How I did it: We started when our son was 7 months old, and at first it was discouraging, but we stuck with it. Then after a couple months, he started doing the signs for "milk" and "eat".  Soon after he started signing "more" which became his favorite, and even though he is talking now he still makes the sign when he says it.

He also knows "please" and "thank you" which he still uses when he is feeling shy and doesn't want to say it out loud!

Now he is 2 years old and will make up signs for things he doesn't know how to say.  It has definitely made things easier on us by being able to understand him at a younger age.  I can't imagine how many tantrums this has prevented!  It was also lots of fun to impress strangers when they would catch my genius baby using sign language out in public.

Lessons & tips: Basically we had to teach ourselves a few basic signs, and just use them every time we said that word.  It took a few weeks before he caught on, and a few months before he started trying to copy the motions.  After he learned a few, he really took off and learned more than I can remember!

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Feb 05, 2010, 07:40PM PST | 1 comment | 6 cheers