A few months after I gave birth to Candice, my eldest sister sent me a book about child development. I read about infant-toddler behavior, caregiving, toddler activities, and the developmental benefits of outdoor playgrounds. The last topic never escaped my memory since. And so, by the time Candice reached toddlerhood, I made it a point to bring her to an outdoor playground at least twice or thrice a week. Apparently, the swing helps children develop a good sense of balance; the monkey bars help them develop strong bones and make them grow taller; and the slides teach them to wait for their turn, to take the risk and let go.
Let go.
It’s only recently that I finally let Candice slide down the slide. I’ve been too afraid that she might roll down and get hurt. When we were at Water Camp, I checked on the safety of the slides first before letting her play. She seemed ready for it, climbing up the stairs and letting herself fall down. Big girl na talaga siya. Sigh.
Okay, I will have to agree on the “surprising” changes that occur when a child turns two. I have witnessed a lot since October came in. And even until now I notice some developmental steps and leaps that make my daughter a true Toddler Two. Yup, that’s the label I prefer to assign her at this stage. While the label “Terrible Two” seems apt, it encloses a lot of negative things which I do not really see as terrible.
I’m aware that my child is going through a lot of changes in her life. She’s become aware of many things, but she’s yet to learn how to properly deal with her feelings. I too am going through a lot of changes. When before the play-eat-sleep schedule was normally designed by yours truly, some cute ideas are now being proposed and preferred by the Little Lady. Every day compromises are made, deals are done, and rules are imposed. I am actually re-learning patience and reminding myself too often to empathize with my child.
My Toddler Two now asserts herself (quite strongly) and says “No!” when she doesn’t want it and “More, please!” and “Good!” when she likes it. She has also established her own preferences for some things. For example, she often refuses to wear a dress when she’s at home. Whenever she sees me picking out a dress after she’s taken a bath, she says “No dress! Shorts, please!” and then grabs the dress and puts it back into the cabinet. At times when we have to go out she will agree to wear a dress, but she has to be the one choose the pair of shoes that will go with the outfit.
Of course, most things are still under my marmee-ish control. But with matters such as snacks and fashion, I can let her exercise her decision-making skills. I want her to learn to decide for herself. She’ll be doing a lot of that when she grows up.
It’s been more than a month since I last made a post. I think I lost track of the days and weeks that came in since July. And now I have a whole month’s worth of backlog. The month of August was actually a very busy month for my family. New projects came in. Important decisions were made. Many changes are definitely afoot. I hope to be able to sweat some details in my future posts.
Anyway, I’d like to mark this comeback post with a few details about Candice. Yes, she’s grown so much since July. We visited the pedia last week for a checkup and a shot of penta-booster. At 22 months, she already weighs 12.2 kgs (the avg 2 y.o. weighs 12 kgs). Her growth chart is looking good, too.
She’s been busy with a lot of play-and-learn activities. By the end of July, she has learned to recite and read ALL the letters in the alphabet. She started learning about letters as early as last year. It was also in July (or earlier) when she learned to identify and recite the numbers 1 to 12. We’re currently helping her learn more numbers and a few three-letter words. But all in the guise of fun. I don’t want her to get tired of “schoolwork” so early in her life. Now that she’s about to turn Toddler Two, I try to give her as much as exposure as possible. I let her play with the neighbors’ kids. I let her run and stumble. I bring her to talipapa, to the playground, to Meralco. She’s generally a well-behaved kid, so I don’t worry much about tantrums. I just have to deal with her emotional side every now and then. She’s a toddler who’s going through a lot of changes. And because she’s just learning to utter two- to three-word phrases, I try to read between the lines and understand as much toddlerspeak as I can.
The photo above shows Candice playing with party stuff. It was taken during the 1st birthday celebration (August 29) of my high school batchmate’s baby boy. We hope to bring Candice to more social events as she gets older.
All for now. I hope to write more after I get rid of this bad cold. Enjoy the long weekend!
I read in a book that once your child reaches toddlerhood, you can give her something to doodle with. One day I gave Candice a fat purple crayon and showed her how to make lines and loops on a thick wad of office stationery.
(As of this writing, the fat purple crayon has already traveled beyond paper and made its way around floor tiles and board books. Thank God for washable Crayola.)
Anyway, here’s what the Little Pumpkin came up with:
^ This is her first try. Her hands were quite steady when she drew these lines. I helped her with the circles though. She can draw circles on air but not yet on paper.
^ The second one has lines that crisscross. Never too early to learn the cross-hatching technique.
^ And this one is a collaboration between mom and daughter. We were trying to draw Telly from memory, but we weren’t able to get his pear-shaped face right. We tried to transform the drawing into Elmo, and then finally into Elmo’s bearded dad (with an imaginary bit of fried egg dangling from his mustache).
My toddler is a relatively sociable kid. She can play with anyone she finds interesting. But sometimes she prefers to play on her own, and the only role you get is that of a code decipherer.
Hi! I'm Connie. This notebook is mostly about daily living, working from home, family, parenting, kids, food, books & whatever I might fancy.
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