signing success and questions

Tessa has been signing eat, drink, more, hat, bath & teeth for the past month or so.

Yesterday on our walk she learnt duck (well my version of duck (quacking and making your hand into a beak - but not against mouth like in the book) I was amazed (and very proud) how quick she picked up up!

I also use the signs for shower, dog and cow with her, but she's not using these yet. She can say mum & dad so we never bothered with those.

We need the think of signs for milk and finished - but we're stuck! I know it doesn't matter what the signs are, but we can't think what to do. The "finished" sign in my book sounds too much like Tessa's sign for bath (she rubs her belly with both hands). The "milk" sign (opening & closing extended hand) looks like her sign for drink (we do the drink sign and she replies by reaching out and opening & closing both hands). If it helps: she drinks her milk from a cheap sippy straw cup, and drinks her water from a big Tommee Tippee straw cup - I would like to have a different sign for each.

Any suggestions would be helpful - I think she would really benefit from learning these two signs! I should have taught them to her already but have been trying to think of new ones for milk/finished!

Ha ha - My husband thinks we should teach her to do the hand across the throat sign and stick her tongue out (like the All Blacks new haka - but I won't let him!
Doing it across her body is a good idea though! We might try that!
Silly isn't it - something so easy but I can't think of it myself!

When we say "Ka Mate Ka Mate" to the girls they try to take their clothes off and then proceed to slap their tummys

Hayden picked up the milk sign after our first class, the clenching of his fist while its verticle, which is different from the drink sign which is lifting hand to mouth in the common drink sign (ie fancy a beer hee hee), maybe you can come up with a variation from that.

The verticle flat hand waving is very similar to the sign for hurt/pain/ouch which I'd make sure I teach her so she can tell you when she's hurting. Great story in my baby sign class yesterday was a 14mth old who had a bad reaction to a new food on the weekend was able to sign - hurt, mouth, throat, drink - drank 2 bottles of water and the paramedics said it help flush/dilute the nasty (whatever it was) from her system.

Hayden's signs are all quite similar but he uses them at different times and our teacher says that is just fine, he is communicating and that is the main thing, he'll refine his technique as he gets older. He is almost 11mths and we've been going for about 8 weeks now. He can do food/eat, drink/water, milk, duck, bird and this week I'm focusing on hurt/pain and all gone/finish (which is fingers and thumbs in diamond shape in front of you moving away til all fingers on each hand are pursed together - gosh its hard to explain signs!!!!) but we are doing british sign language being that we are in England :)

Edited by kiwikid