Age 1: learning and learning quick
Now, age one was really interesting for me with my son, it was the time our little one really started to develop his personality and come into his own, become independent and wanted to know what everything was and what it did. We also had the tackle of finding out he had a cows milk protein allergy, which was difficult, just as we were able to move him onto actual milk we had to take a step back and reevaluate everything he ate and drank, thankfully our doctor did help us out here and my partner is a chef so he was able to adapt quite well, but for me it wasn't so easy, I had to read every packet to find out whether he could have it, but we got there in the end.
At this point you're child will be starting to walk or already is walking... oh no... this is when they start to really get nosey and want to know what everything is, especially if it makes a noise, they haven't seen it before or it's colourful... or they know they aren't meant to have it because you have told them no over and over again... no they don't listen, this just makes them want it more. How I normally deal with this is show them what it is, what it does but explain to them that its mummy's or daddy's toy and isn't for little fingers, this normally gets him to leave it alone even if it is only for a little while.
You will feel like you are repeating yourself a lot with things like, be careful, no don't touch, this way please, stop, hold hands and many more, and this will carry on probably for quite a while, but get them used to hearing it and they will soon respond quicker and quicker ... hopefully.
As you're child starts to walk or move about they will probably start getting a little more boisterous, especially if they are a boy, being more interested in the boisterous activities... at least they are getting exercise... just try and minimise the amount these activities occur but also give them a release, somewhere they can go to do these activities like a soft play where they can push the equipment instead of you, trust me soft play is amazing at this point, not only does it give them somewhere to release their boisterous side, but it tires them out and gives you a bit of a break too.
Because of this new found love for constantly moving and doing things, putting them down for a nap or even at bed time is a struggle... my god my son does not like bed time, he wants to stay up and play for as long as he can and I can not count the amount of tantrums he has thrown because I have told him it is time to sleep. But the best thing to do is set a routine, keep the bedtime at a fixed time or a rough time depending on how busy the day has been, my partner and I said t put our son to bed between 6.30 and 7, so we would give him dinner at 4.30/5 then let him play for a bit, bath time at 6 and then bottle after that. Telling him that bottle time was chill time, time to relax before bed, this gave him an advanced warning that bed time was coming up, and this limited the amount of screaming and no's we got around bed time. So routine really was a key thing for us. Also another thing I found that helped was settling him into bed, letting him choose a story and reading him that whilst he lay down and got comfy, this would really settle him down and relax him. We had a routine in the room of tidy up toys, pick a story, cuddle, kiss then off to sleep and my son reacted so well to this. Obviously like I constantly say, every child is different but so is every family, and you will find a routine that only fits your baby best but fits you best too.
With speech you will probably find your child has been making sounds since about 1 or 2 months and things have just progressed from there, which is great. This is really the time to start introducing them to choices of things, that's why I would get my son to chose a story, I would try and get him to explain what the picture looked like or the colours it had... obviously this was not straight away, I would first say things like 'oh you have the blue book' or 'that has a teddy on the front, do you like the teddy?' Getting him to associate words with images, colours or objects. Also when I was out and about I would point things out to my son saying 'can you see the ....?' Or give him a choice of fruit at the shop 'do you want a red apple or a yellow banana?' At first he didn't necessarily respond with words it would be more actions or if he did reply it was to point and say 'that' but at least he heard the words and I would repeat them constantly. People must have looked at me like I was mental, talking to him like he was a little adult himself, but I found doing this really did help his speech and we are proud of how much he now can say... he even surprises us sometimes with the things he does come out with. But I found doing everything I could from pointing things out to counting steps as we walked up stairs has really helped develop his language and understanding of what we say and ask.
With talking watch what you say, if you have a partner anything like mine swearing comes second nature to him, and trust me your little ones will pick it up, even if the words are not said to them but said any where in their hearing range... which is a lot bigger than you can imagine, they seem to be able to hear everything you don't want them to and they are like sponges, soaking up those words to blurt them out at the most embarrassing moments! Also be ready for the words they do know and say to sound totally different to the ones they are actually saying... my son went around for a long time say 'Jews' for juice and it got very embarrassing when he would go round town saying 'no Jews mummy, no jews' which to everyone else sounded racist but he was just telling me he didn't want juice.... this wasn't helped when my partner was with me and my son started saying this as a little old lady walked past, now staring at him to which my partner thought it would be hilarious to come out with 'Adolf be quiet'.... the look of horror on this little old women's face was a picture.
Please don't forget, all children progress differently, they will learn things at different rates, don't compare with other children around you, it's not a competition, and ignore those that make it seem like it is. Be proud of how far your little one has come and everything they have learnt. And if you are ever worried talk to someone.
I hope this has helped people and been a good read.
I will post again soon, not sure on what yet maybe the terrible twos, because wow that can be tough.
Comment if you want advice or have anything you would like to add.
At this point you're child will be starting to walk or already is walking... oh no... this is when they start to really get nosey and want to know what everything is, especially if it makes a noise, they haven't seen it before or it's colourful... or they know they aren't meant to have it because you have told them no over and over again... no they don't listen, this just makes them want it more. How I normally deal with this is show them what it is, what it does but explain to them that its mummy's or daddy's toy and isn't for little fingers, this normally gets him to leave it alone even if it is only for a little while.
You will feel like you are repeating yourself a lot with things like, be careful, no don't touch, this way please, stop, hold hands and many more, and this will carry on probably for quite a while, but get them used to hearing it and they will soon respond quicker and quicker ... hopefully.
As you're child starts to walk or move about they will probably start getting a little more boisterous, especially if they are a boy, being more interested in the boisterous activities... at least they are getting exercise... just try and minimise the amount these activities occur but also give them a release, somewhere they can go to do these activities like a soft play where they can push the equipment instead of you, trust me soft play is amazing at this point, not only does it give them somewhere to release their boisterous side, but it tires them out and gives you a bit of a break too.
Because of this new found love for constantly moving and doing things, putting them down for a nap or even at bed time is a struggle... my god my son does not like bed time, he wants to stay up and play for as long as he can and I can not count the amount of tantrums he has thrown because I have told him it is time to sleep. But the best thing to do is set a routine, keep the bedtime at a fixed time or a rough time depending on how busy the day has been, my partner and I said t put our son to bed between 6.30 and 7, so we would give him dinner at 4.30/5 then let him play for a bit, bath time at 6 and then bottle after that. Telling him that bottle time was chill time, time to relax before bed, this gave him an advanced warning that bed time was coming up, and this limited the amount of screaming and no's we got around bed time. So routine really was a key thing for us. Also another thing I found that helped was settling him into bed, letting him choose a story and reading him that whilst he lay down and got comfy, this would really settle him down and relax him. We had a routine in the room of tidy up toys, pick a story, cuddle, kiss then off to sleep and my son reacted so well to this. Obviously like I constantly say, every child is different but so is every family, and you will find a routine that only fits your baby best but fits you best too.
With speech you will probably find your child has been making sounds since about 1 or 2 months and things have just progressed from there, which is great. This is really the time to start introducing them to choices of things, that's why I would get my son to chose a story, I would try and get him to explain what the picture looked like or the colours it had... obviously this was not straight away, I would first say things like 'oh you have the blue book' or 'that has a teddy on the front, do you like the teddy?' Getting him to associate words with images, colours or objects. Also when I was out and about I would point things out to my son saying 'can you see the ....?' Or give him a choice of fruit at the shop 'do you want a red apple or a yellow banana?' At first he didn't necessarily respond with words it would be more actions or if he did reply it was to point and say 'that' but at least he heard the words and I would repeat them constantly. People must have looked at me like I was mental, talking to him like he was a little adult himself, but I found doing this really did help his speech and we are proud of how much he now can say... he even surprises us sometimes with the things he does come out with. But I found doing everything I could from pointing things out to counting steps as we walked up stairs has really helped develop his language and understanding of what we say and ask.
With talking watch what you say, if you have a partner anything like mine swearing comes second nature to him, and trust me your little ones will pick it up, even if the words are not said to them but said any where in their hearing range... which is a lot bigger than you can imagine, they seem to be able to hear everything you don't want them to and they are like sponges, soaking up those words to blurt them out at the most embarrassing moments! Also be ready for the words they do know and say to sound totally different to the ones they are actually saying... my son went around for a long time say 'Jews' for juice and it got very embarrassing when he would go round town saying 'no Jews mummy, no jews' which to everyone else sounded racist but he was just telling me he didn't want juice.... this wasn't helped when my partner was with me and my son started saying this as a little old lady walked past, now staring at him to which my partner thought it would be hilarious to come out with 'Adolf be quiet'.... the look of horror on this little old women's face was a picture.
Please don't forget, all children progress differently, they will learn things at different rates, don't compare with other children around you, it's not a competition, and ignore those that make it seem like it is. Be proud of how far your little one has come and everything they have learnt. And if you are ever worried talk to someone.
I hope this has helped people and been a good read.
I will post again soon, not sure on what yet maybe the terrible twos, because wow that can be tough.
Comment if you want advice or have anything you would like to add.
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