“Help!”

A new word!  Okay, not a verbal word… a signed word.

Some background:  Many months ago, we started using a few sign language words with Joshua – “milk,” “eat,” and “more” – to help him get a vocabulary started in order to (hopefully) prevent some of the frustration about not being able to communicate before he is strongly verbal.  And that has gone well.  We started with those signs when he was about  7 months old, and in the past few months he has started signing them back to us.

The sign for “milk” has come to mean “mommy” for Joshua – probably because James and I would make the sign as he would be brought to me for nursing.  He understandably thought it meant “I’m going to snuggle with Mommy,” not “I’m going to get milk.”

Joshua uses “more” (albeit a modified version due to the dexterity required for the full sign) pretty reliably when eating to indicate he wants another bite of something he finds tasty.

For a while he was using “eat” to let us know he was hungry.  He doesn’t do it much anymore, but that may be because we feed him pretty regularly (meals and snacks), so he doesn’t have time to get hungry enough to ask for food.

But, the excitement is that on Friday night (or maybe I didn’t start until Saturday morning), I introduced a new sign to Joshua: “Help.”  I had been wanting to learn it and use it for some time, but just (on Friday afternoon – Thanks Colleen!) learned what the sign is.  I started using it with Joshua when he was asking for something – as he’d bang on the closet door, wanting to get to the vacuum cleaners; as he’d reach for the bathroom counter to be lifted up to look out the window; as he’d reach for the basket of kitty toys he’s only allowed to play with under close supervision.  I’d use his open hand to pat his chest and say “Help.  Help me ___.”

Then, this morning as we were on our normal exploration route of the house, Joshua stopped at the hall closet.  Intentionally, he used his hand to pat his chest three times and pointed to the door handle!  Joshua has never pat his chest before – this is not a typical motion he makes.  He was communicating!!!!

I immediately echoed his request (“You want Mommy to help and open the door.”, patting my own chest) and opened the door.  As he happily played with the hoses and cords on the vacuum cleaners, I sat next to him, with proud tears in my eyes.

My little boy learned a new word in just a little over 3 days.

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