As mentioned, this is called "elimination communication." If you start using a hand signal every time you offer the toilet, your child is likely to pick up on it and begin requesting the toilet before being able to verbally ask for it. My oldest never picked up on the sign, but could say "potty," by about 14 months old and was regularly requesting the potty. My son picked up on the sign and was regularly using it for a while. He hasn't been using it lately, but when we was using it, would request up to half the time. Another thing you can do is look for signs/signals that your child needs to go. For example, sometimes when Leo needs to poop, he'll sit a certain way and either look at me or into space. When you "house train" your baby, progress is certainly not linear, but it sounds like you have the right attitude about it. It's a great way to begin the process of potty learning. Right now, my 11 month old is mostly peeing in the potty after nap times and in the morning, but with time I imagine he'll begin requesting again. As he gets more into toddler-hood, I'll probably give him some diaper-free time and use it as an additional step in the learning process. And if he learns to use the potty early, great. If he doesn't, I'll wait until he's old enough to be receptive to "potty training." My oldest had lots of ups and downs with the potty. Using this method, however, she was completely out of diapers (during waking hours) for the month that she was 18 months old. I think with another personality, that would have been the end of potty "training." With her personality, however, there were a bunch of ups and downs and she was in and out of diapers until I "potty trained" her at a few months short of 3. She has continued to have ups and downs, but not to the point of needing to go back into diapers.
