Ella teaches me

Ella's been learning sign language for what seems like forever, almost exclusively by watching the Signing Time videos. She knows quite a bit -- a whole bunch of her ABCs, fruits, activities (like 'dance' and 'all done'), animals, and some everyday things like 'train' for the trolley, ice cream, cookie. We stopped writing down all the words she knows a few months ago.

When we saw my family at the end of June my Dad couldn't get over that Ella could communicate with us. Because we've been doing it for so long with her it's an everyday thing, but since my Dad is in Florida and gets to see Ella twice a year, it's all new.

So, even though I'm not as familiar with the videos as Barb is, I still saw enough to be able to practice with her. And until recently I always knew them before her. But the other day she was walking toward one of the cats and stroking one hand with the other.

It was a deliberate enough action that I asked her, "What's that? What are you doing?" And she said, "Pet!"

Figuring she was just babbling I went into the kitchen and asked Barb, "What's this?" while mimicing Ella. She said, "Pet." I couldn't believe it. Ella taught me her first sign!