This morning mom took him outside. He frequently signs and says “water” in reference to the sprinklers outside, which he enjoys simply watching at work – or playing in. That’s not why they were outside this morning though – in fact I don’t really know what they were doing. But he called for me (“da-da!”) and mom took him back inside the house to me, and I smiled at him. In succession he signed “cold”, pointed at me, and then signed “hat”. It flashed through my mind that this could be a funny way of saying I am cold-hearted, which is often true, but that wasn’t it. This sequence of signs meant “Go out into the cold, you, with me, and put a hat on me before we go.” He wanted me to go outside with him, for a walk, and I was charmed and happy to oblige.
[He’s 14 months old. Also, his signing vocabulary is getting ahead of me because I haven’t yet seen the new signing videos he sometimes watches (Signing Time).]