In a few short weeks, Abigail will be having her first birthday — it’s hard to believe she’s been around a whole year already!
Last week she hit two pretty big milestones — on the same day…
– She’s started using her first words. OK, they’re more an intelligent grunt than articulated words, but she knows what they mean and she uses them in the right context. For awhile now she’s been grunting “uh-oh” when she drops something. We’re sure she picked that up from Benjamin, because that remains one of his favorite words. Probably his second-most common words are “What’s that?” which still sounds kind of like “Wh-wh-whatsZat?!”
Abi copies him almost exactly, and likes to be carried around the house so she can point at things and grunt “Wha-wa-waZAAAA?”
– She started walking. One day she couldn’t walk, and the next day she could… and the day after that she decided she didn’t want to. She totally blew us away when she took 3 or 4 steps on her own, so we kept at it with her — maybe even pushed her a little too far. At one point, she took 5 steps, turned left and took 3 more steps!
Unfortunately, she’s not as quick to get back up and try again after a tumble as Ben was. We got some video, but most of it is the tumbles. She’s apparently concluded that walking on her own is just not worth it, because she’ll walk around holding onto only your pinky finger, but if you take that away she’ll immediately sit down.
We also had a particularly tough week with food. We concluded after a few explosive poops that went up her back, that she must have something of an upset tummy, but until we figured that out, it was very frustrating. She’d eat a bite or two of her food, then refuse any more, shaking her head back and forth if we tried, and screaming with red-faced rage if we managed to sneak some in. She wasn’t even doing that well with the bottle. Fortunately she seems to be getting back to her normal eating habits.
Ben and Abi play together so well, we’re very blessed to have kids that get along so well. If she was big enough to chase him (which he calls “kicking”) we could just sit back and let them entertain themselves for hours…
She is a girl and she watches her mom. She probably has already figured out that as soon as she starts walking someone is going to expect her to do the dishes.
For the walking, try having a go-between (something like a clothespin) that you hold onto one end and Abi the other. Walk with her that way for awhile and when she seems sturdy, quietly let go of your end. She still thinks she has hold of you so she’s confident. As to the food, if she’s otherwise healthy, don’t push the food thing. Only causes problems down the line. Put what you’re eating (or what she’s supposed to eat) in front of her and then ignore her. She may push the issue for awhile to get your attention, but soon she’ll eat what she wants. Then when she’s done, don’t force more in. Just clear the table and the meal is over. When you pay that much attention over food, SHE’s in control and she loves that. If you ignore her, it’s not as much fun and she’ll go back to just “eating”.
I’ve read that as a baby enters a new developmental stage, and has a new reality involving a new set of skills to adjust to, it makes them really fussy for the week before/after major milestones. A friend was telling me last week that the week before the first birthday is one such “fussy” week.