My Edible Dad

Kerilynn Jex Cooke

2010

medium: rice krispy treat

It does bear an uncanny reseblance to my father. 

Would You Rather...

Have mosquito bites all over your legs (80 bites per leg)

or

Have both of your legs, front and back, be sunburned?

You have to choose.

Brought to you by my sunburned knees.

Welcome summer

B.T.W. I would choose the sunburn. They heal quicker and while they can be extremely painful especially on your joints, in clothes, and when sitting it is less annoying than mosquito bites.

Cohen's Signs

I've been meaning to write these down for months but you know how it goes.  
*Warning I'm getting on my soapbox*
ASL (American sign language) has played a huge part in my adult life, which is a whole blog post of its own, the least of which is my job as a teacher and interpreter. In college my major was Linguistics and my minor was ESL teaching and because of that I was able to take some wonderful classes about language acquisition and the like. Because of those classes along with my own personal experience using the language I knew that I wanted to sign with my kids (before it became the trendy thing to do) because I knew the benefits of it and boy, has it paid off.

Here is my linguistic 2 cents...one reason signing works so well is because it allows children/Cohen to communicate.  We know they can understand but one of the difficulties with any spoken language is how intricate the actual production of it is i.e. knowing where exactly  your articulators (tongue, teeth, palate...) go.  For example where does the tongue needs to be placed, what shape are your lips in, how does the air escape, are your vocal chords vibrating or not etc.  That type of control is difficult to master.  Babies start babbling to practice the above techniques and eventually become proficient and speak.  With ASL your articulators are your body, hands, face, fingers etc. these are things that babies gain control of earlier hence production can occur sooner.

My pediatrician asked if Cohen could say any words, to which I asked what she meant by words.  Did she mean audible? (I know this is what she meant) Words that only John and I understand? Words that anyone could understand?  Signs?  She replied spoken words &/or animal sounds.  I then once again explained to her that I sign with Cohen at home.  That I am fluent in ASL and not just using a word here or there with him but rather my voice is off and we sign just like if someone spoke Spanish, French, or Farsi; we use two languages at home.  She then told me how there is some disagreement in the medical profession about when you stop including signs as words some say 15 months others say 18 months.  I get it.  For the majority of people they pop in a Baby Einstein video and their kid can say milk and thank you and all done but this is different.  American Sign Language is a bonafide language with all the complexities that come with a language, this is and has been an issue convincing others to believe so even though the research is conclusive-ugh.  I'm not taking issue with anyone who uses some signs with their kids, I encourage it, it's all about communication with one another and whether it's an official ASL sign or some gesture that you and your child use to create understanding that's great!

This post has taken an entirely different course than I originally planned on, clearly I have some suppressed language issues, now back to the original point.  I have loved teaching Cohen ASL! It has been incredibly helpful these past 11 months (he started signing around 6 months).  He is teaching our family and friends sign.  It's funny he'll move his hands a certain way and people ask me, "What is he saying?" Sometimes he is saying something other times he just moving or scratching:).  There have been many times where tantrums have been avoided because he can tell me he wants milk,  that he is done eating, that what he really wants to eat right now is a cracker and not the sandwich, or that he wants to read a book.  I love being able to communicate with him and am grateful we've been able to do so from such an early age.
Ok now we're back to where we started, the documentation...


Family:
Dad
Mom
Grandpa
Grandma
Uncle
Aunt

Food:
Banana
Orange
Apple
Grapes
Hot Dog
Cheese
Cracker
Milk
Water

Animals (Sign + Sounds)
Dog
Cat
Cow
Horse
Monkey
Moose
Fish
Chicken
Bird
Elephant
Bird
Giraffe (sign only)


Other Signs:
Book
Bath
All done/finished
More
Tree
Hot
Cold
Airplane
Helicopter
Wind
Shoes
Socks
Star
Baby
Poo
Ball
Car
Hi/Bye
Please
Sorry
Thank you
Ocean
Church
Jesus

Spoken Words:
Dad
Mom
Balloon
Hi
Yeah
Boom
(Animal sounds count according to the peditrician)
Up & down
Yuck

Hello?

Testing, testing...can you hear me?  Is anyone out there?

Rather than rattle off excuses for my absence  let's just move on and pretend it never happened.

After a week long work conference in Utah I came back to celebrate Father's Day and John's birthday then Cohen and I were off to the annual Matern family reunion at Carlsbad beach.

Snuggling after playing in the sand and water

Aunt Corrine owns a children's consignment store and couldn't resist this stunning piece of swim attire.  She knew just the boy for it and it made spotting him very easy.

Grandpa and I after some body surfing and boogie boarding.  He's still got it at 83!

My sisters and I with our dear cousin Marissa who never goes in the water except when accompanied by her favorite cousins in the world...us:)

Cohen LOVES the water.  He wants to kick, blow bubbles, and not be held.

More fun swimming with Uncle Weston

Fourth of July fireworks.  Cohen was not happy with  noise at first, then he would say boom every time he saw one, and because they went on for a while he ended up lying down on me and practically falling asleep.

A county fair find from my parents.  They are sandals that stick to your feet.  At first it felt weird then I got used to it.  I've worn them a few times, not out and about but as more of a joke. John HATES them and keeps threatening to throw them away.  I think not, Sir.

We were given tickets to a Dodger game from John's boss.  They were amazing seats, a few rows behind first base.  It was a fun date!

Lastly, while on summer vacation I've been trying to do something fun with Cohen as often as possible.  On the suggestion of a good friend we all took the light rail to Union Station and then crossed the street to Olvera street where we looked at the fun knick knacks and dined on delicious Mexican food.  Cohen would not eat a chip unless it was drenched in Salsa, a proud moment for me.  This was the only picture I took, it's the boys in front of Mickey in a pirates uniform in L.A.'s union station.