Hug Me

We have been teaching Gioia baby signs, and she has learned quite a few. She recognizes /makes signs for more, doggie, eat, stars, and others. This week, though, she made up her own sign for hug (shown above).

This sign derived from hugs with her stuffed bunny rabbits. We would say - give bunny a hug - and then wrap her arms around her bunny and encourage a hugging, rocking motion. After a few times of being directed, she now can hug any toy on her own after you say "give (insert toy name) a hug."

Anyway, one day she wrapped her arms around herself and looked at us. One of us (I can't remember if it was me or Chris) said - do you want a hug? And then we hugged her. She immediately made then sign again. So we hugged her again. The first session was such a fun surprise. I think we gave her four or five hugs in a row that first time. You can see Chris responding to her baby sign for hug below.


Yesterday, she was sitting in the middle of the floor after a crawling and exploring session. I caught her eye and she made the hug sign. So I went over and gave her some hugs, all on her command. Then Lisa came over and continued the hugging under Gioia's direction. After about eight hugs in a row, she suddenly made the sign for "all finished," so we stopped. All finished is a sign we make after eating, when it is time to get out of the bath, and when the bottle is done.

So she now has the ability to command a hug and to have the hugging stop, all under her own direction. At 11 months old, I think that is incredibly cool.