Now that DD has nailed crawling, walking and running, watch her test her skills in new, more challenging situations. At month 21, she balanced herself on big pillows on the floor, she climbed up to the top of couch and waved down to me, she put the window seat pat against the window seat to create her own slide and slid down it head-down, and she moved her toddler chairs close to the door and stepped onto the chairs to open the door.

At this age, she demonstrated the strength and agility by rearranging her toddler chairs to seat her dolly and teddy bear, attempting to climbing out of the crib (though failed every time), and pushing large objects around the house.  

DD’s desire to be more independent was not only displayed by her physical abilities to do things, but by being comfortable to be left alone. When we watched TV together, instead of sitting on her Daddy’s lap or slugging with me, DD chose to sit by herself on the other end of the couch. When I was busy in the kitchen, she could flip a book and look at a book by herself for a few minutes.

As to her language development, she began to say few words, some in English and some in Chinese, depending on whichever was simpler to pronounce. For example, she would say “duck” instead of yazi, “hot” rather than tang, “eyes” in place of yanjing, while she called grandma “nainai” (see How to say grandma and grandpa in Chinese?) and me “mama” (see How to say mom, dad and baby in Chinese?).

Finally she spoke 
I am a bit strict on defining whether DD speaks a language. For me to define that DD speaks a word intentionally, she has to utter the same sound persistently to the same object in different locations and at different times. That is why I didn’t count her talking even she could pronounce “mama” and “dada” since month seven.

Beginning sometime early in month 21, I noticed DD began to talk, even according to my strict standard.

One word is “duck”. At night around 9 o’clock, when M brought her back to her room and talked to her that she needed to go to bed, DD would point to the ducks on the wall paper and said “duck, duck”. She would also pinpoint ducks in books and spoke “duck”.

One day when she and other kids were playing in the play room in the local library, one mother pointed three ducks on the wall and asked her child “what is it?”

DD jumped up and said “duck, duck, duck” and then “quack, quack, quack”. It was Grandma’s first time to hear DD speak meaningful words intentionally. She cheered and applauded and gave DD a big hug.

So far, DD could say “duck”, “hot”, “eyes”, “night night” and “map” (she learned this one from Dora The Explorer) in English. She could also say grandma and mother in Chinese.

One night, when DD was having her bath, Grandma came to visit. When M told her “grandma is coming!”, she replied “nainai”. Whenever spotting a granny picture in books, she would point to the image and said “nainai” (see How to say grandma and grandpa in Chinese?) .        

Although her pronunciation of “night night” and “nainai” were very similar, she meant what she said, since she only said “night night” or “nainai” either when I put her to bed when she saw Grandma or any granny pictures. Obviously it was our job to figure out whether it was “night night” which means good night, or “nainai” which means grandma in Chinese.

“En-en” the negativist
According to Heidi Murkoff’s What to Expect the Toddler Years , toddlers love to give “no” for an answer, since obeying parents’ “no’s” means admitting their authority. Therefore, instead of making that admission, he/she chooses to put parents’ authority to the test.

Currently, saying “en-en” (her way to say “no”) was the fanciest thing for DD to do. When I handed her the milk, she said “en-en”; when M told her to go to bed, she said “en-en”; and when Grandma asked for a kiss, she still said “en-en”.

Did she really mean “no” when she was saying “no”?  

One day, M and I decided to play a little game with her to find it out. 

The game began with my question in Chinese: “Do you want some water?”

“En-en”, replied by DD, as usual.

“How about some milk?” asked M, in English.

“En-en”, the same.

“Do you want some cookies?” my turn, in Chinese.

DD beamed at us. Obviously she understood the question and meant “yes”!

“Can I get a kiss?” M asked, in English.

“En-en”, back to negativism.

“Do you want to go to bed?” I hoped.

“EN-EN!”. That meant “NO!”, for sure.

“Do you wan to watch TV?” M winkled at her.

DD beamed at us again. She did pay attention to every single question we asked. So she did mean “no” when she said “no”.

After that game, we decided to listen to her when she signed “no”. Since she listened and meant what she said, we needed to respect her opinions.

I am so funny, and I don’t even know it!
DD was a child born with a sense of humor. The first time we identified her humor was at a night in October 2009 when she was 16 months.

That night, Grandpa and Grandma came to visit us. DD was having her first taste of watermelon of that year. She was enjoying it.

Grandpa asked DD, “Are you having the watermelon? Can I have some?”

Without any hesitation, DD picked up one piece of watermelon from her plate and walked toward Grandpa.

Everybody was smiling. DD never had the problem of sharing her staff, no matter a toy that belongs to her, or delicious food on her plate. Actually, she was eager to share, of course, with us, since nobody took her toy away and we always wanted her to enjoy her favorite food.

DD handed Grandpa the piece of watermelon. But right before Grandpa took it, DD withdrew her hand and put the watermelon into her mouth.

Everybody was laughing. This was beyond our expectations, since we never did this to her. Where did she get the idea from?

DD was also very quick to get our joke. One night it was close to her bed time, she pointed to the door and whined. She wanted to play.

M, still holding her, suddenly had an idea. He turned himself 180 degrees so that her finger pointed to the bed, instead of the door. DD quickly switched the direction and pointed her finger toward the door. And M did the same trick once more, making her pointing to the bed rather the bed.

Suddenly DD burst into laughing. She got M’s joke. M was laughing too. He was impressed that DD was so quick to get the point.

Positive discipline tactics
According to Heidi Murkoff’s What to Expect the Toddler Years , the word “discipline” actually means “to teach” and originally has nothing to do with rule, punishment, or the inflicting of pain, therefore disciplining a toddler should means to instill an understanding of the concept of right and wrong. It helps plant the seeds of self-control, teach respect for the rights and feelings of others, and increase your child’s chances of growing up to be a happy adult.

The most effective discipline tactics should be positive discipline tactics, always encouraging the development of self-control. Here are some “positive” approaches that we did with DD.

• Do as I do. Children imitate adults, so if we want DD to show good behavior, we’d better behave. When DD helped me with the household chores, I said “thank you” to her (see Baby’s growth, month 19). When M asked DD to put the cup gently onto the table when finishing drinking, he took his lead.

• Tell him what we want rather than what we don’t. For instance, M told DD to “put down the cup gently onto the table” instead of “don’t push the cup away”, or, “please eat only in the kitchen” rather than “don’t eat in the living room.”

• Reward the positive. Praise and reward are effective disciplinary tools. This will build, rather than knock down, your child’s self-confidence as it reinforces good behavior. “Thank you for finishing your milk in the kitchen” is one example, or “I really appreciate that you put your cup gently on the table “, or M’s favorite way, many kisses and one big hug.

Related posts:
Baby’s growth, month 20
Baby’s growth, month 19
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 | April 3, 2010 6:22 pm | Comments (0)