Sounds and Signs

Learning language and culture

Begins between birth and three.

Isabel held up her curved fingers before the TV

"Buh," moving her arms as she repeated "Buh."

When she wanted to see "Beauty and the Beast."

When I sat before the computer,

She stood beside me saying,

"Pew, Pew," until I lifted her onto my lap.

We played "Throw a cabbage at the vegetables."

She hit a key to throw a cabbage at the vegetables.

After a long day at Biltmore Estates,

My son strapped Isabel into her Infant Seat.

Through her black hair, her brown eyes peered at me.

She raised her right fist, her chubby fingers curled,

And extended her index finger

Vertically before her pursed lips,

And closed her eyes.

At eighteen months, she had learned

To orchestrate her world.