"Oh, sign to me!"

Sara Bingham is the founder of WeeHands (a baby sign language company) and is author of The Baby Signing Book. Sara completed an honours Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics at the University of Ottawa, and has earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Carleton University. In addition, she has earned an honours post-graduate diploma from Georgian College, as a Communicative Disorders Assistant. Sara has been studying American Sign Language (ASL) since 1991 with the Canadian Hearing Society, the Bob Rumball Centre for the Deaf and at Durham College. She teaches at both Durham College and Georgian College within their Communicative Disorders Assistant programs and is the owner/founder of WeeHands Baby Sign Language Inc, www.weehands.com

No, signing will not slow down the development of speech. If you break down the way we communicate into three simple parts: 1) sign language that happens at your hands; 2) language (knowing vocabulary and how to put words together) happens at the brain; 3) while speech (the sounds you make) happens at your mouth. The motor skills needed to use signs develop before the motors skills needed for speech. If you think of the word...

Welcome to my first blog… ever! This is a new thing for me although I do a lot of writing for websites, and I’ve been told blogging is similar… I’ll let you be the judge! So let me introduce myself so you know who’s behind these new weekly posts. I’m a mom of two lovely daughters, a nutritionist, entrepreneur, and am totally passionate about food and how to best feed moms, babies, and families. I started my company, Sprout...

I saw a pregnant lady while I was shopping today, and I smiled at her. She looked as though she didn’t appreciate that very much. So I walked away and started thinking about my own pregnancies. When it was near the end of both of my pregnancies it used to bother me when people looked at me. I was absolutely ginormous, but when you’re pregnant everybody looks at you, big or small. When I was pregnant with my daughter, the cleaning lady...

Well let’s start off by introducing you to my almost four year old. Her name is Sara. She is a pretty little blonde girl with a ton of personality. She loves to have fun outdoors, and is often seen swimming around the Therapy Pool at our favourite Mississauga pool. She has been swimming since she was six months and hasn’t looked back. She’s almost swimming unassisted now, but she is still learning that she has to actually come up for a...

With a few Christmas gift certificates burning a hole in my sweatpants, I ran out to the mall last week to find myself a new Stacy and Clinton-worthy wardrobe. This was me making good on my New Year's resolution: to dress stylishly and look my best. Arriving at the mall was exhilarating. I grabbed several cute pieces from one of my favourite stores and headed to the fitting rooms. I was not ready for what I was about to see. The Muffin...

Ok, the day I bought a minivan. The day I bought a minivan a little bit of me died. It may sound silly to some of you, but I am a city girl. I was born and raised in Toronto, and I don’t really like driving. I walk and I take public transit. That’s what I do. Pre-babies my husband Nick and I didn’t own a car. We used to walk to work, the grocery store, walk to pubs, walk to bars, take cabs, streetcars or buses, whichever came first....

Q: My two year old has been hitting, pushing and scratching the other kids at her daycare. The other night while I was putting her coat on, she was smiling at another girl in her group, she went up to her and I thought she was going to give her a hug, instead she pushed her and when I crouched down to her level and said, "No hitting" she just laughed and lunged at the girl again. I was so embarrassed, as this girls mother was with her, and I...

What do "Appletree," "Seaborn," and "Fohla" have in common? Brace yourselves, readers. They are all given names with which full-grown adults have saddled their sweet innocent babes. Oh yes, my friends. It turns out celebrities aren't the only ones who can play the eccentric name game when it comes to their offspring. These are real-life first names given by West Coast parents to their West Coast kids. I know -- I'm not doing much for British...

Hi there, this is my first official post so I thought I start by covering the basics and then we can move on to the fun stuff! My name is Sara Bingham and I am the proud founder of WeeHands! Currently, we have 80+ instructors across North America teaching parents to use American Sign Language vocabulary with thier babies, toddlers and preschool children! I completed an honours Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics at the University of Ottawa,...

“Oh bloody hell” was my first thought when I had no option but to blog on my own site. Not another thing I don’t have time for. After thinking about it I realized that maybe this could be the only opportunity I have to rant about funny things that happen to a publisher of a baby mag. So, my blog will be the life and times of a sleep deprived do it all daddy who believes that all mommies are sexy, no matter what shape or size. I love...

So, I wanted to start my own blog. Why? Well, I really enjoy reading blogs – especially mommy blogs. And every time I read one, usually, I can relate. So I figured, why can’t I write one? I’m the editor of a baby magazine and I already have a website - so why not let people into my crazy life and why not let Oh Baby! readers know that I’m a nutjob? Why not? Well, after putting together my pros and cons list – I LOVE lists, I also...

My name is Jennifer Kolari and I am really looking forward to answering questions and sharing my method of Connected Parenting with all of you. I am a family therapist with a practice in Toronto and San Diego, and a mother of three. I love being a therapist and I especially love working with children one on one. Kids are amazing and they fascinate me whether they are infants or teenagers. Many years ago as a beginning therapist at a...