Itsy Bitsy Spider

With all your signing, it was sometimes hard to keep up with the signs you knew (as well as your “interpretation” of the signs!) Around May or June, we started noticing that you would make an unfamiliar sign with both your hands, where one hand was forming the letter “L” and your other arm was outstretched and pointing in the opposite direction. We had no idea what you were saying.

Then one day I visited you during lunch at daycare and I noticed the DVD that was playing on the monitor. It was a video of kids singing and signing the “Itsy Bitsy Spider” song. I finally realized that the unfamiliar sign you’d been doing was your version of trying to make the spider crawl up the waterspout!

But the funniest thing about it is that you truly LOVE that song. You started getting more temperamental around age 13 months where you would whine and throw temper tantrums, but all we had to do (which is still true) is start singing the Itsy Bitsy Spider song and immediately you become quiet and start doing the signs. I was actually visiting you at daycare on another instance, and the DVD was playing at a different point where they show pictures of animals. When I tried to leave, you got upset and started crying loudly on the floor. But before I walked away, I noticed that the DVD had switched to the Itsy Bitsy Spider song. Sure enough, you bounced right up and walked to the computer screen and joined in with the song! It was like you had completely forgotten that I was there!