One of the things Grace and I think we made the right decision on as parents was teaching Bryan ASL. It’s saved us and Bryan SO MUCH grief in having to figure out what that little head is thinking! Ever since he started to comprehend and respond in sign languages, it’s made communicating with him a lot less stressful and actually more fun for everyone (even bystanders). And it seems like as a result, he’s a happier baby simply because we know roughly (sometimes EXACTLY) what he wants when he tries to communicate it with us. Verbally he also seems to be picking up words and phrases quick nicely. Although he can’t complete a whole phrase yet, he can comprehend quite a bit of stuff that adults say.
For example, among adults, if we say to each other, “It’s time to go. I’ll see you next time.” Before we do anything to suggest we might be leaving, Bryan’d raise one of his hands and start waving good bye. Grace has used several different ways of saying “leaving” and Bryan gets quite a few of them — in both English and Mandarin…
Grace also noticed that sometimes Bryan reviews words he’s used or learned during the day as he lies in bed at night before he falls asleep. He’d lie there and repeat: nuo-nuo (kiddie talk for cow), naow-naow (bird), sheh-sheh (actually, he pronounces its “deh-deh”, for thank you), jeo (walk)… etc.
Excellent. So the making of Nerd 2.0 has officially begun.