baby signing

We're going to give it a try. His teachers are on board with signing so we have to learn their signs. Another mommy let me borrow her baby einstein first baby sign dvd.  For those that haven't had the pleasure of baby einstein, picture this: a puppet without any arms pops up on the screen, then a series of pictures of babies, followed by a sprinkling of rembrandts and other art history slides. The first thing out of J's mouth as he held our excited bouncey puppet lover was, "Now that puppet can't sign, it has no arms!"  But that puppet can show our baby how to feed another puppet by putting the spoon backward in it's mouth I guess.  The puppet doesn't need to sign because they have these other little cutie pies and Marlee Matlin for that (although some of those kids look old enough to do calculus or at least talk without baby signs).  Another thing I think is funny is which signs are considered to be "first" or most important.  One site I was reading had sign number 14 of babies first 100 signs as divorce.  The practice sentence was my aunt and uncle are divorced.  Now let's see: first, teach kid about the institution of marriage, then the legality of divorce.  Crazy?

I brought signing up with some other mommies and their advice was:
1. Always use a word or phrase while you're doing the sign
2. Use only a few signs when they are really young
3. Make good eye contact and watch them look at your hands signing
4. Teach them useful signs that can help them avoid frustration or gain control
We are starting to use signs for all done, more, and need diaper change. One mom swears that it made her potty training easier because he was already used to sharing when he needed a change.