At month 19, DD continued to test her locomotion skills. She delighted at walking backward and sideways. She walked up and down stairs, holding a ball or a heavy book in hand. She ran a lot. Although she often tumbled and fell, she got up immediately and continued her galloping.

She loved book-reading. Actually she wanted us to read to her. A lot of times, she picked up books and gave them to me. We sat on the stairs and I read to her. Half of her play time was spent in book-reading.

She also desired to help, by imitating what we were doing. She was eager to help me empty the dishwasher, clean the toilet, wipe the stove, or push the vacuum. Since simple chores help children feel as if they’re valuable members of the household and provide them elementary lessons in responsibility, I welcomed her assistance by showing her the right way and saying “thank you”.

She started to show feelings and emotions as an individual human being. She showed more affection towards her toys, especially her teddy bear and dolly. She hugged them and kissed them. As everybody else, she thrived when praised and encouraged, and withered when scolded.

A future musician?!
Untie Chris gave DD a Parents Kitty Keyboardas Christmas gift. It was a feline-shaped musical instrument with bright tones and colors plus two octaves of black and white keys. The keyboard lets kids choose from one of four different instrument sounds, including piano, bells, organ and banjo.

Other cool functions of this piano include automatic beat buttons, which play typical beats for five music styles, including rock, blues, samba, techno and disco; a record and play-back feature that lets little ones capture their kitty cat compositions; a microphone with retractable cord that lets children sing along to the music; and two prerecorded melody buttons, one that features seven feline renditions of popular children’s songs, another that includes 20 prerecorded melodies of fun favorites like “B-I-N-G-O” and “Hokey Pokey”.

DD fell into love with this Parents Kitty Keyboard as soon as she opened the wrapping. She pushed the keyboard, shook her head with the drum beats, swirled herself along the music, and grabbed the microphone to test her voice.

While she was having fun, we were all amused to watch her playing, singing, and dancing. She smiled, squealed, laughed and enjoyed to be the center of attention.

Putting in and dumping out
I bought DD a box of wooden blocks for Christmas. There are letters, numbers and images on the six surfaces of the blocks. She was not ready to sit down and read the alphabetic letters on the blocks yet, but she was ready to hold a container in one hand and put blocks into it with the other. When the container was full, she dumped the blocks out and started all over again.

Sometimes I deliberately kept her practicing this grasp-hold-and-release skill by asking her to pick up the scattered blocks, put them into her container and then dump them into the sash. Each time when she dumped three or four blocks from the container into the sash, I praised her with a “thank you”. And she was eager to get more.

As soon she mastered this skill, she shifted her interest to stack several on top of one another. But her biggest fun was to destroy Daddy’s block tower and see him start over again!

Teddy, teddy, I love you!
Untie Chris also gave DD some books for Christmas. The book Cuddle!became one of her favorites. This cute illustrated hardcover book features what would happen if you cuddled a wild animal, such as “”If I cuddled a tiger, I’d end up as dinner” or “I’d cuddle a lion but he’d bite off my head”.

It sounds a little bit terrifying, but presents blunt honesty and gentle humor. The book Cuddle!ends with a question “do you think I can cuddle my teddy instead”. Every time when I read this line, DD would go to give her teddy bear a big hug.

She also showed more affection towards her dolly. She carried her while wondering around the living room, hugged and kissed her, and learned to put her down gently. By the end of the month 19, she tried to feed the dolly with milk, water or food. I told her that dolly doesn’t eat, but once a while she still gave the dolly a little bit treat.

As everybody else, she thrived when praised and encouraged, and withered when scolded. One day, she smudged the baby book before the ink went dry. I got quite upset and lost my temper. She sat quietly on the window seat, away from my view, sucking her thumb, a comfort thing she always did when she was tired, nervous, unsure, under the weather, or in pain.

After I calmed down, I felt regretful and very bad myself. As soon as she spotted that I was no longer angry, she came over and gave me a big hug. I was touched and we went back to reading.

I am eager to help!
DD always desires to help me. She was eager to help me empty the dishwasher, clean the toilet, wipe the stove, or push the vacuum.

According to Susan E. Davis and Robert Needlman, chores help children feel as if they’re valuable members of the household, and provide elementary lessons in responsibility. Regular chores also teach young children about the rhythms of taking care of a household.

Besides, if parents don’t introduce the notion that chores are a natural part of family life now, when they’re eager and open, they’ll have a much harder time enlisting their help when they’re older.  

Therefore, I welcomed DD’s assistance by showing her the right way and saying “thank you”. She beamed when she handed me the plates and bowls. Hopefully, she will still be this happy when she is doing chores after she grows up.

Uh-oh! 
DD learned “uh-oh” from the Ming-Ming Duckling in the Wonder Pets!, a funny and innovative Nick Jr. show for preschoolers. And she quickly applied it in real life.

When she locked herself outside of the room, she would say “uh-oh” and yelled for help; when she spilled juice onto the floor, she would look at me and said “uh-oh”, like it was not her fault; when she couldn’t find the book in the basket, she would look around and murmured “uh-oh”.

It was so fun to watch a little one trying to behave like a big one.

One day, I saw her shrugging her shoulders and turning her palms outward when she just made a mess, like saying “I have nothing to do with it”.

I was wondering where she got that body language from?!  

Related posts:
Baby’s growth, month 18
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 | February 2, 2010 3:01 pm | Comments (0)