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,
Tips from a reader:
Wow seems like lil Vee is growing very well….. Yes indeed this is the age whereby he needs to be enpowered with autonomy to make choices…Vee would also want to exert his autonomy to practise his new skills…=) He would also try to test to see how far he can push his boundaries…. You can try to role play the kind of behaviour that you want him to display…E.g. Mama is going to do this…. or if he has a favourite toy character then you can use that as well e.g. Look…Mickey is sitting down quietly next to Mama… Could Vee like to sit quietly next to Mama? You got to be very patient and got to use a lot of imagination plus fun role playing to get him to comply…E.g. Wearing mashmallow shoes so we walk quietly if he is stamping and stomping his feet…Always say the behaviour you want to see e.g Please walk or use indoor voice and not “Don’t run, Don’t shout” coz he will only hear the “run” and “shout” words….This is my experience as a (ex) childcare teacher….Hope it helps…. Hugs!
Wow…great to read Vee’s growing up well! You may want to watch Nanny 911 (every Mon 8.30pm on ntv7) for some great parenting tips (and laughter too!). Papa and Mama seems to like this program….although I don’t think I’ve given them much white hair yet…:-p
Thank you for the tip. I haven’t the luxury of time to watch TV yet; shall keep the channel in mind though. 🙂
Hi, it’s so envious getting know that Vee loves to eat! My daughter is totally not interested in food, all the relatives n friends will say that to me. 🙂 May I know where do you buy the organic brown rice cake and the pasta made from brown rice? Which pasta sauce do you use? I’m so reluctant to use the ready-made pasta sauce on the shell but my homemade sauce tasted weird. haha.
HI Tity, thankfully Vee takes after his Daddy’s appetite. I was a VERY fussy-eater as a child, and outgrew it only when I was a teenager.
I get Kallo Organic Unsalted Brown Rice Cakes from Cold Storage, at the organic or baby cereal section. In Singapore, it’s found at Vivocity Cold Storage. In KL, it’s at The Gardens (Midvalley) Cold Storage.
Brown rice pastas are from Orgran. This brand has a wide range of gluten-free pasta and cereals. Vee also loves the Quinoa o-shaped cereal with his milk. Orgran can be found in several major supermarkets and even some pharmacies.
I simply cook the pasta, and serve them in replacement of rice. Vee’s happy to eat them without any pasta sauce. There are several recipes at Homemade Baby Food Recipes.
Thanks MieVee for your very detailed info! I went to Cold Storage in 1-U and tried to look for mini biscuits/cookies but just found that all have too much sodium, even myself felt very salty. So actually i went to the wrong section. haha. I will go to search around in baby cereal section then. 🙂