Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/695013
9 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP KIDS B abies'firstsmileshave always been joyous milestones, the first real signal that they are social beings reach - ing out to actively engage with their parents. Increasingly, however, parents want even greater communication with their infants. Long before their children can utter their first words, parents are teaching them baby sign language. Hungry? Tap fingers to the mouth. More? Tap fingers on both hands together. Milk? Squeeze your hand like you're milking a cow. Turns out, infants are far more capable than many of us thought — and parents in the highly competitive Bay Area are filling libraries and baby centers for workshops and buying baby sign language kits. For the kind of parents who play Mozart when their babies are in the womb and groom their children to be Ivy Leaguers, stud - ies showing that baby signs raise IQs are irresistible. "In Silicon Valley, where everyone is taking their kids to swimming classes and music classes, you don't want to be left behind," says Cheri Binkley, who with her husband, Peter — both of them emergency room physicians — brought their twin 9-month- olds to the Campbell Library for the baby sign language class one recent morning. "You want your kid to have every advantage to succeed and be intellectual." "I just want them to be happy," Peter chimes in. AngelineLopez,ofCampbell, and her baby, Lylah, shown here at 11 months, learn to sign during a class at the Campbell Library. Previous page: Ethan Schaetzle, 1, at home in San Jose.