Baby Signs

I worked at a daycare center for many years while I was in college.  While I was there, the center implemented a curriculum for the baby room and toddlers that focused on baby signs.  I was very skeptical at first.  I didn't really understand why you wouldn't just focus on teaching the child to say actual words.  Wouldn't using baby signs discourage language development?

Benefits to Signing
What I actually found was that the children that knew the most signs (typically the ones whose parents also used signs at home) were also the children that started speaking words first and knew the most words.  This finding of mine was backed up by a research study done by the National Institute for Health (NIH.)  It also found that baby signs use has other benefits.  Baby Signs Research has a summary of these findings and benefits.

It can reduce aggressive behavior in babies/toddlers by giving them a way to communicate other than hitting and biting.  It can help boost a baby's self-esteem.  It can help caregivers know better what a child wants/needs. It allows a child a way to communicate.  An example with Destructo was one of his first signs being puppy.  He would point out puppies anywhere we were and sometimes even spotted them before I did.  I also like baby signs to start teaching please and thank you before the child can say the words.
This is the baby signs kit I bought when I was pregnant with Destructo. Okay who am I kidding, I found it at a local bookstore that was had it on super clearance because they had come out with a new edition. So I bought it well before I was pregnant with Kai knowing I would use it one day. :)  This kit comes with a parent DVD that shows you how to teach the signs, a magnetic quick signs thing to hang on the fridge, a children's DVD, and four little board books that are Kai's favorite books.  He even sleeps with them in the crib. 

Another kit that I haven't personally used, but have heard good things about is Signing times videos.

How To Start Signing
I signed from birth with Kai.  He didn't pay much attention though until around five months when he started knowing what the milk sign meant.  All done was the second sign he recognized.  He didn't start signing back until around 8-9 months.  Around 11 months, he really started picking up on signs and recognizing and also signing them back.  Now at 14 months, he says around 20 words and signs about the same number of signs.

He is a very stubborn boy and can sign 2-3 signs in a row.  For example, after he had weaned during the day he decided one day he really wanted milk.  I was super busy and not really paying attention to his whining.  He finally walked up to me and signed drink milk please.  That sure got my attention.  I knew he could do all of those signs, but he nearly never signs milk anymore.  He prefers to try to pull my shirt off, stick his head down my shirt, or scream until I figure it out.  But he can sure sign nice when he needs to.

I try to concentrate on one or two signs until he learns them and then move on to others when he was first starting.  Now if we are reading a book or out and about and the opportunity presents itself,  I will sign any of the signs I know and point to the object.  My best advice is to just enjoy teaching the signs and enjoy your babies attempts at them.  Kai's airplane sign is hilarious.  I am going to try to get his hot sign on video and post it here soon.

 I am very glad we sign with Destructo since he has a temper to start with.  It has helped reduce his frustration when he is trying to tell me something and can't.  I can say please use your words and he will try to formulate either words or signs to express himself.  I encourage you guys to check it out if you have young kiddos as it is a lot of fun and Kai seems to really enjoy learning the signs.

Signing please at the beer cooler.  I don't think so young man.

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Monday Momma Musings

Jellibean Journals is hosting a Monday Mom Musings link up.  Swing by and link up and share your funny stories, creative ideas, crafts, or just cute kid stories. My musing is about the things I never realized about motherhood before my little force of nature entered my life. First off, I never realized I would put puzzles together 800 times a day. Destructo likes to take his puzzles down and take every piece out and then leave them. Puzzle pieces hurt when you are dashing across the house in the middle of the night because your son is shrieking like the devil is out to get him, darn teeth.

Another musing I had today was that I will be counting down the minutes to bedtime on the bad days. Only to want to go in and wake him up and cuddle him about an hour after I put him to bed. What gives? How can my little monster be so darn addictive? Kai-caine I tell ya.

 Finally, I have realized how cute/smart/ funny/ advanced/awesome (insert your adjective here) your kid is at least in momma's eyes. I never knew I could love someone so much.

So Now What do I Do? Prepping Diapers style and my Wash Routine

So you have been following my posts and have learned about what the pros and cons to cloth diapering are, what types of cloth diapers there are, and seen different examples of cloth diapering systems. You have perused  different cloth diaper stores and decided what to order.  Days of anxiously checking your mail box and your diapers have finally arrived.  As you sit staring at them, you are left thinking now what the heck do I do with these?  Oh and if you missed the earlier posts, check them out here:  http://www.adventureswithcaptaindestructo.com/p/cloth-diapering.html

Prepping Diapers
All brand new diapers must be prepped before use.  Microfiber and synthetic materials are easy enough to prep.  All you have to do is wash them once before use.  (Synthetic materials are PLU, microfiber, microterry, etc.)  Natural fiber products are a bit different.  To achieve maximum absorption capabilities, they must be washed numerous times before use. This gets rid of the natural plant oils that remain on them after manufacturing.   Most places recommend somewhere in the ball park of 5 times, but keep in mind that they still won't be fully absorbent until closer to ten washes.  (Natural fibers are things like cotton, hemp, bamboo.)

When I got my diaper stash completed, I prepped all my Bumgenius 4.0's and other synthetic material cloth diapers together.  To do this, I just washed them like I would normally.  More on my wash routine in a bit.  Natural fibers can either be washed 5ish times or boiled if they don't contain PLU.  Trust me when I say this, I love boiling things.  You just boil the inserts for 20 minutes.  Sometimes I will repeat this if the water seems to have a lot of oils in it.  But unfortunately for me, half of my stash was Grovia organic cotton snap in inserts with the TPU backing so they had to be washed.  I just made sure to wait until my entire stash was completed and did all the natural fiber materials together.  But make sure to not combine synthetics with natural fibers until the prepping is completely done.  

Washing Routine for Cloth Diapers
 This is my current diaper washing routine and how I prepped my diapers.  Oh and I have a top loading, non-HE washer and extremely hard water.
Step 1:  I do a warm wash/cold rinse with 20 drops of tea tree oil   and 20 drops of grapefruit seed extract Grapefruit Seed Extract.  (If you have an option to do just one warm rinse, do this but my washer isn't that fancy so I just run an entire warm wash.)  I usually wash about 18-24 diapers at a time (every other day, never longer than three days.)  This step is to rinse away an solid matter that might have been left behind on your diapers.  The tea tree oil and grapefruit seed extract are for yeast which Kai is prone too.  If he is having a particularly long stretch without yeast problems, I do occasionally drop this part of my routine.

Step 2:  I then do a hot wash cycle (normal or heavy duty) with a cold rinse.  I use 1 1/2 tablespoons of Rockin Green hard rock and a half a cap of Calgon since we have very hard water.

Step 3:  I then do a nother hot water wash (on the shortest cycle) with a cold rinse with another half a cap of Calgon.  No soap.  This step is just to further rinse out any detergent residue.  (I used to just do an extra cold rinse, but started having ammonia buildup problems as Destructo got into the dread toddler urine stage.)

I then line dry all my inserts and covers and once dry, toss the inserts into the dryer for a few minutes to soften them up.  Tada perfectly clean and prepped diapers. 

When changing Destructo, I rinse each diaper even if it was just a wet diaper with my diaper sprayer.  My hubby made mine, but I regret this because the store bought ones have different settings that control the pressure to avoid over spraying the entire bathroom.  I then put them in my wet bags.  I currently use Planet Wise hanging wet bag.  I thought it would be easier to not have a diaper pail taking up precious room in that bathroom because it is small, but unfortunately the diapers weigh a lot when you spray each one and the handles are ripping so I am going to be buying a Planet Wise pail liner and get a dreaded diaper pail.

I promise it isn't as intimidating as it seems when you are staring at baskets of brand new cloth diapers and thinking I just spent hundreds of dollars on these, if I screw them up my husband will kill me.  At least that was my thought.  I spent hours working up the courage to prep them.  I also spent hours scouring the internet to make sure I prepped them perfectly.  It was not a big deal at all looking back.  Just another first time mom moment I suppose.  Feel free to ask any questions you might have.  I promise to answer them. 

Coming soon to a blog near you:  Cloth Diapers:  The Betrayal which will focus on common cloth diapering problems and what I have found fixes them.



This post contains affiliate links which compensate Adventures with Captain Destructo with a % of the sale. Using these links doesn't cost you anything extra, but it helps support this blog and my family. Thanks!