Kleenex? Does anyone have a kleenex?

Let the teething side effects begin! My daughter has started drooling and producing boogers at an alarming rate! I undertand this is all side effects from the process of teething, but it's still a mess! My first instinct was that she had a cold when I saw all of this pouring out of her.

So, now is the time where I tell you that I wish she had a sign to use to tell me the difference between 2 things. I would like to be able to use the sign for PAIN or HURT. I wish she was able to tell me if her teeth are hurting her so that I can put some Infant Oragel on there to ease her suffering. But, what I would like even more is to begin the process of introducing the sign for OR. In this regard I am deviating a bit from The Baby Signs Program, and probably getting way ahead of myself. But, in order for her to begin the language learning process, she has to see the language happening in front of her consistently. So, as if I have become a human scale and my 2 hands hold the objects to be weighed, I will sign HURT near her mouth as I turn slightly to the left, and the turn slightly to the right and sign HURT again but this time near my nose. This poses the question.....does your nose hurt or do your teeth hurt? Her response would only need to be a pointed finger at her nose or her teeth, so she may respond to this type of question sooner than you would think. This question uses a slight body shift to differentiate between 2 things. This is a technique used when using American Sign Language.

So, for now, it's still a guessing game. I will continue signing to her consistently and patiently await my response. She is coming up on the 6 month mark which is where some deaf children begin to "babble" in sign language when they are raised in a deaf environment. That means American Sign Language is used in the home as the primary form of communication. My daughter may be a bit behind that rate of advancement, but I have faith in her! My little signing superstar has a lot to say, I'm sure of it.

Very funny Tooth Fairy

Here we are almost 1 month and 2 teeth later. We took my daughter down to Florida for a couple weeks and while we were there she cut her first tooth! Even though it's a bit on the early side, it was exciting to see the cute little white line popping through. It wasn't so cute for my husband when she bit his little exploring finger. That'll teach him! And now, just a couple days ago while I was admiring the said new tooth, I noticed another little white line right next to it. Once again I found myself wishing she could have told me that her poor litte gums were sore. I would have bought the teething toys and stuck them in the freezer much sooner.
Soon I will introduce a new sign for times like this. It will be the sign "PAIN" or "HURT". This sign is done by putting your 2 index fingers together in front of the place on your body where you feel the pain (think ET). If the sign is done in a neutral area in front of the body it just means pain in general. This is useful when asking things like, "PAIN WHERE?" WHERE is produced by taking the right index finger and placing it where you would say "number 1" and moving it back and forth.
If my daughter had known the sign for PAIN, she could've told me why she was being fussy and waking up every night while I was on vacation. Nice timing Tooth Fairy, very funny.