At month 16, DD further challenged her physical limits and learned to use tools. She became a creative climber.

Her language development reached a milestone. She understood much more than she could speak. It was amazing to watch her do (or not do) exactly as we said, English from M and Chinese from me. She also began to show the urge to build social connections, especially with children.

Baby's Growth | November 1, 2009 1:37 pm | Comments (0)

The 15th month is what pediatricians consider a “milestone” period—a time that most babies walk right out of babyhood. This is absolutely true to DD. Since she was quite confident on her feet, she was very keen to experiment with different ways of moving: trotting, running and dancing.

Baby's Growth | October 2, 2009 9:20 am | Comments (0)

On DD’s one-year birthday, grandmas told me soon I would notice some signs that my baby—small and cute though she is—wouldn’t be a baby any longer. I understood, since I already glimpsed her growing sense of independence, emerging negativity, primitive temper tantrums and sprouting my-way-or-highway-mind-set.

However, I never expected these behaviors would constitute the theme of her second year.

Baby's Growth | September 3, 2009 12:05 pm | Comments (0)

Once the baby has a taste of freedom, it will be hard to hold her back. That is absolutely true. Once DD, a risk-taker, tasted the freedom of walking, it was difficult to prevent her from toddling. During month 13, she continued to make progress, physically, emotionally, socially and cognitively.

Baby's Growth | August 6, 2009 11:13 am | Comments (0)

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.

Baby's Growth | July 2, 2009 11:20 am | Comments (0)

This month, the house became DD’s adventure park. She crawled from one room to the other, enamored with stairs and practiced climbing up and down, learned to cruise while holding onto furniture, and fell in love with the novelty of standing — particularly in the bathtub. Her personality began to emerge. She was persistent on things she set her mind on and would keep practicing until she mastered it. She was also developing a mind of her own. Rather than passively accepting any food I shoveled into her mouth, she began to selectively accept those she enjoyed and reject those falling out of her favor.

Baby's Growth | June 3, 2009 7:38 pm | Comments (1)

Most 10-month-old babies are confident crawlers and continue making major gains in development and begin displaying a little independence. Yes, that is DD. Her newfound 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. Our fearless baby terminator was back, with better gears.

Baby's Growth | May 2, 2009 10:50 am | Comments (0)

This month DD finally figured out crawling. Once she did, she crawled swiftly and professionally. She even crawled to chase a puppy! She also quickly moved to the next milestone: pulling herself up to a standing position from sitting.

Baby's Growth | April 3, 2009 3:40 pm | Comments (0)

This month DD made breakthrough in her crawling. She could move one step forward with hand and leg at the same side. She could also sit up by herself against objects. We tried all kinds of strategies to break her bad habit of staying up late at night.

Baby's Growth | March 1, 2009 10:39 am | Comments (0)

This month I introduced solid food to DD. She enjoyed fruits, enjoyed sweet potato and spinach, was fine with rice cereal and oatmeal. She accepted steamed and grinded green beans. She began to have the idea of attention. She smiled when I interacted with her, and screeched when I ignored her. She learned to pass a toy from one hand to the other, bear some weight on her legs when held upright, and “blow raspberry”. She also formed a bad habit of staying up late at midnight.

Baby's Growth | February 4, 2009 11:44 am | Comments (0)