Whuzzat?
A Daddy's journal about his baby's adventures in Signing...
Until he learns to talk
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Okay.
Cole's always been a...
"late bloomer".
He didn't crawl until he was a year old and was late to walk as well.
So we were aware when at a year and a half he wasn't yet talking on the level of other babies his age.
We know he can hear, comprehend and understand-
If you tell him to pick up his blocks or give you the shoe, he will.
So that isn't the problem.
Like with crawling and walking, I knew that Cole's talking would come along fine-
just at his own pace.
But with him screaming more often out of frustration, I thought that teaching him "Baby Sign Language" would help him communicate until he was talking.
Surely, it couldn't hurt.
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How It Began
In a way, it was Cole who gave us the idea to start him signing.
His favorite video tape to watch is the Wiggles-
a group of singers that sing and dance to childrens' songs.
It happened at the end of a Wiggles tape as the singing and dancing ended.
As the credits were scrolling by, Cole turned to me and gave a one-handed shrug with his palm up-
As if to say, "Where is it?" or "What happened?".
When I asked Shari where he got that, she said that that whenever the Wiggles tape ends, Cole would look at her wondering what happened to the singing and dancing. So she would shrug both shoulders with her palms up in an exaggerated way and say, "What happened? Where's the Wiggles?"
Sure enough, Cole picked up a one-handed version of "Where is it?"
That's when I knew we were onto something big.
Tuesday, January 18, 2005-
So with Cole at 19 and a half months old, I picked up a Baby Signing book.
Of all the signs they had, I figured it'd be best to start with a few simple ones.
We concentrated on Eat, Drink, All Done and Help.
That means every time we asked him if he wanted to eat, we would say "Eat" and give the fingers to the mouth sign of "Eat".
Every time we asked him if he wanted a drink, we would say "Drink" and give the thumb to the mouth sign of "Drink".
Every time the Wiggles taped ended and he signed, "What happened?", we would say "All done" and give the one hand sweeping from one side to the other sign of "All done".
And every time we asked him if he wanted help doing something, we would ask "Do you want help?" and give the fist on the palm sign of "Help".
Friday, January 21st-
Yeah, I knew it was too soon, I thought I'd see how Cole was progressing.
He'd only been introduced to signing for a few days, but what the heck. Couldn't hurt, right?
So when I saw that his sippy cup was on the floor behind him, I got Cole's attention and gave the sign for "Drink"... But this one time, I didn't say the word "Drink".
Sure enough, Cole looked around, found his sippy cup and took a drink.
Just THREE DAYS after starting signing to him, Cole showed that he understood and comprehended what the sign for "Drink" meant!
If I was a swearing type of guy, I'd say, "Un-Effing believable!
People always comment on how alert Cole is, how much he pays attention to what's going on around him, how "Nothing gets by him" or say that say that he's as smart as a whip (whatever that means).
And Cole just proved it.
Sunday, January 23rd-
Two days later, Cole was doing his favorite pastime- Watching a Wiggles tape and baby dancing to the music.
I was watching Cole out of the corner of my eye, and when the Wiggles tape ended and the TV screen went off, I wasn't surprised to see Cole signed his usual "Where is it?" and smiled.
My jaw practically dropped to the ground when I saw Cole look at the TV and swept his hand from one side to the other giving the "All Done" sign!
And he repeated it for Shari to see, so we know it wasn't a fluke.
So... In LESS THAN A WEEK after starting signing to him, Cole made his first sign!
In-Effing Credible!
(Oops. Sorry ;-)
As time went on, when appropriate, we introduced Cole to the signs for:
Dog, Bird, Bike, Hat (Helmet), Book, Fish, Hot, Cereal, Sleep, Shhh, Shoe, Up, Down, Daddy, Mommy, Telephone, Fan, More. (And "The Wiggles" which was a made up sign of hitting one fist on top of the other, mimicking a move from their well known 'Hot Potato' song)
And as a sidebar, by the end of January, Cole picked up some signing movements of his own from when the Wiggles were dancing to their songs.
Since he does them only when the music is playing, so they really don't count as signs.
by Monday, January 31-
Cole:
Pats his head during "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes".
Shakes his head from side to side during "We're Dancing With Wags the Dog"- (There's a part of the song where they do that during the lyric, "Turn your head from side to side")
Mashes his palms together during the 'Mash Banana' part of "Hot Potato".
Puts his finger to his nose (or his forhead if he misses ;-) and goes "Shhh" during "Rock-a Bye Your Bear".
(Although he did transfer to doing it when he hears loud noises or if he wants you to be quiet, so this one now counts as another sign he has learned)
Also an amusing incident in that time happened when I let Cole stay up way past his bedtime, naturally watching a Wiggles tape.
(Yes I know we let him watch a lot of Wiggles, but it keeps him happy, entertained, and it's better than that evil Barney the Dinosaur on as much ;-)
Anyway, Cole was starting to get fussy. I knew he was tired and needed to go to bed, but I couldn't help teasing him saying, "But Cole, it's the Wiggles. You like the Wiggles."
And I repeatedly signed "the Wiggles".
He looked at the TV, angrily signed "All done" and flopped onto his tummy on the ground.
He was telling me that he was all done watching Wiggles and wanted to go to sleep ;-)
And now he regularly waves bye-bye to the TV and signs "All Done" at the end of a Wiggles tape.
"All Done" and "Shhh".
That's two signs now he's learned to do in less than two weeks.
Wednesday, February 2nd-
Nothing as elaborate this time...
We were at WalMart going to the checkout line, Cole saw the McDonalds.
With his right hand, he pointed at McDonalds and then put his fingers in his mouth...
The sign for Eat.
...simple as that.
Later that night, I was straightening up the video cabinet just before all of us were going to bed. As I had a handful of tapes in my hands, I looked down at Cole. And with these big, sad looking, puppy dog eyes, he banged his fists together in a sideways motion. His version of the "Hot Potato" sign we've been using for "The Wiggles".
Naturally I let him watch a bit of a tape as a reward before putting him to bed.
"Eat" and "The Wiggles".
That's two more signs he now regularly uses. Along with "All Done" and "Shhh".
A total of four.
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NEW! (Starts below)
Thursday, February 3rd-
The next sign Cole learned was the coolest, mainly because it was such a surprise when he did it. Lately about every other day when i come home from work, I run upstairs to change into grubbies and take the boys for a bike ride.
For Cage, to give him more practice to get him off of his training wheels.
And for Cole (on the baby seat on the back of my bike), because he loves it- especially the wilder (but still safely) I ride.
Anyway, I had just finished changing when I saw that Cole had crawled up the stairs after me. I scooped him up and asked, "Do you want to go ride a bike?"
And just like that, as I was carrying downstairs, Cole raised his arms in the air and made a pedalling motion with his hands, signing "Bike".
It was so cool and unexpected, I was stunned.
And now, he usually signs "Hat" (Helmet) after he signs "Bike" because I usually say (and sign) that we have to wear a "Hat" right after I say we're going on a "Bike" ride.
Now he's good about signing "Bike" and "Hat" when he sees or hears the word 'bike' and 'hat'.
(Those join, "Eat", "All Done", "Shhh" and "The Wiggles")
Saturday, February 4th-
Adventures in signing interlude...
Heed the words of a parent who now knows;
Don't try to make your baby perform on cue.
In case you're not sure what I'm talking about, let me repeat:
DON'T... TRY... TO... MAKE... YOUR... BABY... PERFORM...!!!
See, we went to Papa and Fly-Grandma's house for Riana's birthday party.
After going on and on about how good Cole is with his signing over the phone, I thought this would be a good time for them to see first hand.
I tried to prompt him to sign "Eat", "Bike", "Hat", "All Done", anything...
But Cole wasn't having any part of it.
It must have been pretty funny watching me go, "He really does know how to sign. Honest!"
That's okay. I got even with them when Papa told me that Cole said the word "Truck" when they were in the garage.
He pulled me aside and pointing to his truck and asked Cole, "What's that?"
Nothing.
He said, "That's my... Truck, Cole. Say.. Truck."
And it was poetic justice as Cole just happily sucked on his thumb in his Papa's arms...
Not saying a word.
So in case you missed the lesson...
Don't even think about making your baby perform! (Because they might not perform on cue like you'd want them to)
It's like they have minds of their own or something.
Wednesday, February 9th-
This has to be the world's record for learning a sign.
Every time Captain Feathersword (a pirate character on the Wiggles) is on screen, Cole points to the TV and asks, "Whuzzat?"
I decided to make up a sign for "Captain Feathersword" since Cole liked him so much.
Since one of the skits has Captain Feathersword swing his forearm around at the elbow, readying to throw his Feathersword in the air as he says, "Ahoy, me Hearty-eee-eee-eee!"
So the next time Cole pointed to him and went, "Whuzzat", I gave his the sign for and said, "Captain Feathersword.
And Cole laughed and laughed.
After working on this for only a day, the next day when Cole saw Captain Feathersword on TV, he swung his arm around and smiled.
No surprise that the funner (more fun) the signs are, the quicker they are to learn them.
And it sure is fun to watch Cole swing his arm and go, "Eee-eee-eee!" when he hears us talk about Captain Feathersword or when he sees him on the tape.
So after a month, we're up to: "Where is it?", "Eat", "All Done", "Shhh", "The Wiggles", "Bike" "Hat" and "Captain Feathersword".
Saturday, February 12th-
Cole signed his first sentence today! (Believe it or not).
As we were driving around doing errands, we had the Wiggles songs on casstte tape playing, as we usually do.
I could tell Cole had enough of errands because when we were in Tower Records buying Disney on Ice tickets, he got a little fussy.
Shari waited in line while I wheeled him around in his stroller to try to keep him happy.
But it wasn't working.
He got worse and worse as we wheeled around the store, whining more and more. Until...
He signed, "All Done", followed by the sign for "the Wiggles".
Cole was telling me that he was all done with being in the store and wanted to go back and listen to the Wiggles!
And when I did just that, he was happy as a clam.
(Now you might think I'm exaggerating, or giving Cole too much credit, but that doesn't seem any different that when a baby says, "Wah baba." and his mother says that he's saying that he "wants" his "bottle"-
so cut me a little slack ;-)
So after about only three weeks, we're up to: "Eat", "All Done", "Shhh", "The Wiggles", "Bike" "Hat" and "Captain Feathersword"...
...And he signed a sentence!
Also, I got some Flash Cards with pictures on it designed to help kids to talk. But I'm modifying it by taping copies the the matching sign to the back.
I also took pictures on Shari, Cage, myself and other 'custom' signs that I'll mock up Flash Cards for "Mommy", "Cage", "Daddy", etc.
Will see if Cole takes to learning the signs that way.
Will keep you posted with how that, and further signing, goes-
and when the next update is online.
8-21-05:
Help, Elmo, Bue )Blue's Clues), Cookie Monster, The Count, Airplane, Noise, Hot.
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The "How To" Book of Baby Signing
Outline
Introduction:
Describe why this book/flashcards came about.
When we discovered Cole wasn't speaking, we knew we were going to have to start him signing. Did research. But I still felt helpless. I just wanted someone to tell me exactly what to do and when to do it. I discovered many good baby signing books out there, but no real "How to" manual.
I kept a journal to help keep me sane.
Having an analytical engineering background, I found that a progress chart and the journal helped keep track of his signing and helped me focus.
I found some flashcards, modified them and melded them to work in tandem with the progress chart.
This is the book I wish I had when I first discovered I had to start my baby signing.
Emphasize that this is what worked for me. I'm not a licensed baby doctor, just speaking from hard learned experience. And I want to share so they can benefit from what worked for me (and what didn't).
Dispel the "teaching a baby to sign will slow his speaking" rhetoric.
Chapter 1:
Flashcard intro. Description of the 3 flashcard types. Cover "action word" signs that cannot be covered with flashcards.
Record in a Journal signs learned with dates/description of events when baby first signs to sign a new word.
Use a Progress Chart. Helps keep track of signs learned and signs you are teaching baby. Using a spreadsheet, you can track signs learned alphabetically, by date learned, etc. List 50 most common signs to put in the "Signs to teach" column".
Chapter 2:
First ten sign to teach. (Can deviate from list to customize to your baby's environment)
Eat, Drink (not bottle), Help, All done, What happened? (Where is it?), Mommy, Daddy, Favorite toy, Ball, Dog.
He won't pick up on them all, but praise the ones he does learn.
Use flashcards for the non-action word signs.
Update journal and progress chart as necessary.
Chapter 3:
Next ten signs to teach. Choose ten appropriate to your baby's interests and your household. Suggestions are Car, Swing, Slide, Diaper, Bath, Cereal, Cookie, Signs for siblings' names (if their are any), Bike and Hat (if you ride bikes together), Types of animals of the kind of pets you have, favorite cartoon characters.
Keep going over the signs from the first ten that he hasn't picked up.
He won't pick up on them all, but praise the ones he does learn.
Use flashcards for the non-action word signs.
Update journal and progress chart as necessary.
Chapter 4:
Take a rest. Step back. Reflect on your baby's (and yours) accomplishments. Review journal and progress chart.
Use flashcards for the non-action word signs.
Update journal and progress chart as necessary.
Now that your baby has shown you he can learn signs... Bombard him with 20 new signs.
That's why you rested. You have your work cut out for you.
First, you have to do your homework to decide which 20 signs to teach next. Modify flashcards, update progress chart... and most importantly learn them yourself.
Keep going over the signs from the first 20 that he hasn't picked up.
He won't pick up on them all, but praise the ones he does learn.
Naturally, pepper the chapters with amusing anecdotes about how Cole learned to sign so they know there will be a reward for all their hard work.
Use many of the stories from Cole's journal as examples.
And also so they won't feel disappointed if things don't work out as they'd like.
(We have a pet parrot. Cole sees a bird up close every day. I've been trying to teach him to sign bird for over 6 months... Nothing.
But he learned to sign "Blue" -from Blue's Clues- in about 5 minutes. Go figure)
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The "How To" Book of Baby Signing
Introduction
As you have probably found out, teaching baby signing can be... complex (to put it mildly). It can be difficult, convoluted, exasperating and hard work- to put it harshly.
But the good and the rewards and especially the joy you get when you see the light bulb go on over your baby's head and he makes his first sign makes it all worth it.
Look, you're a parent. No one has to tell you that raising a child isn't easy. And if you're geared up for the adventure of teaching baby signs to to your baby, obviously you're up for the task. There is no sacrifice that a parent won't make for their child. Especially if it makes him happy, prosper and less frustrated and contributes to his well being.
When I found out that I needed to do baby signing, I was taken aback. At over a year and a half old, my youngest boy Cole wasn't speaking on track as he should and my wife and I could tell that he was getting more and more frustrated with not being able to communicate what he wants. It's bad enough that kids don't come with instruction manual, but teaching signing was a whole new territory. And being an engineer used to things being regimented, assigned and in order, this threw me for a loop.
I researched baby signing on the internet. I bought books on baby signing. I even saw the "Meet the Parents" sequel that featured a baby signing child.
But I was still floundering and felt helpless. There is a lot of good information out there about baby signing, but I felt that I had no clue as to what to do. I was exasperated. I just wanted someone to tell me what to do and when to do it.
To help me focus, I started writing a journal that documented the adventure of teaching Cole baby signs and his accomplishments. Drawing upon my engineering mentality, I designed a chart to keep track of and record Cole's signing progress. And drawing upon my creativity/cartooning background, when I found a deck of Flashcards with pictures that were designed to help babies speak, I modified them- complete with the sign on the back for the picture that is on the front.
And after much tweaking, what you have in your hands is what worked for me. (And equally important, there are lessons from what DIDN'T work for me).
And now you get to benefit from things I learned in teaching my baby to sign first hand- what I did and what I would do if I could do it all over. I don't claim to be a licensed baby doctor and this is the end all and be all of how to teach your baby to sign. I'm just speaking as someone who went through exactly what you're about to go through. And from that hard learned experience, I'd like to share my adventure in baby signing to help you if you feel as lost as I did when I first started. And even then, what worked for me and my baby might not necessarily work for you. Even though I call this a "How To" manual, the guidelines I list are just that. Guidelines. Feel free to tweak what I did to customize it to your household.
Teaching baby signs is hard enough without feeling helpless or that you don't know what you are doing. So hopefully the How To Book of Baby Signing can make it a little easier for you. And especially make your baby's new adventure fun to make him want to learn baby signs and thrive.
And with that, let me cover one aspect of teaching baby signs to your baby that you'll likely encounter.
If you are teaching baby signs to your vocally adept, hearing-abled baby, or to a hearing-abled baby that is slow to vocalize (as was in my case), you'll inevitably get the question, "Aren't you worried that if you teach sign language to your baby, that he won't want to learn how to talk- or that he won't feel it necessary to learn how to talk?"
(or many variations expressing similar concern)
That question is ludicrous on the whole. You can respond to that with (and you may want to practice the following as you'll likely need to repeat it.
"That kind of silly rhetoric makes as much sense as thinking that you shouldn't let your baby crawl because then he won't want to walk."
Think about it logically. Crawling on his hands and knees is a way for a baby to get from point A to point B, based upon his limited locomotion skills. And as those skills develop and improve, he moves on to walking on two feet.
Whereas crawling and walking are types of locomotion, baby signing and talking are types of communication.
Baby signing is a way for a vocalizing baby to get his point across to you, based upon his limited communication skills. And just as with how crawling led to walking, as your babies communication skills develop and improve, he will move on to talking.
I see it that baby signing helps ease a baby's frustration at not being able to communicate to you what he wants or to tell you what he wants.
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The "How To" Book of Baby Signing
Chapter 1
Flashcards, Journal and Progress Chart
Many teachers and parents have found Flashcards to be essential in teaching children new skills. And just as there are flashcards for babies to teach them new words to say, I thought there should be flashcards for teaching babies baby signing.
The first part of how I taught my baby to sign, tracking his progress was to create Baby Signing Flashcards specific to the signs that other baby signing books recommended and that I thought he should learn.
As you will see, there are three types of Baby Signing Flashcards in the deck I developed..
The first is a card with a picture of what you'll likely want to teach your baby with a description of the sign on the back. There are more of these and you'll find them straight forward and easy to interpret.
The second type of flashcard has a specific signing description on the back. For these, you'll want to customize this card with a picture that make it personal for your baby. For instance, for the cards that have the signing description for "Mommy" on the back, you'll want to take a picture of Mommy and paste it on the front of that card. (And she can be doing the sign for "Mommy" in the picture to emphasize the point if you wish.
The third type of Baby Signing Flashcard is blank on both the front and the back. You can use these to totally customize the card with something that is meaningful to your baby that you'd like him to learn how to sign, but you will have to make up a sign for.
For instance, if your baby has a favorite teddy bear called Teddy, take it's picture and paste that on the front. Decide on what could be a simple sign for Teddy that your baby can do (softly banging two fists together maybe), and paste that description on the back.
There is a fourth type of sign that cannot be covered in the Baby Signing Flashcards.
I call these "action" or "event" words. But you'll find that they are not necessarily harder for your baby to learn.
It would be confusing to try to convey in a Baby Flashcard picture "Eat" or "Help" for instance.
A picture of a baby eating being spoon fed some baby food could be misinterpreted as "Spoon", Hand" or "Mouth". A picture of someone helping a baby up the stairs could be misinterpreted as "Baby", "Stairs" or "Hold hands".
The "action" or "event" word signs for these are listed as you may need them and are summarized in the appendix when you need to refer to them.
So why Baby Flashcards? As I previously said, not only do teachers and parents sing the praises of flashcards in general- But just as you will get comfortable using them, they will be helpful for siblings, grandparents or babysitters to help your baby to learn baby signs who might not have the signs memorized like you will.
I suggest going through at least one round of the Baby Flashcards that you are trying to teach your baby a few times a day. Naturally, even if your baby hits his limit after just one round, I'd give him a rest. You don't want to sour him on the concept of using the Baby Flashcards. Although, I found that if I did the Baby Flashcards when Cole was in his crib, ready to go to bed, I could get several rounds in a row because he would do anything to want to stay up later, keeping me with him.
I have some suggestions to get you started how you can personalize the Baby Signing Flashcards. And as I have said, these are guidelines that I found helped me, but nothing is set in stone. You can use these suggestions as ideas to help you customize your own if you feel it may help your situation better.
You can take a picture of Mommy doing the sign for "Mommy" for the card that has the "Mommy" description on the back. Similar for Daddy. If your baby has any siblings, you'll naturally want to take there picture on the front of a card that is blank on both sides and come up with a sign that is indicative of the siblings' name. A common sign for someone's name is the first letter of the name of that person. And you might have to improvise if the siblings' names start with the same first letter.
For instance, Cole's older brother's name is Cage. And we couldn't very well have the sign for both of them be the letter C. So I came up with the idea that the sign for Cage is the letter C, raising it upwards. And the sign for Cole is the letter C, lowering downwards. A taller C and a smaller C, if you haven't already figured it out.
Take a picture of your baby's bathtub and paste that to the front of the card that has the description for the sign "Bath" on the back. Take a picture of your baby's swing and paste that to the front of the card that has the description for the sign "Swing" on the back. And this picture can be modified from your baby's indoor baby swing to the one used outside.
And customizing the Baby Signing Flashcards that are blank on both the front and back is totally subjective to your household environment and your especially to your baby's interests.
If your baby is fascinated with the overhead fans in your house, take a picture of a fan, put it on the front and paste the signing description for "Fan" on the back.
If your baby has a favorite cartoon or TV character, use that. If your baby is anything like mine, he loves Elmo from Sesame Street. So naturally, we have several Elmo video tapes. So we made sign for Elmo simply the letter E.
One of my wife's favorite signing stories that she tells is when she was walking around the block with Cole. As they approached the house, Cole bolted off, running from the sidewalk up the driveway to the house. She yelled out, Hey! Where are you going?" And as he was running up the driveway, he held up his right fist. Telling her that he was going to watch Elmo.
We had great results using our Baby Signing Flashcards, and I'm sure you will too.
Although at first it didn't look like we were making much progress, we were. I'd go through a round and wasn't sure if he was interested. Sometimes Cole just looked indifferent. I was getting discouraged, but I was unaware that something was sinking in. It became apparent that he was at least paying attention when I was going through yet another round of the signs I wanted him to learn. Cole was standing up in his crib as I went through each sign until one caught his eye. I got to the card that had a picture of a cookie on it... I said the word "cookie"... I signed the word "cookie"...
And Cole signed "Eat".
I busted out laughing.
And today, he signs "Eat" when he's hungry and he signs "cookie" when he wants a cookie. (Which is often ;-)
The second part of how I taught my baby to sign, tracking his progress was to keep a journal.
It was nothing fancy at first, more like a blog with just a few sentences describing the events that led to Cole making a sign for the first time. It became more elaborate as time went on, and Cole's signing progress gave us several amusing anecdotes to tell-
Many of which I am peppering this book with.
When you start your journal, I'd keep it simple at first. If you try to make it too complicated, it could overwhelm you and prevent you from making entries.
Like I said, just log in the date of when your baby learns a new sign and enter a few sentences about the circumstances leading up it.
Like when Cole first signed "Eat."
"Wednesday, February 2nd: We were walking by the a McDonalds and Cole it caught Cole's attention. With his right hand, he pointed at the McDonalds and then put his fingers in his mouth... Making the sign for "Eat". It was as simple as that. Not only did that tell us that Cole is as smart as a whip when it comes to baby signs, that he was telling us that he wanted to eat at McDonalds...
but it also tells us that we eat at McDonalds too much."
Keeping a journal can help to keep you sane in some trying times. And it can really help to cheer you up when you reread it, reminding yourself of when and how your baby first picked up a new sign. It's a nice record of all of your baby's accomplishments over the months and will show you just how far he has come.
You'll have amusing anecdotes of your own to share (I'd love to hear them).
You'll feel proud of both your baby and yourself seeing results of all your hard work.
Rereading your journal can help on some of the more frustrating signing days. And kind of like going over an old photo album. your journal will bring back memories and put things in to their proper perspective over the long haul.
Finally, making a progress chart is the third and excellent way to track your baby's baby signing progress at a glance. if you really want to keep it simple, you could just used binder paper with pencil lines dividing it into columns. But if you have access to a computer, a spreadsheet database will help tremendously with documenting and updating your baby's signing progress chart. You can make your progress chart as simple or as elaborate as you'd like to make it. Just remember, the more complicated your chart, the more complicated the updating process will be.
You should at the least include of course, a column for the sign your baby learned, a column for the date he learned it and a column for the signs you'd like to be teaching next. If you wish, you can include columns for the descriptions of how to make the signs and the frequency of how often your baby makes a sign.
Keeping a progress chart, and most importantly, keeping it updated over the months can show you at a glance as to your baby's progress over the months. And listing them by number will impress and amaze you as to all the signs your baby knows.
Following the chart I made for Cole, I was amazed that he learned over 40 signs in about six months. Now he doesn't communicate his needs for all of them-
IE: he doesn't sign "diaper" when he needs a diaper change; but if he sees a diaper, he will sign it. However, he sure does sign "cookie" when he wants a cookie and he signs "Blue" when he wants to tell us that he wants to watch Blue's Clues.
The following chart is an example of how yours could look.
(Insert Baby Signing Progress Chart example here)
Okay...
Now that you've done all that work...
It's only now that you're ready to start teaching your baby to sign.
Phew.
Just turn the page!