At month 18, DD was on the move every minute except sleeping time. She was a proficient walker and a good runner. She could climb upstairs holding a ball in hand. She could throw the ball back to us and kick the ball forward. She turned around in circles when the music was played, and stamped her feet rhythmically at drum beats.

As a toddler, she still kept one habit that soothed her—sucking her thumb. She would automatically put her thumb into her mouth when she was tired, nervous or unsure. Since most children naturally outgrow their comfort habits by age four, we didn’t do anything to intervene.

Growing with her height was her tamper tantrum. Some days it seemed the littlest things could set her off. A my-way-is-the-highway attitude and throwing tantrums were not enough. She began to show aggressive behaviors. When things went different than her expectations, she would screech and scream, threw objects, or even punch or scratch us with her little hand.

Look at that almighty little one!
I don’t recall when DD began to run. One night after supper, M and I sat at the dinner table, watching DD circling the living room. Suddenly I noticed DD was actually running.

“Is she running?” I asked M.

“Yes.” he said.

“From when?” I asked again.

“I don’t know”, M answered.

There were a lot of things DD was doing while we didn’t know their very beginnings. Like, all of a sudden, she could turn a knob some degrees to open a door, though she wouldn’t always be successful. It was scary, since locking the door soon would not be the solution any longer.

If, for one minute, we didn’t land eyes on her, or didn’t hear her movements, she was into something, and we needed to rush to find her. Otherwise, we would be either upset, or mad, or …..crazy!

Still a thumb-sucker?
Most toddlers latch onto at least one comfort habits or objects. DD was no exception. At month 18, thumb sucking was still one of her favorite ways to bring herself comfort, support or security when she was tired, nervous, unsure, under the weather, or in pain.

Since thumb sucking was normal, and in moderation, not harmful at her age, and since she sucked her thumb occasionally rather than constantly, we didn’t do anything to intervene. In fact, we believe our interference would increase and intensify this behavior, since sometimes she seemed enjoying disobeying my orders deliberately.

Here is our upgraded baby terminator!
DD had been a baby terminator since month 6. As little and cute as a 6-month-old, she could easily grab my glasses off my nose before I even realized it. She grabbed the leaves of M’s favorite plants and pulled them apart. Poor plants! They didn’t survive the see the next spring… (see Baby’s growth, month 6)

At month 10, her newfound crawling mobility enabled her to explore her surroundings and discover hidden pots and pans inside kitchen drawlers, unload clean knives and forks from the dishwasher, take a peek inside the mysterious refrigerator and tear Daddy’s favorite painting which used to be out of her reach (see Baby’s growth, month 10).  

At month 15, one afternoon, by an accident, DD held her sippy cup upside up and saw drops of milk dribbling out of the sprout. She waved the sippy cup and happily found lines of milk forming all kinds of shapes on the carpet. Since then, our fearless baby terminator emerged as an abstractionism artist, a future Picasso to make her mommy crazy (see Baby’s growth, month 15).    

How about this time? What our baby terminator can do after she was upgraded to an 18-month-old?

A my-way-is-the-highway attitude and throwing tantrums were not enough. She began to show acts of aggressions. When things went different than her expectations, she would screech and scream, threw objects, or even punch or scratch us with her little hand.

Of course she had no clue about what we felt, when her fast-growing finger nails left pain on our faces like sharp cat paws. Sometimes she lashed out not because of frustration or anger, but more likely to experience cause-and-effect curiosity when her scratching made us squeal.

Since at her age such aggressive impulses are not calculated or malicious, but healthy and normal, we have to take control for her. M responded to her with a firm “No” and an explanation why such behaviors were unacceptable. I chose to leave her alone so that her outbursts would have no audience. We didn’t resort to a time-out yet but we foresaw it would come soon.

My question hanging in my mind was: where is the safest place for a time-out?

I am looking for … a boyfriend!
Since she was 16 month old, DD became more and more interested in establishing relationship with other children, especially those who were older than her (see Baby’s growth, month 16).

When Grandma and I took her to the local library to attend the story-telling time organized by local school district, she was fascinated more with socializing with other kids than paying attention to the teacher.

She approached them, looked at them in their eyes, and watched them playing. Of course she didn’t extend her hand and say “hello”. Instead she tried to touch their shirts or shoes silently. Most kids looked at her without saying anything either. They must have something exchanged in their little minds>

Sometimes when we took her to local supermarket, DD would follow other kids and literally chased them. One day when she saw three boys shopping with their dad in the supermarket, she walked toward one boy and followed him around in the store.

His two brothers laughed at this 4-year-old. One brother said “hi, she likes you.” And the other encouraged him to turn around and say “hi” to DD.

While the three brothers were joking and teasing with each, DD didn’t understand why they giggled and laughed so much. She just followed one boy, probably more out of curiosity than looking for a “boyfriend”.

But one day, I noticed she was looking for a “boyfriend”, and this time she tried to KISS him!

That was December 5, Saturday. Local school district hired a model to play Santa Clause and allowed parents to take pictures of him and their kids for free. Since at that time I was looking for a winter photo for DD’s Baby calendar, I thought this was a perfect opportunity.

Obviously other parents shared the same idea. Hundreds of parents took their kids and showed up. The waiting room was packed.

While we were waiting, DD wandered around the room, watching other older kids playing and drawing. Suddenly spotted a boy, around three or four years old, looking something inside his backpack.

She approached him, and this time she extended her hand and held his sleeve. The boy was busy searching in his backpack. He felt somebody was pulling his sleeve. He stopped and found out it was DD.

He looked at her. Although he didn’t say anything, his facial expression was saying “what are you doing?”

DD looked up at him, and poked her lips. She wanted to kiss him!!

Unfortunately a typical Hollywood-style romance didn’t happen. The little boy looked more puzzled than flattered. 

I dragged DD away from that boy, and gave her a lecture on not to harass other kids, thought I could barely suppressed my laughing.

Soon DD turned to another girl, who was around five. Poor girl! She didn’t expect a younger one coming to give her a kiss. She cried and run to look for her dad.

M sat down and told DD that not everybody longed her kisses as we do. “Save your kiss to us after we come back home.” He told her.

It was close to the time for our number to be called to see the Santa Clause. So we queued in line. And one again, DD eyed another boy.

This time it was a 16-month-old. He was curious as she was. He approached her. They stood together, face to face, and watched each other. Both were not sure what to do.

The little boy’s mother laughed, “Do you find a girlfriend? Are you going to kiss her?”

The boy extended his arms and held DD. And DD extend hers and held that boy. People began to pay attention. They looked at them, wondering what they are going to do the next.

DD and the little boy held each other for a little while. Suddenly DD lost her interest and dropped her arms. The boy was still in the mood. He held DD’s skirt and stared into her eyes.

DD turned her eyes away and looked at something in the other end of the room. Then she stepped away and came back to us. Our number was called and we stepped out of the room to see Santa Clause.

DD had no interest in Santa Clause. As soon as I put DD onto his lap, she was scared and began to cry. We had to pick her up.

At the door, we met the last little boy and his friendly mother. She joked, “Maybe they will see each other again (few years later) in school.”

Yes, they might, I thought, but hopefully, by that time, she is NOT looking for a boyfriend…. 

Related posts:
Baby’s growth, month 17
Baby’s growth, month 16
Baby’s growth, month 15
Baby’s growth, month 14
Baby’s growth, month 13
Baby’s growth, month 12
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 Growth | Baby's Growth, From Lina, Second Year | Lina | January 4, 2010 1:46 pm | Comments (0)