Tyler-ese

Most of you know that I'm trying to teach Tyler a few useful signs so we can communicate until he can talk.

He knows "all done," and "milk." He waves for "bye-bye" and "night-night." I've been trying to teach him "water," "hungry," "Cheerios," "more," and "puppy."

I'm not always consistent about doing the signs... and apparently Tyler doesn't always interpret them correctly.

"More" is tough to do because it requires both hands, so I can't do it when one hand has the spoon and the other is holding a jar of baby food. But I do the sign a lot when I'm giving him Cheerios.

I'm pretty sure he thinks "more" = "Cheerios" even though I've tried to teach him a sign for "Cheerios."

Yesterday, when I was feeding him pears and he kept doing the sign for "more" (basically clapping his hands together). I was so excited, I kept saying, "That's right, mmmooorrre pears!" and holding the spoon up to his mouth. But he wasn't really into the pears. That is when I realized he was looking around for the box of Cheerios.

Now I don't know whether to change the sign. Should I start saying "Cheerios" and doing the sign previously intended for "more"? and come up with a new sign for "more"?! Or should I try to use the the "more" sign in more situations to help him understand?!

In the meantime, he's eating lots of Cheerios! If I don't pay attention when he first claps his hands together, he squeals and claps his hands fairly emphatically for a 1-year-old. It is really funny when his hands don't quite line up!