Oh the screaming. DD is 12.5 months and has been driving me nuts for the past 2 weeks. She screams all the time. She will be just find and then scream or break into tears. We have a terrible time figuring out what is wrong and mostly can't.
So! We want to up the signs we are doing to help her communicate better. (she hasn't started talking yet) I'm hoping that helps to bring back my happy baby.
What are the most useful signs for me to work on? She does "milk" (for nursieJ) and "all done". Last night she did "more".
I figure eat, drink, hungry would be good. Bed? Oh, we plan on doing "help" for sure. I'm hoping that she will do that instead of screaming when she needs help with something. LOL
What have you found the most helpful for your 1-2 year old?

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The biggies we did were the ones you mentioned: milk, all done, eat, more and help. We also did water, drink, music and some others, but really those 5 were the ones that she used the most often and I think helped her really feel like she could communicate and be heard. Good luck and I hope the screaming stops soon!

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Andy

Oh, we did sleep as well, which was nice too.

I wanted to update. Colleen is 14.5 months old now and does the following signs:
milk(for nursies)
more
drink
eat
help
potty
change(as in "change diaper")
please
thank you
I think that is it. Signing has been so helpful in letting her feel heard and understood. The smile she gives us when she has communicated and we have understood is priceless.

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Wow...sounds like she is doing great!

Erik is 10 months old and we have been working with Signing Time and My Baby can Talk - and he can sign milk, eat, daddy, and I've seen him practicing more, and he tried to do dog and go while watching the videos...its really cute.

But....he was just exploding last week with signs and this week - almost nothing! He is teething...did you all notice that your young ones wouldn't sign as much if they weren't feeling as good?

Also...he keeps signing milk for water...normal? I usually just sign drink or water for him...

Thanks...this is so fun!

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I noticed that signs will come and go with her. I'm sure it's like any other developmental thing.
The milk for water thing is normal too I'm sure. Just keep showing the correct one and he will catch on. The important thing is that he feels he is communicating with you. That will encourage him to keep trying. So he signs "milk" and you go, "Oh, do you want water?" and sign "drink" back. (or how ever you do it. )
We have a sign for ice now (she loved to suck on it for her molars) and it took a while for her to know when she wanted to sign "drink" to get ice water or "ice" to get ice to suck on. I would ask her each time which she wanted. She is able to nod and shake her head no, so she could tell me for sure which she was wanting.
As long as you have the patience to figure it out with them, these signs are so handy!

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