Vee Turns 13 Months Old

A faulty telephone line forced me to survive the entire week without Internet connection. Except for a few lucky emails sent out successfully, I had all the time in the world to admire my toddling son:

Communication

• Ever since learning to shake his head, Vee has been doing that a zillion times a day. He seems to enjoy appearing uncooperative. Then, he recently coupled his head-shaking with “biao” (for 不要, which means “don’t want). What exactly do you want?!?
• Just two days ago, he started to nod his head (*finally*), which involves an elaborate act of bending his entire body over.
• He began to say “Po” for 婆 (grand-mother), “Gee” for 姨 (Aunt), “Jeh” for 姐 (elder sister), “ba-ba” for bye-bye, “bao” for 抱 (carry), “bo” for ball, “beh” for bear, “dug” for duck, “ta” for star / pasta / stop, and “ngao” for 咬 (bite / chew). During play-time, he would babble a lot and it seems like we are expecting a talkative boy.
• He also took his first flight (to Singapore, where we visited the Takashimaya Baby Fair) and would be very excited to do the hand-sign for “aeroplane”.
• He enjoys imitating adults using the telephone and remote control. When he feels like calling somebody, he would even use his shoe as a phone!

Physical

• The adventurous boy is able to walk more than 10 steps at a stretch when he is calm. Once he gets excited, he forgets all about balancing and simply pounces forward like a tiger.
• Mastered climbing up two flights of stairs on all fours
• Would turn his body to get down the mattress, when reminded LOUDLY (absolutely zero sense of danger)

Diet & Feeding

• Loves, loves, loves eating pasta (made of quinoa or brown rice, no wheat for him yet)
• Enjoys organic brown rice cake, which makes a crunchy and healthy snack (Great for satisfying his love for self-feeding)
• He is allergic to soy, so I am eliminating soy from my diet too, in the hope that his persistent eczema would subside.
• During meal-times, he is able to sit through in his high-chair, gulping down his food or people-watch. This seems to be an envy among other Mummies, something which I just realised is a rarity among toddlers.

Potty Training

• I still bring him to the potty chair during diaper changes, and keeps him seated by singing or giving him a small object to hold. He has been co-operative most of the time.
• My husband and I have decided to say “wee-wee” for pee and “ng-ng” for poo. (Consistency is a must here.)
• He is showing awareness by putting his hand on the front of his diaper when he pees.
• When his face shows expression of straining to poo, I would strip off his diaper IMMEDIATELY and sit him on the potty chair. (This is an absolute test of skill and speed. Any miss would mean poo plopping on the floor or worst, on my feet!)

Sleep

• The persistent nurser still suckles for comfort several times in the night. For the past week, Daddy is in charge of putting him to bed while I leave the room until he is asleep. Hopefully, he would be able to find comfort sleeping with Daddy too.

Our home-visit nurse gave Vee passes for all the milestones he achieved and witnessed for the first time how stubborn he could be:

After demonstrating his scribbling skills on his large doodle board, he insisted on sitting on the board with his fat thighs squashed like an “M”. To prevent his weight from damaging the board, I told him to sit outside it. He refused with a loud “Nggg!!!” and squashed his thighs tighter together. OMG, I am starting to feel fearful about our journey towards the “Terrible Two”.

I am preparing myself for this challenging journey. What are your tips for dealing with stubborn toddlers?

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P.S. View more developmental milestones (from 8 months old onwards).

P.P.S. Our latest homeschooling updates are posted at MummysHomeschool.com HERE,