Baby Signs

Awhile back, my friend Sarah Kay gave me a book about teaching sign language to your baby as a way of early communication, before they can verbally communicate with you. I've tried a few times to teach Jack simple signs for "thank you," "more," and "all done." (On a side note, I think Eric has tried to teach him "duck" and "elephant." Not very practical, hon.) But until last week, nothing had taken root. I was standing in a VERY long line at Trader Joe's on Saturday, with Jack in the cart, getting squirmy. I was getting low on his "shopping with Mommy" snacks, so I started doing the sign for "more" before giving him the snack. After about eight hundred tries, he did it back to me! I was SO excited that I said in a loud voice, "Good Boy!!! Here's a treat for you!!" (I felt like I was talking to my dog!) The lady in line behind me also saw it and was quite impressed, so for the rest of the time in line, Jack stuffed his face with food, as I reinforced that, "When you make that movement with your hands, you get more treats."

He's continued to do it over the past four days (who said babies forget everything when they go to sleep and have to relearn it each day? Not true!) . It's so neat because it's truly one of the first real communciations we've had with him, besides just the general cries of "I'm cranky" or "I want something" or "I'm so sad that I didn't get what I wanted." Now when he eats at his high chair, he finishes his bite (or sometimes before he's even done chewing) and then looks at us sweetly and taps his fingers together. It's SO darn cute.

Today I was at Target, and I brought a Zwieback toastie with me, for him to knaw on while I shopped. I had unknowingly gone down the baby food aisle, and was standing there, facing the opposite wall, looking for a sippy cup for Jack. All of a sudden I noticed he was doing the sign for "more." More what? I asked myself. Then I turned around and gasped; I had stopped directly in front of the shelves with all the snacks that he eats! The veggie wheels and fruit puffs, the toasties and arrowroot cookies. The poor thing was sitting there, seeing all those familiar boxes, and was politely saying, "More, please, Mommy?" I felt HORRIBLE (it was lunchtime) and at the same time I was so touched and amazed that he was that observant, and that he recognized something so out of context. (I'm convinced he thinks that all snacks originate from our upper right corner cabinet in the kitchen, because some days he just stands there and cries, pointing up.) So, I grabbed a can of Carrot wheels, opened it on the spot, and gave him "more."

Now, a last interesting note: I've also wondered during the past couple days if he thinks that the sign means "More food, please" or if he thinks, "If I do this with my hands I'll get whatever I want." Because today he came up to me with the remote, handed it to me (his way of telling me he wants to watch his videos) and then started doing the sign for "more." Hm. When I didn't turn it on he flopped on the floor and started crying. Whenever he wants anything, he does the sign, looking all sweet and cute--it's so funny to see him almost to the manipulative stage (and a little scary, too!).

Also, when he's done eating, he turns his head to the side, makes a face and sometimes makes a spitting noise, but then he does the sign for "more!" Eric and I are trying hard to teach him the "all done" sign, but so far, "More" is all we get. I sure hope this isn't the theme of his life, and of parenthood...but there's a small part of me that suspects that we'll be answering "More, please" for quite some time. God help us!