Milk at the Mall! Baby Sign Language!

by Cindy Hull
(Ona, WV USA)

Picture this! My daughter, Amy, had been practicing signing with her one year old daughter, my granddaughter, Audrey. Audrey didn't know many spoken words at this point, but little did we know she was catching onto the signing that she had been observing.

The three of us were strolling down the Mall doing some Christmas shopping. We had been at the Mall for a while, and Audrey was in her stroller happily looking around.
At some point, she kept turning around looking at us with her hand in the air. We acknowledged her being so good and kept walking and window shopping. On about the third time Audrey turned around to look at us, we both yelled, "She wants milk!" All that time little Audrey was signing milk!

We ran to the closest place we could find that sold milk. We paid $2.49 for a very small bottle of milk from the cafe at Borders Book Store, but it was well worth it. She was happy and satisfied and we were amazed.

Now, Audrey's one year old brother Owen is learning to sign, and milk was also his first sign. Audrey is a big help in teaching Owen to sign. Now, Owen signs and says juice at the same time. We are still amazed!