signing to him ever since he was born (more to make it a habit for me).  He signs 12 words. I don't think you're too late in the game, just keep signing to her.  I get frustrated too, it seems like it took him a lifetime to learn milk, but learned dog in 2 minutes, little stinker!
I have no idea about bath toys, I do the same thing as you.

KellersPrag

I would throw away a toy that has mildew in it.

I've been signing since birth, and Charlotte can sign 'all done' like a champ and 'more', 'milk', and 'water' intermittently. Keep at it!

ifwisheswerefishes

Marian signs "more," her own weird version of "daddy," a sign she made up for "boob," and something we THINK is please. Obviously we aren't doing great with the signing. 

ellebee2

Toss the bath toy. 

We've been signing to DD since about 4 months - she does milk like a champ (however sometimes when I give her her milk she doesn't want it - so I think she means she wants to nurse).. Also all done and more (which looks more like a T for timeout, but close enough). She just started bath the other day. 

miss50

Signed mom and dad since she was born. Not a damn thing yet.

AKB090609

We've been signing since birth, she only signs for certain people, like for DH she will only do more. Somtimes she does it sometimes she doesn't.

For bath toys we do a vinegar, water, lemon juice soak every two weeks. We also let toys dry completely, rotating between toys. If I found mold I would pitch it.

hmp1

The only one he will do on his own is "more". He will repeat "thank you" pretty much every time but not initiate it. I don't really work on it much with him but they do at daycare so he might repeat more for them.

I would toss the bath toys with mold/mildew. We don't use those but have heard to close up the hole with glue to prevent mold.

MRoxy0628

She signs "milk", "all done" and "more". Shel'll sign for milk without prompting, but she still needs some prompts for more and all done. On occasion she'll sign milk when she doesn't want it, so were trying to figure out what she means. I only started signing in the last few months, so I don't think it's too late. I'm now working on "sleep" and "up".

MrsKipper

Nola does "all done" when prompted. We're working on "milk", "eat", and "more".

elizabethwig

DD just started signing "more" on her own, and only sometimes. she had about a month where she'd repeat "all done" if you asked and she was in fact all done eating, but that seems to have been replaced with whining and leaning towards me to get her out of her highchair. she'll repeat diaper when you ask, and seems like she signs milk sometimes. we're pretty bad about consistently doing it, but i'm inclined to try more now cause she's taking to saying 'uuuhh?!' like a seal at everything she wants and i'd like a little variety in my life. 

MississippiCatfish

Eddie does more and all done, but they look eerily similar;)

For the bath toy, I would also probably just chuck it. If you were super attached to it, you could make a 10:1 bleach solution and suck it up into the toy, shake it around, let it soak a while and then rinse it out several times by doing the same with water. Idk, that's what I would do if it was something irreplaceable.

phytoocean

DS does more, ball, all done, milk, help, and shoes. We are working on please and thank you now. My rubber ducky has this problem. I am going to try to suck up a bleach solution and let it soak, then rinse it again really well.

Hyaline

I've considered trying to clean bath toys by sucking white vinegar up in them, letting it sit, then rinsing.  But really...I only get very, very cheap bath toys so I don't feel bad about tossing them.  Trouble is, mildew stains, so it would be really hard to tell if you killed it or not with a vinegar soak (or bleach soak or whatever).  

E is more interested in trying to verbalize than she is in signing.  She'll mimic my sounds but not the hand motions.  Except for clapping and high-fives.  But not signs.

jbBeans

Linden has been pointing for a while now (since 8 months, probably?). I think that has slowed her signing because, well, she is sort of signing in her own way. Why sign "water" when you can just point to it? And I haven't wanted to ignore her pointing because it's important and good, too. So yeah. 

But overall, the responses make me feel a bit better. I was imagining all the S12 signing babies running around with at least a dozen signs by now! 

As for the bath toys, no, they're not terribly sentimental although one of my nephews had picked them out. I like the idea of rotating them so they can dry out properly (whoever recommended that). I'm loath to throw things out because I'm cheap and eco-conscious but yeah, they might just have to go. 

Thanks for all of the replies.