Genius Baby?

I was four weeks into Baby Sign Language Class.

No signs from baby yet.

I had been busily doing my homework which consisted of simple activities to incorportate signs into everyday life. Much like my friend's "Milk? Milk?" before she gave her baby a bottle, I had sprinkled some signs through out my day. "Bath?" I scrubbed my chest before baby's nightly bubble bath. "Where's the kitty cat?" I drew invisible whiskers along my face as the cat scampered by.

I followed the teacher's advice. Keep it simple. Follow baby's interests. Lots of repetition. Incorporate it into daily events. And lots of patience. However, I was getting a little deflated signing to a silent audience. My baby seemed totally disinterested. The other parents in class seemed to be having similar experiences. My skepticism began to bubble a bit.

However, little did we know, magic was brewing as we were planting little seeds in our little ones' brains.

One magical morning took my breath away. Magic began to explode in class. We were dancing with our babies to music. The babies were laughing and bouncing as babies do. Suddenly, our teacher turned off the music, signed and said "Stop!" and we all froze. The babies looked shocked. "Do you want more music, Nathan?" Our teacher signed 'more' and 'music' to an 8 month old who seemed particularly disappointed. He immediately put his fingers together and apart, together and apart....

"He signed 'more'!!" Gasps were heard around the room.

"This is when we reinforce. OK, Nathan. Let's have more music." She signed 'more music', turned back on the music and we all continued to dance.

"It's important to recognize his sign and reinforce its meaning. We just taught Nathan that his hands can influence his world," she yelled over the music, throwing scarves over babies.

My mind was numb. I would not have believed it if I had not seen it. Yes, I watched the video clips of babies signing at the beginning of class. But, weren't these just a handful of baby signers? Genius babies? And, I highly suspected one or two were doctored clips.

Maybe Nathan was a genius, too.

That had to be it.