toddler language milestone

They say it's really hard to understand your toddler when he or she is still in the pre-talker stage because they are still trying to develop their communication skills. Well, in our case, even though our 14-month old daughter still cannot properly communicate to us verbally, she has developed some form of communication other than the use of words (I believe this is how pre-talkers communicate - mostly through sign language). As much as we can, we try to make sure that we still get all her messages across.

Sometimes, it's very easy to understand what she is trying to tell us. However, there are also situations where we have to keep guessing a few times before we would be able to understand her.

For example, when she wants to go outside, she would let out a cry and try to point her finger outside. This should be easy.

In this picture, she's just pointing at an object...

If she wants to show me something, she would grab my hand and would lead me towards the direction of the object or the place, wherever it is.

There are times when she would just cry and we thought that she wanted to drink milk only to find out that she's just sleepy. Good thing that we've already learned that we can always store her unfinished milk formula in the refrigerator and will still be good to drink when she's already awake.

Right now though, whenever she cries, we would watch her reaction when we ask her "Milk? You want milk?". If she reacts with a smile or a laughter, the answer means "Yes" especially if she would look in the direction where her milk and feeding bottles are located. However, if her reaction seems to show some indifference, as if she didn't hear us, then it means we need to guess some more. What a language milestone, indeed!

Anyhow, I find this stage of my toddler much much much more enjoyable. I feel like she's learning fast. Whenever we want a kiss from her, she would usually happily oblige because she knows we would praise her afterwards with some cheering and clapping.

And she's been the little noisemaker in the house. Whenever we have calls from my in-laws, she also wants to have something to do with the telephone.

 Credits to introvertedwriter for this beautiful piece of work on the photo!

Right now, I guess she's still trying to hone her narrative skills but somehow I know she'll turn out to be a glib talker someday. She talks as if she's speaking the right words, although for the record she knows how to say "Mama", "Papa", "Baby", "Ate", "Hala!" ["Hala!" by the way is an expression I frequently say when something or a situation frightens me without a warning. I guess I should be more watchful about the words I am saying :-)]

too early for what?

It's too early for her to go to school but my one year and two months' old toddler looks like she's excited to go to school. LOL.

small girl going to school?

What's up with the pink bag? Well, it's called a back-to-school gift from the makers of Enfagrow, her milk formula. You buy the milk, you get that bag. They also included some school supplies inside (paper, pencil, notebook, crayons, etc.). Now, I'm beginning to imagine her going to school. I wish she would really do well in school and land on a scholarship!

Oh, you're not going to school. You're going to the neighbor's house!

Oh, she really makes my heart melt with joy...

She really loves the outdoors. She knows when it's already time to go outside. If we don't let her enjoy the outdoors, then we had better prepare for her toddler tantrums. :-)

18 seconds of happiness captured!

Babies are such a nice way to start people. - Don Herrold

Look at how fast my one year old little girl could run now! This is only an 18-sec video. Here, she forgets about her teething discomfort because she's running freely.



She is indeed a true joy and inspiration! Somehow, I felt little scared seeing her run swiftly like that but I am still full of joy. To us, it seems like she causes us to have amnesia from all of life's worries and problems. :-) Thank You God for this very precious gift!

the discomfort of one year molars

Last week, our little girl had been acting fussy again. Yes, it's because she is teething again. I know I said in my previous post that we have already graduated from parent sleep deprivation but last week was kind of unusual because she has been feeling some discomfort from these so called one year molars. She wasn't that cranky when she's had her teeth coming from the front row but now with some molars which are about to erupt, it's really hard to put her to sleep. And oh, she's back to this habit of waking up in the middle of the night, too. It's like she was having a change of body clock again.

Generally, it was her most uncomfortable time of the week. I believe this is how it's going to be for the rest of the month.

Today, I saw some small red patches around her cheeks and some parts of her legs but I forgot to take some pictures, though. As first time parents, we were frantic about it even though she didn't have any fever. We immediately phoned the expert, my mother-in-law! She said that the small patches are still part of her teething and we need not worry. I guess she's right because these red patches would appear and disappear every now and then. I just hope my daughter will get over this uncomfortable stage of teething soon!

celebrating my greatest right as a woman

"Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother."

- Lin Yutang 

I know I have a lot to learn about being a mother. I can't even say I'm really good at  it. I only do things the best way I know how and with God's guidance. I am thankful to God for giving me the chance to become a mother. At first, it was only just a dream. Now, I wake up appreciating each day realizing that God gave me such an amazing gift, my daughter. She is truly God's gift and blessing to us! 

five minutes more?

The amount of sleep required by the average person is five minutes more. - Wilson Mizener

Before we had our daughter, hubby and I are avid members of the "five minutes more"  sleeping club. I can still recall the times we've been tardy from going to work because we wanted to sleep like the average person described in the bolded quote above. LOL. It's amazing how things started to change when we already had a baby. During the first three months of our baby, it was really hard for us because we had to stay up during unholy hours because the baby is usually awake during that time. If there's one important thing I have learned from  this whole parenting thing, it would be to sleep when the baby is sleeping. Nap when the baby is also napping. Because when baby is awake, we need to be awake as well so we can give our best care and attention. It's hard to attend to the baby when you are sleepy, right? I had to salute hubby though because he's usually the one who has to stay awake at night for the baby more than I would because doctor wants me to rest during night time so that I could already say goodbye to postpartum hypertension. In fact, he got teased at work by his officemates because he would unintentionally fall off to sleep.

Well, anyway, the sleep deprivation didn't really last very long. However, when she started teething, there are also times that she'd be awake in the middle of the night - although it's not very often that she turns fussy during bedtime.

And then at 10 months+ when she already learned how to stand and walk, she would seem too excited about it that she would wake up at midnight and stand up on her own and then play like it was a normal waking up time of the day. You know how it feels when you're sleepy but you can't afford to sleep because the baby is awake? Well, I am also glad that it didn't last very long though. In a week's time, we never experienced that again.

I'm glad we have finally graduated from that sleep deprivation moments! Now that our daughter is a year old plus, her sleep pattern is already that of an adult - although she takes more naps in the afternoon. No longer would we wake up in the middle of the night because she sleeps so soundly in bed already. As a matter of fact, we already have a new member of the "five minutes more" sleeping club.  :-)