I feel very fortunate that Lil loves the water and loves bath time (a.k.a 'tubby time'). Only problem is it's my husband's role. When he was deployed over the summer and into the fall my father came over nightly to give her a bath b/c I was recovering from arm surgery ... I called it my 'me time' (everyone needs it right?). Well my husband's home and some nights he's unavailable ... so I step in :)
I've come to realize Lil is expecting routines during tubby time that I'm unaware of! Yikes! She is able to do so many things I'm in awe each time I see something new. She plays imitating games during tubby time! When I wasn't playing with her - she just looked at me like 'why aren't you splashing back? It's your time!'. A night or two later I peeked in while my husband was giving her a bath and saw the games. (So cute by the way). Another night I walked her in (holding each of her little arms as she walked herself into the bathroom) and my husband remembered the sign for BATH! :) How cool! I watched him sign it to Lil, she continued to smile.
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Sign: BATH. So baby here is approximating the sign but
I thought it was adorable! BATH is: closed fists going up and down
the chest in rotating fashion (e.g. left up/right down, etc.) like
you are scrubbing yourself clean! |
So lesson learned ... play imitating games whenever you can! We always play vocal games. Lil vocalizes a sound, so I vocalize the same sound. Lil verbalizes a sound (baba, ga-da), I verbalize the sound. Months into these games have now led to Lil being able to change her vocalization or verbalization to whatever I am doing. Awesome! Now (late 9 months & 10 months old) she is able to use intonation (tone of voice) and we continue to play our imitating games but now adding intonation! These imitating games also help her signing abilities. Happy Signing!
