"Biter Biscuit?" "More, Thank You"

Well, the next sign we have been working on with Luke is "Thank You." I figured this would be a little more difficult as it is rather abstract, compared to "more." With "more" there is a direct result. Not so much with "thank you." So, I asked some friends how they taught "thank you" and it was suggested that I hold out the item, but don't let go of it until Luke said "thank you." This was a fine idea, except that the items he usually asks for are served on a spoon (like banana) or too small for me to imagine both of us holding on to it at one time (like Cherios or Goldfish crackers). So we came up with a new plan. When he asked for "more" I would put small items on his tray, but not let him touch them until he said "thank you." (Of course, what this meant was that I was holding his hand and doing the motion for him.) The sign for "thank you" involves touching your chin with your fingers and then bringing your hand down.

Yesterday, he was sitting on the kitchen floor and I was offering him a piece of some banana bread I had made. He continued to give the "more" sign from about three feet away. I was trying to encourage him to come over to me to get the bread. Finally, he started signing "more" followed by putting his fingers into his mouth. At first, I thought he was saying "More! Right in here!" But then I realized that this was his way of signing "thank you"! Apparently, he has decided that since he has to do both the "more" sign and the "thank you" sign before he gets to eat, he might as well do them both at the same time and get it over with! Hence the second half of the title of this post.

The first half of the title of this post relates to a treat that the "Easter Bunny" brought to Luke. "Biter Biscuits" are like hard-to-dissolve crackers. It takes several minutes of chewing, gumming, gnawing or whatever a child is capable of doing to get even a piece into your mouth. However, in the meantime, baby is amply rewarded with biter-biscuit soup: a delicate combination of biter biscuit and drool. This soup not only covers the mouth, but also the nose, cheeks, bib, hands and anything touched by the hands. As you can see in the picture below, this is not at all disturbing to Luke!

In other news, Luke's fourth tooth (top right front from his perspective) has finally come in. (By "in" I mean that you can actually feel the edge of it through the gum, as opposed to yesterday where you could feel the tooth, but it was still encased in the gum. It will be some time before it shows up in photos like the other three.)