Mixed Signals

So, yesterday, I took Toad to MOPS and left him in the nursery (Moppets) while I went to the meeting. When I dropped him off, he cried. And, I fully expected to get paged to come get him prior to the end of the meeting, 2 1/2 hours later. When the meeting was over and I hadn't gotten paged, I was pleasantly shocked! I stepped into his nursery room to pick him up and he actually seemed pretty content. Then, I realized partly why he was so content in the nursery and why he didn't come running over to me, grateful that I was there to "rescue" him. You see, I wasn't the one with the animal crackers.
It was sweet to watch him ask "please" for more animal crackers. The nursery worker, Shauna's mom, mentioned that they don't usually give the kiddos food in that room, but that Toad just seemed sooooo hungry. And, I was fine with her giving them to him, since I had specifically packed them for him, in case he needed a snack. He always needs a snack.
It wasn't until I got home that I realized what had most likely taken place in the nursery... and I started laughing, out loud, to myself, in the kitchen when I thought about it.
Well, we've taught Toad to say "please" in sign language, by rubbing his open, flat palm, in a circular motion, over his heart. However, sometimes in his excitement, he rubs a little lower and looks like he is rubbing his belly. You must also know that it is a regular occurence in our house for Toad to walk over to us, grab our finger and try to get us to go with him wherever he is headed. Therefore, we've also taught him that if he wants us to go with him, he has to say "please".
So, here is what I believe happened: Toad likely went over to Mrs. V and tried to get her to go with him somewhere. But, because she didn't know that we expect him to ask us "please" and because he was probably so excited to have a new person to drag around, I think his "please go with me" sign looked more like "I'm rubbing my belly cuz I'm really hungry". Then, she felt badly because the poor kid was so hungry that he was actually rubbing his stomach to get her attention. And, since she gave him an animal cracker, pre-approved by mom, he said "please" again. And again, his "please" was likely seen as "I'm famished. I really need another cracker". And, so it went. And, then I realized it once I got home. She thought he was just rubbing his belly cuz he was starving. When, really, he was likely trying to politely ask her to go here or there with him.
I guess we'll have to work on accuracy in our signing. We're just proud that he does some signing. We don't expect perfection. But, this is just a classic case of misread signals.