Signs of recognition

I suppose, to understand how Franny's thought process works would take away from the wonderment I enjoy watching her knowlege develop. There are times, however, that I really would like to know what made something "click". Franny's signing is one of those times. Over the past months, I have created countless games, in both food and play, trying to teach Franny to sign "more". Also, I have used the sign for "water" nearly every time I have ever offered or given her water, which we started probably 5-6 months ago. Still, both of these signs gets the blank stare.



Early last week, Franny and I were looking through books, which involves a lot of rhetorical conversation on my part: "Franny, where is the circle?"; "Franny, is that a cat in the grass?"; "Franny, are those glasses like Grandpa's?"; "Franny, where is the rabbit's nose?--where is Franny's nose?". And then, just when I am starting to think, "Franny, where is your crazy Mommy?", we have one of those wonderful, inspirational moments. I pointed to a dog, and said "Franny, what is that?", and she patted my leg, giving me the sign for "dog". To say I was ecstatic is a complete understatement. We've repeated it every day since, so I know she is really understanding and communicating. And the act of her slapping my leg instead of her own I consider just "classic Franny", and it makes me shake my head and laugh to myself, in both amusement and awe.

Surprisingly, her signing has impacted me more than her actual speaking--I am so impressed and proud of her accomplishment. While I have absolutely no idea why "dog" became Franny's first sign, my only hope is that it is just the first of many signs between us.