Mommy's Diary
Month 15 - Turn 360 degree, Drink from an open cup and Eat with spoon - Get used to real shoes - Identifies body parts - Starting tamper tantrum
April 12, 2000
We've been so busy while our new house is being built. I just don't have any time to sit down and write. There are so much happened that I wish I had recorded them.First, Tiger had his first real serious sickness. He had a high fever of 103.5 for two days and diarrhea for about a week. Grandma didn't give him much to eat for fear of more diarrhea. Poor little Tiger was so hungry he had been following me around and trying to lift my shirt to nurse. He nursed almost every other hours at night too. Now he is well recovered from the sickness. However, he becomes much more clingy to Fan and I. At the first indication that Grandma is going to take over Tiger would dash into my arms and grab my shirt so that I can't leave. When I feed him his dinner, if Grandma leans over to try to clean his hand for him or give him something to eat, he immediately raises his arms and say "Bao Bao!" (pick me up), even if he just started his meal. I guess we have been too busy to share more time with Tiger. Also, this may be the second stage of separation anxiety. I feel so sorry that I can't spend every minutes with him. Sometimes when Tiger finishes his meal and Grandma takes him away from his high chair and let me have my dinner, Tiger would cry and my heart is always broke and I just couldn't eat my dinner. I would rather go with Tiger and wait until he sleeps to have my dinner. But I can't always do that because I'm afraid that I will hurt Grandma's feelings.
Tiger has leant so much more stuff. He can turn 360 degree continuously for three or four times. He has leant to drink from a cup without cover all by himself. Although he still gets some of the water spilled to the floor and himself, he has much better control over it now so that he won't spill much unless he deliberately shake the cup just to see the water spilled for his pleasure. :) He also learned to hold his own spoon and put the spoon with food into his mouth. I have to put food on the spoon for him though, although he doesn't let me do it easily. He would rather get the food himself using his spoon, but he can't do it yet then he gets impatient and will either resort to his hands or hit the bowl with his spoon.
April 24, 2000
Tiger is growing so fast! Sometimes I think he is like a two-year old already. Every day he learns a new word. He can put two blocks together. He'll intentionally backup and expecting he will hit the back wall. He just wants to experiment when he hits it. It's really fun watching him being so conscious. He likes to jump, run, stomp his feet in water. He also rolls and lies on the ground. He counts, although using his own words for number.Tiger also becomes more social now. He used to be very cautious around other people but now he starts to loosen up, smile to everybody and waves to them. He often put his little face close to my face to show his affection to me. He even kissed LiLi, a friend of mine and an expecting mother, twice. This is the first time he ever kissed somebody other than daddy, mommy and grandma.
Tiger now has the self concept. When you ask "who is Tiger", he'll point to himself. He will laugh when we talk about him. He knows that we are talking about him.
Since about ten days ago, Tiger finally graduated from crib shoes. I bought a pair of "traditional first shoes" from payless. At first he still cried to protest, but after we put it on, he felt that it wasn't too bad. It was a 5w, which is wider than standard and more comfortable. I show his new shoes to everybody and we all said "wow! nice new shoes! cool! beautiful!..." and such. Now he feels that it is the best shoes that he ever has and he likes very much.
May 1, 2000
Tiger is really growing. He doesn't look like a little baby any more. He looks like a little boy. He has his own personality and his own will. He can sit there and play by himself contently for quite a long time. He knows what limits are and knows to test limits. Once we went to our new house where we have only moved a few furniture in. He went over the couch and looked and said "no-no", then walked away. I was curious what he saw and why he said "no-no" so I went over there and see. I found that on the wall there was the electrical outlet, which we don't let him to touch. Tiger knows that it is a no-no, he was tempted to touch but was able to control himself. I was so proud of him! Back in our old house, we have all electrical outlets covered. The other day, he put his hands on a covered outlet and smiled to me. I knew he was doing that not because he was interested in the outlet itself, rather he was teasing me. Of course I jumped out right away to remove him, although I couldn't hide my smile when I try to reprimand him.He learns so fast too. He talks long sentences, using his own words. He imitates the last word we say, whatever it is. He learns at least one word per day. He knows all body parts that we thought of to teach him, hair, eyes, ear, mouth, nose, hands, feet, and tummy. When you ask him: "Who is Fan?" He'll carelessly answer "BaBa (daddy)" while keep doing his own stuff. When asked "Who is Shang?" He'll say "GeGe (brother)". But when you ask him "Who is Hong?" He'll stop, and think for a while, then sometimes he will say "MaMa", and other times he will just say something else and laugh.
He runs well, loves to jump, climb, dance and turn around. He must have grown taller too because we just moved the stereo higher so that he wouldn't be able to touch it and now he is able to reach it again.
Tiger starts to have those little tamper tantrum too. It isn't very bad yet, he'll just melt down and scream. So far, distraction still works, although you need to move him far enough from the scene otherwise he will go back to whatever you don't want him to touch. Or if the alternative toy that you offer to him is not good enough for him he'll simply push it away.
Telephone is a interesting object in our household. Tiger loves to play with it. When he was younger, when the telephone rings, Tiger would stop whatever he was doing (nursing, sleeping, ...) and jump up and prompt you to get the call. Now when the telephone rings, Tiger would stop whatever he was doing (playing, ...) and lie down right away in my arms quietly pretending that he is sleeping so I can't leave him to pick up the phone. Now I'm thinking in the nights that Tiger doesn't want to go to sleep, maybe I'll have Fan to call from another phone and maybe that will make Tiger lie down.