Time flies, whether we’re having fun or not! Yet, when I think back, much of what happened years ago feels like it was years ago! It’s still often hard to believe how much time has truly passed…how did I get to be this age “already”, and “suddenly” I am the mother of teens?!
Even Baby Fingers is a teenager, and I am excited to share that we will celebrate 15 years in January!
In May of 2001, I took maternity leave from Baby Fingers. I had been piling up my pillows so I could still, sort of, sit on the floor with my clients as we sang and signed together. But it was my 2nd child, and my belly was pretty huge. My older son could no longer sit on my lap, and I could hardly reach around to strum my guitar.
At that point, I couldn’t believe that I already had a two year old. His birthday was exactly two weeks before his brother was born. But my journey was truly just beginning – and my children were along for the ride.
I kept a detailed journal during both my pregnancies, and until my younger son was around 3 or so. It was really helpful to look back at when they got or lost teeth, when they first signed, and what they first said. Some of those special moments are highlighted on our website at https://mybabyfingers.com/staging/9114/our-story. Sign language was, for my family, a very special gift.
Often times I see current and former clients in the neighborhood, or see updates on social media. I typically only recognize the parents…a 5, 10, or 15 year old looks a LOT different than she or he looked as that baby or toddler learning to sign with us, and it’s always a surprise to see how they’ve grown. I guess I forget that if I’m getting older, and my own children are getting older, so are these precious little ones I’ve been so honored to teach. There have also been a those whom I’ve really seen grow up along side my own children. A few of our babies and toddlers continued signing in our nursery school in the early years, and two of them became classmates of my children in elementary school. Read the sign language success stories some of our families have shared with us on our site at: https://mybabyfingers.com/staging/9114/success-stories.
Success…I find it easy at times to dwell on what I haven’t accomplished over the years, but I’d like to focus here on my many accomplishments – and I’d like to thank all my families (my own family and my Baby Fingers families), as none of these successes would have been achieved on my own. I hope this is also a reminder for you to think of all your own positive steps forward, your own projects and special moments.
Honestly, I love being a mom and I love my work. I’m incredibly proud of my children. I’m proud of having developed Baby Fingers based on my master’s thesis, along with my experience as a music therapist, special education teacher, and mom. I’m thrilled that Baby Fingers has provided so much to so many families – one class at a time. I’m delighted to have a staff of teachers who are smart, talented, and dedicated to our program and families. So here goes.
I asked my husband to marry me the day after we met. YEP. And we’re going on 20 years. Crazy as I was, I moved to NYC in 1994, knowing nobody here but him. We were married 10 months later, having planned the wedding while we were getting to know each other; adjusting to a new home, a new job, a new relationship. I got my master’s degree in 1997, our children were born in 1999 and 2001.
It was in January 2000 that Baby Fingers became an LLC. For a couple of months, I had been tweaking the curriculum and teaching methods while singing and signing with some friends and their babies, along with my own. In 2004, my first two sign language books were published. You can see all my books here: https://mybabyfingers.com/staging/9114/books. A New York Times journalist had visited one of my classes and included us in her article about Baby Sign Language classes in NYC. Less than a week later, I had a phone call from an editor at Sterling Children’s books, and the rest – as they say – “is history.” It was incredibly exciting! So fun to have real children learning from me and modeling signs for our books. Tremendously gratifying to see the babies and toddlers that had been through our program captured on film signing. Thanks to Sterling, and thanks to the NY Times! We’ve been fortunate to have been highlighted in multiple mediums – they can be found on our webiste here: https://mybabyfingers.com/staging/9114/press.
All this time, I was also providing music therapy to medically fragile children, teens with mental illness, and preschoolers who had a variety of special needs. I began supervising music therapy students in their fieldwork and internship. Today, I am a proud member of the music therapy faculty at Molloy College, the music therapist and sign language teacher at a local preschool, founding director and more at Baby Fingers, and mom to two teens. I’m hoping to write for more parenting magazines, author another textbook chapter, present at more conferences, and train more parents and teachers. I hope you and your family will join us at Baby Fingers, and I hope you celebrate your successes today, in the new year, and always.
Wow, what a ride it has been…and my, how time flies!
