MAMA!

It's official: Jack can say "Mama." Unfortunately, he does not say Mama in reference to the beautiful woman who gave birth to him after three days of labor. Mama means "more" or "I want it."

It's rather disturbing to consider the implications of Mama as a demand, isn't it?

I am working with him to change MAMA to "more." Jack will point at a banana and yell, "Mama!" and I'll say, "More?" and indicate said banana. So far, this has had no result whatsoever.

More suprisingly, Jack inexplicably knows a sign. Many years ago, Steve had a brief job working for the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind. While he worked with the Deaf kids, he picked up some signs. One was the sign for "more." You hold out your hands, palms up, and move your fingers towards you, in sort of an ass-grabbing motion. We noticed this weekend that Jack signs "more" while he says it.

Many parents attempt to help their babies communicate by teaching them a few signs. The logic is that they can talk that way before they can verbalize. This helps them express their needs and reduces their frustration. It's a fine idea, but the thing is, Steve and I never did that. Did they teach him sign language at school? It's a possibility, but you'd think that if sign was part of the program there (like Spanish), someone would have mentioned it.