This month DD turned to be one. I cannot believe how fast time flies. A full year has passed by! DD grew up from a tiny, bony, little baby who didn’t even have the strength to lift her head to a healthy, strong, chubby one who could crawl swiftly then cruise to any place she wanted, confidently climb upstairs and downstairs without second thought, and ambitiously took her first independent stride (she did make it happen right on her one-year birthday).

She also changed from a quiet, obedient sweetheart to a toddler with growing sense of independence, emerging negativity, primitive temper tantrums and sprouting my-way-or-highway-mind-set. This has led to several bouts of crying when she did not get her way.

Week 48: Crawling enabled DD freedom to survey the house. Soon she felt dissatisfied at her speed and began to figure out ways to improve it. She would put a piece of cardboard, sleek magazine cover, tray, or a cooking sheet under her hands or knees and surfed the floor with it.

The gadget helped the speed a little bit but not much. She also found out it was difficult to keep her “surf board” in line. She abandoned her inventions and went back practicing cruising.

Since M taught DD how to climb downstairs, she was thrilled and eager to practice it. She climbed two steps up and back down. Then she tried with three, four and five steps. She kept practicing and practicing, faster and faster each time.

Sometimes she slipped, and I caught her before she fell. Then she returned to practice. She also developed her own trick to come down in shorter time. She held the stairs with her arms, secured the lower step with her feet, pressed her tummy against the stairs and then let the gravity do the work. In this way, instead of climbing down one step at a time, she could actually slide down with her body as a whole. It worked beautifully for her. She could finish 6 steps within no more than 2 seconds.

M also taught her to turn her body 180 degrees on the top of the stairs. At first she didn’t get the distance right. She turned her body too early so she had to crawl backwards for a few steps before she could reach the top of the stairs. But it didn’t take her long to gauge the distance and got it perfect.

Once she mastered both directions and turning, she applied them to other fields. One day DD and I took a short nap on the bed. The nurse called and I got up and went to another room answering the phone. When I hung up, DD was crawling into the room.

My first response was: how did you get here? You are supposed to be in the other room.

To solve the mystery, M put DD back onto the bed. She crawled towards the edge of the bed, turned her body 180 degrees and lowered her body. Then she held the edge of the bed with her arms, pressed her tummy against the bed and then let the gravity do the work. Once her feet touched the floor she crawled to me!

I couldn’t believe my eyes!

M put her back onto the bed again and she slid down the bed once again.

What a smart and “dangerous” child

Week 49: DD continued to show her own will at the dinner table. The food she didn’t like or didn’t want to eat, she not only pushed them out with her tongue, but also picked them out of her mouth or from the tray and threw them away! Sometimes I just simply set a trash bin aside her right where she was dropping them!

M told me not to force the issue. If she didn’t want to eat, she wasn’t hungry. She would come back asking for food when she was hungry. I accepted this suggestion. Also I added more flavors to her food to stimulate her taste.

She also used gibberish to show her emotions, although the gibberish sounded more like a foreign language. When she was in good mood, she would utter “da-da” or “a-da” with high pitch and soft voice. When she was upset or frustrated, she would yell “nein-nein” in a harsh tone. When did she learn German?

DD found a light switch on the walls beside the stairs. She curiously turned it on and then off. Since she had to stand up on the stair, I was afraid she would slip and fall. I took her down every time she wanted to stand up on that stair and play with the switch.

The more I forbad, the more she wanted (human nature?). Therefore I allowed her, but I was nearby and watched her. Then she turned it into a game. She tried different stairs and reached out for the switch. She tested on the top one and found out the switch was far beyond her reach.

Then she tried one stair lower. The switch was still out of the range. Then she lowered one more stair. This time she could touch the switch but she had to reach out her arm really far.

One more stair down, she decided. This time it was perfect! She could stand straight up on the stair and touch the switch easily. She played with the switch, turning it on and off several times. Once she knew how to do it, she lost interest and turned her attention to something else.

Week 50: Beginning this week, I started to feed DD with whole cow’s milk, a great source of calcium, phosphorus, vitamin A, magnesium, protein for growth, as well as carbohydrates. At the same time, I began to wean her off breast milk.

When M and I needed to go out and Grandma came to baby sit her, DD was anxious. Sometimes she burst into tears when Grandma showed up just for a visit. Grandma said she probably wrestled with separation anxiety, which was common at her age.

To ease her agony, Grandma took DD to the backyard when we sneaked out of the door. Grandma also came o visit us at least once a week just to visit and play.

When I was with her, I also deliberately stop hovering over her all the time but still let her know I was around.

DD also made progress on her cruising. Again, she wanted to speed up. She swiftly moved her arms and legs. Sometimes it only took her seconds to move the length of a king-size bed.

Growing with more independence and mobility was her primitive temper tantrums and sprouting my-way-or-highway-mind-set. If she didn’t get things she wanted (e.g. cell phone, radio, clock, spray bottle, tooth paste), she would scream and threw a temper tantrum.

When we drove out, she annoyingly yelled to interrupt the conversation between M and me just because she wanted the attention. At night she cried stubbornly for extended time to show her refusal to go to bed. M said we had to be consistent in maintaining rules and principles; otherwise we would be overrun by this little one.

Week 51: Right on her birthday, DD made her first independent step. She crawled to welcome M home when M stepped into the door. When M stood three steps in front of her, holding out his hands, she suddenly rose from the floor and took one small stride toward M. M was thrilled to witness her first step in life.

We held a small-scale easy-going-style birthday party for DD. We invited Grandma and Grandpa, our neighbors, my friend Karen and her son. M baked a German Chocolate cake and two angel fruit cakes topped with whipped cream and fresh strawberries, the bigger one for guests and the smaller one for DD. Grandma brought some appetizers, drinking cups, napkins, and color balloons.

Party began at 2:00 pm after her morning nap on her usual schedule. People were chatting and had snacks. DD was a little bit surprised to see so many people showing up. She played quietly during the whole party sticking pretty close to either M or myself.

Around 3:00 pm, DD’s usual snack time, M took out the smaller angel fruit cake and put a number-one-shaped candle onto it. DD ate part of the cake. She was more interested in picking up the candle. Of course, we didn’t allow her to do so.

Then, in front of guests, DD opened presents. Rather than tearing down the packaging paper with interest and cooing appreciatively over it, she was quite hesitating, probably because I always told her “no” when she tore packages. She was fairly happy with the new dresses, toys, and books she received.

Party was supposed to finish at 4:00 pm, but lasted until 4:30 pm. People were happy to have such an opportunity to visit each other and watch a one-year-old play.

It was exactly the kind of party I wanted: intimate, relaxed, and simple. Getting happy doesn’t need to be expensive and complicated, does it?

Related posts:
Baby’s growth, month 11
Baby’s growth, month 10
Baby’s growth, month 9
Baby’s growth, month 8
Baby’s growth, month 7
Baby’s growth, month 6
Baby’s growth, month 5
Baby’s growth, month 4
Baby’s growth, month 3
Baby’s growth, month 2
Baby’s growth, month 1

Tags: Baby's Growth | Baby's Growth, First Year, From Lina | Lina | July 2, 2009 11:20 am | Comments (0)