Scarlett pulls a gallon of milk out of the fridge herself, while asking for a bottle.Baby (Scarlett, 16m): "Bah-bah!"
Parent: Our first attempt to wean Scarlett at 13mo was a miserable failure--- as a work-at-home-dad, I just couldn't do manage the stress of doing it alone. My wife and I had much more success lately, so now the little one is down to 1 bottle right before bed. It is incredible to watch her shift towards knowing exactly what she wants. So now, she will open the fridge (with our supervision) to get cheese or blueberries or what ever she wants to fill her cravings. Unfortunately, she's so smart, once she saw the milk, she started demanding a bottle and will now drag a gallon milk container across the kitchen over to where we keep the bottles, demanding a bah-bah (bottle) in the middle of the day. Time to disguise the milk!
Development: The span between 12 and 24 months is an incredible period in which children start out with predominately baby-like characteristics and leave it resembling a much older child. As children gain their increased mobility, they start to become increasingly more aware of their surroundings. They begin demonstrating greater and greater independence, even frequent out-right defiant behaviors. Toddlers are just starting to be able to understand and act upon their own wants, but don't yet have the ability to understand that other people might have different desires than their own --- this leads to intense frustration (i.e., tantrums). It turns out terrible twos actually start much earlier-- -at about 16-18months--- more on that in a future post.
I came across a great article on "stealth vegetables" which I'll get to later in week. Also, make sure to see my other blog entries on child nutrition and television.
No comments:
Post a Comment