Yummy with a Capital "Y"

Here's a great article from the My Smart Hands Founder and President, Laura Berg!

http://www.ptpamedia.com/blog/index.php/2011/02/04/yummy-with-a-capital-y/

Tonight was girls cooking night in my house and my daughter decided we should make ‘Cauliflower Pie’ for dinner. This is a yummy dish that my mom used to make! Then she says to me, “Mom, we should teach Hartford (her little brother) the sign for ‘cauliflower’… how do you sign cauliflower??” I told her that it was fingerspelled but we could just say, “cauliflower starts with ‘c’ and show him the sign for the letter c” She thought that was a way better idea than teaching him how to fingerspell c-a-u-l-i-f-l-o-w-e-r

So for this post, I am going to show you the sign for the letter ‘c’

I am also going to share my YUMMY cauliflower recipe with you!

“Cauliflower Pie”

1/3 cups butter
4 cups bread crumbs
1 small cauliflower
1 small onion
2 eggs beaten
1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 cups shredded cheese (I use mild cheddar but it’s really your choice of taste)

1. Melt butter in a large frying pan. Add breadcrumbs and stir until golden brown. **I normally use 1/2 cup as I like my crust more firm. Use 3/4 for the pie and save some for the top. **I usually make two smaller pies and freeze one.

2. cook cauliflower and onion until tender. Mash to make 2 cups

3. Smoothly combine eggs, flour and salt; gradually stir in milk.

4. Add cheese and cauliflower to milk mixture. Mix together

5. Bake in preheated 350 over for 35-40 min or until set and light brown.

**You could also add brocoli or carrots or meat or anything you like. This is a huge hit with kids.

I hope you enjoy as much as my family does!!

Laura
Founder and President
My Smart Hands, ‘educating young minds’

Sign of the Week: Kids get hurt, Parents Have to Deal

Nice post from Laura Berg - Founder and President of My Smart Hands. Click Here to see the sign for Hurt

When I became a mom I realized the hurt you can experience when the child you love is sick or injured. It breaks my heart every time one of my children are sick or hurt. I wish that I could take all of their pain on myself so that they didn’t have to experience any discomfort in their lives. I am not looking forward to the broken heart of my future teenage daughter but that is for another post!

It being Winter now we have been getting a lot of colds and sicknesses in our house. This week the sign for ‘hurt’ came back to my five year old daughter when she couldn’t talk because she was trying not to throw up and she quickly signed ‘hurt’ in front of her stomach. I knew, with just that one sign, that her stomach was sore and she wanted me to rub it. She couldn’t talk at that time and request a tummy rub or she would have lost her lunch. I was able to know what she wanted and gently comfort her by rubbing her belly. The ‘thank you’ look in her eyes made my heart break for her and made me even more thankful that I taught her sign language at an early age!

Some parents don’t feel the need to teach the sign ‘hurt’. They feel that their child will simply point at what is ‘ouchie’. I thought this too but was really glad that I showed her hurt anyway. The first time that the sign ‘hurt’ really came in useful was when my daughter was about 11 months old. My daughter loved going bare feet in the summer, she hated shoes. When the weather started to turn cold it was always a battle to have her put her shoes and socks on. One day I was running late and quickly getting her dressed to get out the door. It was October and rather cold out. I put her socks on and was trying to put her shoes on when she started crying and fighting me. I was so stressed and mad because I was now late and fighting with an 11 month old over shoes! I won the fight and got her shoe on. Just as I was putting her other shoe on she looked up at me with tears in her eyes and signed ‘hurt’ over her toe. She had been pointing and pulling at her shoe but I though she just didn’t want her shoe on. At that point I took her shoe and sock off only to find a tiny little rock caught in her toe. It was clearly hurting her and I would have had no idea if it wasn’t for one little sign! It was for that reason that I was grateful that I taught her the sign for ‘hurt’. I never would have imagined that 4 years later that little sign would have been remembered and utilized by a sick little girl.

Signing is useful in so many ways, you just never know!

Laura Berg
Founder and President
My Smart Hands Inc, ‘educating young minds’

Babies Trying To Communicate on their Own

Nice article from Babies and Sign Language

Almost all babies try to use gestures to communicate, but many parents/caregivers tend not to notice because of the focus on the speech part of communication. If you observe closely, your Baby will even create his her own gestures until s/he can vocalize the word in English.

Your baby easily grasps the hand motions for hi/bye and head shakes or nods to mean yes or no. Most parents stop here, not realizing that their child is capable of learning many more signs and gestures, thereby making communication a smoother (and earlier!) process.

Hearing children will learn to speak and talk eventually, but why wait until they are only able to pronounce words when you can have amazing conversations with them even before that physical process happens?

First off, learning a few basic signs for your child is not hard. Some signs are just as easy to learn as waving, clapping, and pointing. If your baby can nod her head yes or no, she is in essence, already using signs! You do not have to command the entire ASL language to begin communicating earlier with your child. Just a few signs incorporated into your daily routine is all it will take to reap these delightfully amazing benefits!!

Baby Sign Language Article

Click Here to Go to the Article

One night 12-month-old Isabella woke up crying at 3 am. Her Mother rushed in and tried to figure out what was wrong. Was Izzy sick? Was she just teething? Did she need Tylenol? Before the panicky first time Mom could start the familiar process of trial and error to find out what was wrong, Isabella put three fingers to her lips and made the sign for water. "Do you want water?" Isabella's Mother asked surprised. Isabella made her yes-grunt sound and nodded her head enthusiastically. 5 minutes later after downing a sippy-cup of water, Isabella was peacefully asleep.

Isabella is one of the thousands of babies who have learned how to sign, so that they may communicate before they are able to speak. For parents, sign language is heaven sent. It cuts down on tantrums and allows parents to be able to understand what their baby wants and needs. Babies as young as 6 months old can use sign language, whether they are hearing impaired or not. Plus, you don’t need to know sign language to teach your child. There are tons of baby signing videos and classes, such as the popular “Baby Signing Time” series and “My Smart Hands” classes. Arizona parents can start immediately in a beginner sign language class or take a crash course for busy parents in a class from “My Smart Hands”. See My Smart Hands for more info or find them on facebook.

There are also tons of youtube videos you can watch with your child for free. So, if you are a parent who wants to understand your baby ASAP, then start signing. Although, it does take a lot of repetition and patience, before you know it you will understand your child all too well.

Isabella’s nervous Mother never would have guessed that little Izzy simply wanted a glass of water in the middle of the night. Thanks to signing, Isabella was able to tell her Mother what she wanted and all were able to get a decent nights rest. What more could a Mother want?

GIVEAWAY WINNER

So as I was doing some searching online to find a tool to pick a winner at random (without having to actually write every name out and put it in a hat! ha!), I discovered that I really was not 'allowed' to run a Contest on Facebook.com without prior permission. OOPS! And I also can not post the winner on Facebook itself. It's a bunch of legal mumbo jumbo that I don't really get, but unfortunately this will have to be my last Giveaway on Facebook. Click Here To Read More (especially if you have an FB fan page for your own business)

But because I don't want to disappoint everyone who worked so hard to get My Smart Hands - Phoenix to 100 Fans, I am going to announce the winner here on my blog (which just handily happens to have a 3rd party connector to FB with NetworkedBlogs - yay!)

Drum roll please......................Our winner of a Level 1 My Smart Hands Class is:

DANICA NORRIS

Yay! Please email me at crystal@mysmarthands.com with your mailing address of choice, and I will put your gift certificate in the mail!

Thanks again to everyone for participating, and sorry I won't be able to do these on FB anymore! :(

The "Fireflies" Song in ASL

Do any of your kids like to watch the fireflies?

Check out this fun video of a young man signing to a song called "Fireflies".

The song's lyrics, as well as the ASL translation, are along the bottom of the screen.

Notice how his very expressive face helps to get his message across as he signs.

Super fun!

Laura's Son, Hartford, Signing at 12 Months

Check out this amazing video of Hartford, just 12 months old, signing with his mom, the founder of My Smart Hands, Laura Berg! :)