Baby is crying and you've done everything! Diaper is dry. She's not hungry. Aaacckkk!!! Why is your baby crying? If only she could talk to you. That's silly. Babies don't talk. They don't? Sure they do. Babies talk all the time. They just don't talk in English.

When your baby is screaming at the top of her lungs, her face blue from lack of oxygen intake, and her eyes are bulging out like one of the muppets, you think, just maybe, it's because she's trying to tell you something? Good guess. Her tears are from utter frustration because even though she's making more noise than a rock concert, she thinks you can't hear her! If you were listening you'd help her!

The trouble is, your baby doesn't speak English and mom doesn't speak Bbbllfftt! What we have here is a failure to communicate.

But how about if both were on the same page? How about you teach your baby sign language?

Teach my baby sign language? Now there's a bright idea. Okay. Let me see, maybe I can squeeze it in between her chemical engineering class and her opera lesson. Thanks for the advice, and I'll see ya later.

Hang on. Don't get your britches in a knot, there, Mom of the Year. It just so happens Wendy Jensen says you can teach your baby sign language. Wendy taught hers, and more importantly, she has taught hundreds of other moms to teach their kids sign language!

You are, naturally, skeptical at this point. But Wendy did it. And so have thousands of other moms out there. And these moms didn't all go to Yale (or even South Eastern Missouri State). Tell you the truth, these moms, on the whole, are a pretty average bunch. Good people, but not necessarily on a par with Madame Curie or Susan Sontag. In fact, probably not as bright as you! After all, you are reading this article!

And that's not all. There are many other benefits when you teach your baby sign language.

Imagine being able to talk to your baby, who will no longer have to scream her little head off to tell you, her mother, that her toe hurts because she bit it with her new tooth when she jammed her foot in her mouth! She can just give you a sign.

But just hold on, there, mama. There are other lifetime benefits.

Sign language helps young kids (whose hearing is just fine, thank you) to develop better English skills. Why? Because they communicate better. It turns out they are more alert and interested in the world around them. Now who would have figured that out ahead of time? But it's true.

Here's a few reasons why it probably works this way:

Kids are mimics. They want to shave like daddy or wear high heels like mommy (hopefully gender appropriate). Sign language starts them mimicking their parents at an earlier age. Hence they do adult things at a younger age than other kids.

You see, to mimic someone, you first have to study that person. For instance, you can't dance like Vanessa Hudgens (she's one of the kids in "High School Musical" -- I had to look it up) without first studying how Vanessa Hudgens dances. OK. That makes sense. You also have to study the signer to learn to sign. This develops attention skills. And kids keep focused because they love it! Their little mushy brains are working full speed and its exciting to them.

Your kid will think signing is a form of action game. They love it!

Now just imagine this from your little moppet's point of view: instead of mom and dad telling her to shush (kids hate to shush), or dumping her back in the play pen, (kids hate to be dumped back in the play pen) her parents are giving her a whole bunch of positive attention!

Now, are we saying if you teach your baby sign language she is guaranteed a full blown scholastic scholarship to an Ivy League school? Sure why not. Or at least she will have a jump start on everyone else. Kids that learn that learning is fun, well, now, they are set for life. So when you teach your baby sign language, it's like the sage old advice: Give a baby a fish and she eats today. Teach a babyto fish and you feed her for a lifetime. Well, kinda like that. The point being, the benefits to your little angel are not just for right now. She will benefit for her whole life.