Friday, February 11, 2011

Adelaide's (Almost) Talking

For the last few months we've been trying to teach Adelaide to sign using her hands. We've tried words like "Daddy" (make a sign like a rooster on your forehead), "Mummy" (same thing but on your chin), and "Poh Poh" (Grandma in Cantonese, and looks like the rooster is running away). But the easiest word to learn has been "Nai Nai" (which is Milk in Cantonese, and looks like you're milking a cow).

Adelaide is now regularly signing "Nai Nai" with her hands whenever she wants to feed. There's no prompting from us, she just starts signing. We look at her and ask "Do you want Nai Nai?" and she smiles and signs again. Often with both hands, which isn't technically correct, but we give it to her. :)

But in the last few days she's started saying "Nai Nai" aloud herself in combination with the hand signs. Is this her first word? We're not 100% sure, but we'll probably know by the end of the month. She signs for "Nai Nai" so often it's become a bit of a joke at times. If "Nai Nai" is her first word, she's got plenty of opportunity to say it.

And this leads into the funny thing that happened yesterday. Adelaide was rolling around in bed (supposed quiet time while we try to get her to sleep), heaved a sigh and said something like "mamamia". She then made the sign for "Nai Nai", prompting Emily and I to sing...

Mama-mia
Here we go again
Nai nai
How can I resist ya?

Sorry, just had to share that. :)

1 comment:

Danielle Daws said...

LOL... that's such a sweet story!