Oh Jon I must tell you something nifty I heard the other day. Debra Messing, who's an actress on Will & Grace (this popular show here in New York) was speaking about her son Roman. He is only 10 months old and she's been teaching him sign language; he already knows a few things. It's said that babies want to communicate at a much earlier stage in their lives than when they actually start. Much of the crying is part of their frustration at not being able to express themselves and speak out when they want something. So now Roman's walking around the house, signing "milk" when he's hungry and the crying is minimal.
I'm really, really happy for you and the things you're experiencing in your life. Congrats.