2 months old

Juli's movements were getting a bit more coordinated. She gradually gained some motor control with her hands. She sometimes scratched her face herself in the past, but now when she reached her face with her hands, this time the back of her hands were on her face instead.

One needs to observe closely to catch a manual play other than different movements, reflexive or otherwise. It isn't always easy.

Observing in daily interactions

Juli is an observer. What is to expect, I guess? After all, babies can't be too much mobile -- they don't crawl nor walk yet. Not that much they can do other than observing, I imagine.

Juli observed closely what adults were conversing. For example, at the end of her baby shower one day, everyone left and Juli was done feeding and stayed awake. She attentively watched her mother talking with others.

The other day I watched some ASL blogs online while feeding Juli. After feeding, Juli joined me watching with curiosity. Or, who knows she was watching something else. Maybe a color or a shape.

From time to time, Juli moved her hand/arm up and down repeatedly with an intentional look as if she wanted to express something. Could it be that she asked for "milk" or something else?

Besides this, every time she anxiously held her fist in her mouth, I knew she wanted milk.

One evening, my hubby called me saying that the baby produced (that is, imitated) "milk". He showed me how she did. He demonstrated a movement of the thumb up and down. I grabbed the camera and rushed to the scene. Missed!

Now that Juli has increased her attention span and greater alartness, I sometimes fingerspelled a complete set of ABCs to her during play time. She watched with interest the transformation and diversity of the handshapes.

Video clip: It is a second round of ABCs. Juli appeared to be a bit restless, though patient, in the second round.

Talking routines

To help Juli familiarize with routines, I explained what we were doing.

At bedtimes, Juli waited patiently without fussiness or cries, giving her mother a limited time she needed to brush teeth and to comb hair.

I went away briefly and came back with the comb. I signed mommy brush-hair now. When done, I signed mommy brush-hair finish/done. I went away briefly again and came back with a paste on the toothbrush. As I cleaned, I signed mommy teeth-brush now. As I finished, I signed mommy teeth-brush finish/done in ASL.

I did the same in the mornings. One morning as she slept, I went away to do grooming without informing her. She woke up and waited a bit. I didn't come sooner. Watching her from the doorway, she was about to cry. I came to rescue her.

Juli seemed to feel secure and/or comfortable knowing that I'd be always there by keeping her informed what to expect or when I'd be back. She may not know these ASL words, but she might understand these patterns.