Training Cece, or Getting Trained?

Written by Yih-Chun

As we’ve mentioned in other posts, Cece was a fairly contented baby, except when it came to food. For the last month of Cece’s life, I was trying to teach her to sign, so that when she cried, I knew if she was looking for food, a pacifier, or something else. Initially these attempts were half-hearted, knowing that one-month-olds don’t usually sign, but I stepped up my efforts as Evelyn went back to work in early March. In order to create good conditions for learning, I wanted to work on the sign for eat, displaying it and helping her with it every time before eating. She started performing the sign and I wanted to strongly associate it with eating, so I made sure that whenever I saw her bringing her fingers to mouth, I would immediately pick her up and feed her if possible.

Around March 10, something clicked, and she started regularly signing “eat,” but not necessarily when she wanted to eat. Sometimes she would sign “eat” and use her tongue to reject the bottle. I eventually realized that she was using the “eat” sign not only to be fed, but also to be held. And Cece was a cuddle bug, always happy to be held. In retrospect, it seems like Cece was the one training me.

Cece, your mom and I so miss holding you. Thank you for cuddling with us during your time with us. You will always be in our hearts. ❤️