A wonder week

Ages ago I read an interesting article about “wonder weeks“. Apparently babies go through predictable stages where they spend a period of time being fussy - unusually clingy and difficult - followed by a period of time when they are much happier after passing through a stage of development.

We’ve definitely had one of those wonder weeks! After several days of extreme crankiness, the last few days have seen Talia

- trying to walk dozens of times a day (whereas beforehand she went for days without trying) and usually managing at least 4 steps per attempt - sometimes up to 8.

- stacking boxes for the first time, including one 4 box tower. Previously she was only interested in destroying any sort of stack.

- standing up in the middle of the room (not pulling herself up on anything) for the first time

- scribbling for the first time (using an etch-a-sketch I bought second hand today)

She has been very pleased with these achievements, with lots of smiles and clapping, and as doting parents we are also very proud of her.

Talia at 18 months

Doesn’t time fly? It’s hard to imagine that a year ago this gorgeous almost-toddler was borderline failing to thrive, and I was struggling with post-natal depression as a result.

Talia at 18 months

Now she’s a little above the 10th percentile at 9.33kg and 74cm long, and has made the move into size 0 and size 1 clothing. I pulled out her summer clothing from last year and marvelled how 000 could look so small, when at first we could hardly imagine she would ever be big enough to wear it. We’ve come through winter with only two minor colds, which is fantastic given that she left hospital with chronic lung disease.

Developmentally speaking, Talia still exhibits global delays, but they do not stop her enjoying life immensely. She is nearly walking, having taken her first few steps, but is happier crawling at the moment - including some new crab walking with her bottom in the air. She recently started baby swimming classes (known here as “synchronised splashing”) and hopefully that will help her core body strength as well as giving her confidence around water.

Her favourite activities at the moment are going on the swing in the park, reading books, playing with balls, pegs and balloons, popping bubbles, starting games of peek-a-boo and hanging out with her bath toys. She has recently grasped the concept of putting pieces into a simple jigsaw (no interlocking pieces) but doesn’t have the dexterity to complete it by herself just yet.

Talia at 6 months (3 corrected) - one year ago.

Eating is still patchy, with the same problems of “loved it yesterday, hate it today, don’t even bother tomorrow”, but she’s continuing to gain weight (and grow out of things) despite the fact that she’s almost 100% self fed on finger food and I’m no closer to getting her to eat off a spoon, regardless of whether I’m holding it or she is. On the positive side, we can feed her a little bit of whatever we are having and no longer have to rely on food organised specifically for her (although we still do to some extent), and we’ve moved from formula to cow’s milk in the last month without any problems - in fact she clearly prefers it.

She will sometimes allow us to brush her teeth but it does take quite a bit of persistence. She sleeps well overnight and has one nap in the middle of the day, usually 1-1.5 hours long. I wish she’d sleep longer during the day but no luck so far - her room is probably not dark enough.

All in all, a wonderful, easy-care baby, even if she came without a manual! We feel very fortunate, and very proud.

13 months corrected

Just a quick post with Talia’s latest achievements…

Since her 12 month corrected paed check up, Talia has started:

- walking behind a cart

- climbing up and down steps (only one a time as our house doesn’t have a staircase)

- responding to a simple command to give me her cup, which was previously always dropped over the edge of the high chair

- recognising some words - she will, if asked, go and find some of her toys which she knows by name

- making a few new sounds - like ta ta ta, and something that sounded suspiciously like her name - Ta-ee-ah

- hugging some of her toys

Putting a foot forward

This evening I am pleased to report independently verified (ie Daddyfeatures saw her do it too) cruising along the footstools.

The cat is looking increasingly worried at these new developments in mobility!

A wave of development

As I said in an earlier post, the longer you leave between blogs, the more things you have to talk about. Talia has been making fantastic progress in the past few weeks.

• Since crawling (her technique is beautiful), she has worked out how to pull herself up on the footstool we use as a table for one of her favourite toys, and is also trying to pull herself up on a few other things (like her mother, for example!)
• In just the past few days she has also started to be able to sit herself down from a standing position in a slightly more controlled fashion than in the past, when she just put her bum backwards and let gravity take its course.
• She has started to put blocks and balls IN to a box, not just take them out.
• She will put blocks and balls through posting holes in a home-made shape sorter (with a bit of encouragement)
• She can post balls and push buttons to make the music start on her favourite toy.
• Much to my delight, she has started giving the hand sign for milk. She uses it to mean “I want” or “give me” and it doesn’t always refer to milk, but it’s a major step forward and one I am very pleased about.
• She will give me an object if I ask for it and point to my open hand. (I have to stop myself signing for milk at the same time!!)
• She’s banging two objects together more frequently, which is (hopefully) a precurser to clapping.
• Her babbling is coming along nicely, with lots of nan-nan, although sadly (for me) no mum-mum since the first week she did it.
• Tooth number 6 is now through, so she has four along the top jaw and the 2 middle ones in the bottom jaw.

We are now trying to encourage her to cruise along 2 adjacent footstools. At present her hands move along but her feet stay planted. We also encourage her to walk while we hold her hands, which leads to some fabulous “ministry of silly walks” exercises.

The doting parents just got even dottier…