It's Signing Time with...

So, those of you who have been privy to the interior world of the GM and the raising of the Pizz know already how much she loves the show Signing Time.  This is probably because, aside from random snippets of ESPN and a more random adoration of the original B-Movie "Clash of the Titans," the DQ only lets the Pizz watch this one show. 

It used to be that we would start ST and the Pizz would watch a few minutes and then get distracted by something else.  By the end of the show, it was only me and the DQ sitting around watching, dutifully learning American Sign Language for things like "more" and "milk" and "shoes."  The Pizz showed not even a tiny inclination towards producing a sign of her own.

Then, just when we were about to give up, she threw us a bone.  It worked!  She started telling us she wanted to drink milk, or (our favorite) take a nap!  Hooray!

Then we would all sit around watching it on television, the Pizz still largely distractable, but since she would routinely use the signs in the videos, it was clear that something was sinking in.  Over and over again we would watch the Signing Time videos showing us kids of all ages, a cartoon frog, and one seranading adult named Rachel show us the signs for things that kids would find important: books, food, and household objects.  The Pizz's particular favorite was a session where the stars of the show backpack through the forest.   The DQ remarked that one day driving home from day care the Pizz was shouting something unintelligible repeatedly from the back seat, only to turn around and clearly see that she was doing the sign for "raccoon."

Teachers at school told us our child was a genius, if only for the mere reason that they had no idea what she was wanting or needing as she waved her little short arms around the classroom.  The teachers even borrowed some videos from us so that they could learn themselves!

Naturally, the DQ and I expanded our own ASL vocabularies with the Pizz, until it seemed like we were master ASLers.  Our child was a brilliant linguist and it was all because of us.  Well, with the help of Rachel, Alex, and Leah.

Right?  Right.

So, the DQ comes home from a long day's work yesterday, and seems flustered.  It seems that she consulted on a patient with congenital deafness, and instead of cruising through the visit, she was stumped.  Beyond saying phrases like "the hippo ran up the tree" and asking "do we need to change your diaper?," she could basically say not one useful thing.  No "Hi, how are you feeling today?" or "I am Doctor so-in-so."  Nothing.  Nada.  Rien.

I mean, give her an animal emergency, and she's all ready to say: "Where is the horsey's owie??!!"

And just like that, poof! goes our ASL swagger.