Each baby is a unique individual and meets his/her milestone at his/her own pace. During month 7, DD started to expand her attention-getting repertoire to include more than crying. She blew “raspberries” and babbled, sat and stood with support, objected when her favorite things were taken away, worked to get a toy that was beyond her reach, passed a toy from one hand to the other, and sometimes picked up tiny objects with her thumb and fingers. Her baby training in this month emphasized on more crawling, sipping, simple principle and language trainings.
1. More crawling: No toy could attract DD’s attention but big people’s things like telephone, cell phone, credit card, or a chain of keys. Therefore, when I wanted DD to crawl more I laid down one those things at one end of the blanket on the floor and lured her to get it by crawling from the other end. Sometimes she wanted to give up in the midway and I nudged her feet, pushing her to finish the exercise. She was improving every time.
2. Sippy time: I gave her a sippy cup with a spout and two handles. I showed her how to tip the cup back and suck through the spout. First she just enjoyed chewing the sprout. After several practice runs, she figured it out that she could drink through the sprout and drink water from the cup. Quickly the sippy cup became her favorite thing.
3. Looking for the light source: I showed her the light and turned on the switch, at the same time I said “the light is on”. Then I turned off the switch, pointed to the light and said “the light is off”. I repeated this drill several times. She watched the light on and off with great interest. Soon she learned to look back and forth between the switch and the light. Then I let her touch the switch and encouraged her to turn on/off it by herself. This is a good exercise to help her find out cause and effect.
4. Simple principle training: It was time to build my authority by telling her “no” and I started to teach her simple principles. I took the telephone away and told her “this is not a toy” even she was screaming.
I removed the book from her mouth when she was chewing it, saying “books are meant to be read, not to be eaten.” I gently knocked her hand off when she tried to grab my glasses or pull my hair. And I lay her down into her crib and said “goodnight” when it was time for bed (though this practice failed several times).
5. Simple Chinese learning: I taught DD to say “mommy”, “daddy” and “baby” in Chinese. Every time when I said “mommy” in Chinese, I pointed at myself. Every time when I said “daddy” in Chinese, I pointed at M. She didn’t quite get the Chinese right. But it was a simple beginning.
Related posts:
Baby training, month 6
Baby training, month 5
Baby training, month 4
Baby training, month 3
Baby training, month 1-2
Baby Training, First Year, From Lina | Lina | 
February 10, 2009 1:04 pm | 
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