Of all of the parenting choices we’ve made in the past year and a half, baby signing has definitely been one of the best. Sebastian is naturally pretty laid back, but being able to communicate his needs with signs makes him even more chill. We started signing “milkies” to Sebastian consistently around four months, although he didn’t start signing it back until 10 months. The first time he signed was in the car, strapped into his car seat and crying. I was so excited! Just being able to say, “Oh, you want milkies – You can have some soon” was reassuring, even if his needs couldn’t be met immediately.

We added more and more signs, many of which evolve over time. Sebastian’s sign for “food” used to be bringing fingers to his mouth. It kind of looked like he was smoking a joint, which made me laugh. Now he brings a closed fist up to his chin instead. Probably the most useful sign he does is “potty,” which is just patting his diaper (the ASL sign for toilet is harder) but gets the idea across. (Too often “potty” now translates to “I want to go play with stuff in the bathroom,” but that’s beside the point.)

Above, signing for “bird”

More ‘fun’ signs include those for animals, which are mostly big arm motions, some with sound effects added. He also signs for “piano”, “drums”, “flag”, “phone”, “hat”, and many more that are slipping my mind right now. It is great when he can express exactly what he is excited about seeing. Most of his signs go with pictures from various books, and he quickly makes the connection to the real life items.

I highly recommend introducing signing to your baby or toddler. It doesn’t have to be intimidating and you definitely don’t have to do American Sign Language. I have picked up some Baby Sign Language here but most of our signs are made up spur of the moment. Signing can definitely cut down on your baby’s frustration and studies show that it actually encourages verbal speech to happen faster, not the other way around.