Baby Signs

We have several friends who have taught their babies sign language as a form of expression before they could speak.  There are a few theories on how to do it - Morgan and I have used a simple approach so far, introducing only the signs for mommy, daddy and milk. 

We had some good advice, first from my best friend Jane, who said "Don't teach them MORE - there is nothing more annoying than having a kid sign 'MORE' but then can't follow it up with what they want more of!"  That is why we are teaching milk, and not more.

Morgan has been very good about using the daddy sign when he talks to Raymond, and a could of weeks ago Raymond started putting his had on his forehead, but he hasn't quite been able to get it right because he doesn't seem to have consciousness about what kind of shape his hand is in ...  nonetheless, last weekend when my mom was in town Raymond did make his version of the daddy sign to explicitly ask for Morgan.  WOW.  That is all I could think.  WOW.  HE DID IT.  And of course I took him to Morgan (who was in the process of cooking a gourmet Mother's Day Weekend Dinner for us!). 

This experience left me proud as I could be - I really do think Raymond is exceptionally bright and perfect.  Okay, now I sound like one of those moms, but really I can't help it.

Today, however, a new kind of excitement came when Raymond looked directly at me and made the mommy sign for the first time, with his hand perfectly open and everything.  I am a big puddle of gooey melted mommy pride and love as a result.  I really have no idea how much of what he is doing with the signs is based on actual cognative function or if he is just following our lead.  Either way he is developing so well by leaps and bounds and I have to say that I am damn proud of the job we are doing. 

Not to mention the fact that he also just rolled over for the first time ... however, I am not sure that counts as he is asleep and didn't know that he was doing it.  At least I know he can now, right?