XOXO

Hello everyone!  It seems like lots of people are spending more time out walking than usual.  It feels good to get outside – at LNS we spend lots of time outside in the playground, the sculpture park and in the woods.  When I was out walking my dogs last week, I met some friends I hadn’t seen for a long time.  We wanted to give each other a hug, but because we are all being extra careful about staying healthy we couldn’t do that.  My friend made a big round circle with her arms to show me she was hugging me.  It reminded me of a conversation after lunch at LNS one day.  Wesley found a note that Thomas’s mom put his lunch box.  Wesley asked me to read it.  As I pointed to the words he asked ‘what does XOXO say’.  I told him X means a kiss and O means a hug.  Wesley thought about this for a minute and then said – ‘No X means hug’, and demonstrated his thinking. Can you see the ‘X’ Wesley made?
I don’t know if Wesley knew this but what he did is the American Sign Language gesture for a hug.  Sign language is a way people communicate using their hands, bodies and facial expressions.  It is a language used by many Deaf people, people who have difficulty hearing and the people who live and work with them.  You don’t have to be Deaf or know someone who is deaf to learn ASL, often parents teach their babies some signs before they learn to talk.  Did you learn any signs when you were little?  Do you remember them?  Do you know anyone who uses ASL?  Watch the story of the Little Red Hen below and see if you can learn to say some words in ASL.  maybe you can make a message for when you talk to family or friends over the internet, or send one to us.  We would love to hear from you.  be well, karen and Kjerstin xoxo