How exciting - my first blog post as Sign & Rhyme! My two previous blogs were BK (Before Kids) and detailed my travel adventures on the other side of the world for any friends and family that wanted to see what I was up to. Life has taken me on many different types of adventures since then and I love that they have all converged to end up with 'Sign & Rhyme'.
So First Things First... Introductions! I am Kirsty, creater of Sign & Rhyme! I am a Mum of two gorgeous, sweet & cheeky kids and it's thanks to them that Sign & Rhyme came to be. It was by chance that I did a Baby Signing class with my daughter when we lived in the UK. I thought it was amazing... my daughter could tell me using the 'More' sign she wanted 'more'... 'more' food, 'more' milk, 'more' bath, 'more' toys months before she could 'say' the word. And then came 'change nappy', 'milk', 'home' and many more. I was hooked and a complete convert.
When we moved to New Zealand and I had my son, I knew I wanted to do Signing with him but there were no local classes so I just used what I knew from the UK. I was keen to learn NZ Sign Language so did a course and started to use NZSL signs with my son rather than the UK baby signs I'd learnt. At the time I was also volunteering with a charity supporting new parents as well as having a great time singing and dancing with toddlers / pre-schoolers and their parents leading a local 'mainly music' group. I found I was really enjoying supporting new parents as well as having a great time with all the kids too.
Each term I was also talking to different groups of Mums at 'Space' about signing with their babies and was loving it. I'd been dreaming about doing something in the 'Baby Sign' arena for years and then a chain of events led me to one Saturday morning mid way through 2019 where I decided the time was right. Ideas had been bubbling for ages but were now flying around my head, so many ideas! A group of trusty friends and family listened and bounced ideas around with me and 'Sign & Rhyme' was born.
My first term was sooo exciting - sharing all my experience, knowledge, stories and passion with such a lovely group of Mums and their super cute babies was awesome. I knew then, I'd found my 'thing'. The 'thing' that you'll work on until 2am in the morning without one begrudging thought, the 'thing' that still gives a buzz every time you do a class, the 'thing' that makes your heart melt every time you hear about one of these gorgeous kids signing to their parents.
Due to Covid-19, I moved the classes to online and it was great seeing how well they transferred into the comfort of our families homes. So much so, that I'm now going to do a mix of online and in person ones going forward.
So this is how Sign & Rhyme came to be and why I LOVE it. If you haven't joined us yet, come and see what's it's all about and see if you and your little one love it too!