Yvette is 1 Year 2 Months Exactly

Yvette on Buggy @ Science Centre

Typically, babies start cruising (holding onto furniture to walk sideways) from 8 – 12 months old, and start walking from 10 – 15 months. (source) And I think Yvette will going be a late starter for walking. She can walk along the furniture but she will not let me hold her hands to try and walk her. I have encouraged her to get a lot of exercise by letting her to crawl around me. I have helped her to develop coordination and balance by playing physical games and toys that promote dexterity since she was 10 mths old. (She was able to pull up herself with support at 11 mths old.) We have two push walkers in our house that allow Yvette to push or pull.  I have to admit I was getting anxious that she wasn’t making any attempts to walk on her own. I know it’s difficult not to worry or compare my child to others but I firmly believe that all toddlers will reach these milestones when they are good and ready too. Every child is just so different.

Although she is not keen on walking, climbing is her forte. She loves to climb and she will climb when she sees her chance around. Another typical behaviour these days is the urge to make messes and empty things from, well, just about anywhere: my bag, her diaper bag, cupboards, drawers, toy bins. She will put back those stuffs she took out from too. Dropping things is another of her favourite pastime. She’s delights in dropping things on the floor and watching us pick up the pieces for her.

Her language development is commendable. Every morning when both of us open our eyes looking at each other, I would say “Good Morning Yvette” She will respond by making tone that sounds quite similar. When we asked her “What’s your name?” She will use her little finger pointing to herself. This indicating she is Yvette. (When she is pointing to herself, I would say “I am Yvette”) She is using plenty of nonverbal communication with us. Her words bank increases too. New words like no, yes, thank you, cannot, banana, coconut, papaya, etc. Not all of them she can pronounce them correctly but she understands what they are. She said something meaningful on our outing at IMM last Saturday.

As for her appetite wise, Yvette may just nibble one day and gobble the next. I have been providing her smaller meals and nutritious snacks every one and half or two hourly throughout the day. Yvette has demonstrated interest in self-feeding. And yes, I did let her try feeding herself from time to time. And most of the time, it will ended up she is feeding us instead. (I also realized when she was self-feeding herself; she usually will end up eating more.) It’s kind of messy and at the end of them meal, plenty of cleaning need to be done.

She also developed a bad habit too. When she needs to be nursed, she would just come forward me and starts to pull my top. Arrr. Embarrassing!!!

Somewhere in the mid of her 13^th months, I started toilet training with her. Initially she was quite stressed over the change, but now, she is slowly adapting. Let me hope she will get use to it and will show me more signs of she wanting to pee. (I have no problem of catching her poop. The signs of needing to Pee are tough for me to catch.)

Lastly her emotion wise, hmmm… she will definitely cry if I raise my voice on her. She can understand when I am scolding her too even my tone was not harsh too. Again, I am glad she has yet shows sign of (unreasonable) tantrum, though she is more aware with herself. When she is happy, I can see her excitement. When she is upset, her face expression changes immediately. Even she is angry, she shows sign of frustration too.

The above sum up Yvette’s milestones for last month.