Baby signs

A few mornings ago I was sitting with Molly in the rocking chair around 5 a.m. wondering if I should nurse her or try to get her back to sleep without nursing. I looked down in the dark and could just barely see her opening and closing her fists, the baby sign I've been using for nursing.

Let me put this in context. I've been making baby signs at Molly since she turned 6 months old and she has never clearly signed anything back. She understands the signs somewhat (if she's crying and I sign "milk," she calms down, if she's fussy in the high-chair and I say and sign "all done," she grabs the rim of the tray and pushes it away), but I have to admit I was losing interest in this whole thing and forgetting to do most of them. Then about a week ago she started doing the "milk" sign when she was lying on the nursing pillow -- not asking to nurse, but kind of commenting on what we were doing.

Since that morning in the dark when she used it as a request, she's been experimenting with the "milk" sign. Today she was really testing it out. She nursed, got down and played for a few minutes, then looked up at me and made the sign again. She seemed surprised and delighted when I reached for the Boppy and pulled her back up into my chair. She still doesn't use the sign most of the time (she uses her old sign -- crying and slobbering on my shoulder), but now when I show it to her she signs back. It's amazing how quickly she's becoming a little person who can communicate.

Her other big thing this evening was pointing. She now points at things and grunts, apparently demanding that you bring the object to her immediately. Usually it's something she can't have, like grown-up books or electronics or tissue paper. Tonight in the bathtub she kept pointing at the lever that drains the tub and whining. She also pointed at her floating bath toys, so I brought each one within her reach (the beauty of her bath seat is that it keeps her in one place -- shhh, don't tell her she could escape!), then she let them float away and pointed again for me to bring them back. Hmmm. I don't like where this is going.

I don't know why I started with these little stories. The big news this week was that Oma and Grandpa made a spontaneous, last-minute, one-night visit to see Molly. She was overjoyed. She doesn't take time to warm up to people anymore (including waitresses, my former coworker and random moms at play group) so she was immediately basking in the attention. We went to the children's room at our town's library and Molly had such a good time. It's full of toys. She got to play with puzzles and a bead toy, and also flirt with an older boy who was playing with trains.

She was in an adorable, snuggly mood today after all the grandparent-love. I'm glad Thanksgiving is coming up so we can see everybody! It seems like a long time since we were home.