Kaylene Grows Up : 10 Months Old

At 10months old, Kaylene climbs to a stand very quickly now.
Lately she even progressed to standing with only 1 hand holding for support.
Very often she can dance while standing too.

Kaylene is now 10 months old. Since birth, I've seen how she grows and how she changes and now she is growing out of babyhood to be a toddler soon. (I'm so gonna miss my baaaaby!)



Physically
Since 6months old, she has gained weight till only 11kg up till now. Now she is shooting taller. (I gotta measure her soon and mark it on our wall). She already looks like a 1 year old rather than a 10month old baby. Her Buddha belly has shrunk a little though. Arms getting less chubby. Heck, I noticed her neck is much more visible now compared to 3months ago!

She has bottom 2 teeth out and 2 uppers ones are showing.

More hair! Yay!! She grows out of the Shaolin Monk style finally! I can rake my fingers through her hair now and I am liking this new hairstyle. Spunky wisps! Did I mention I can put cute clips on her hair to dress her up? Whenever she sweats in hot afternoons, I would sweep her hair with my fingers, making a punk style (hahaa! I am a mean mummy sometimes). I do have to say, my girl can rock a punk look cutely.

Funnily enough, on daily/weekly/monthly basis, I always thought her looks changed. Sometimes she seems to resemble a boy, sometimes almost girly soft features. Sometimes she reminds me of my own baby looks. Sometimes I swear she is a mini version of her daddy! I am sure I'll be seeing her this way till the day she grows white hair!

Over the months, my little girl has learned to grasp and grip.
The easiest way to train this motor skill is to give her small bits of her baby biscuit, let her picks up and feeds herself. Because the biscuit is small, she has to really use her pincer grasp and later on both hands to move the tiny morsel into her mouth.
Initially, the biscuit got lost inside her closed palm. Each time I'd show her that it's hidden inside her palm by slowly opening her fingers. Very soon, she would search for the biscuit when nothing goes into her mouth.
After 2 months of this, now she expertly pops the biscuit into her mouth. That means I gotta have more biscuit ready for her snack time.

Movements & Antics
She is now a pro in crawling. No more hesitation, no more testings with knees and ankles. She is very sure of her movements and directions. Turning left or right doesn't challenge her anymore. She is very fast in pulling herself to a stand. Her legs doesn't wobble anymore when she stands. Now she even has learned to walk once she stands up. Lately she even can dance while holding on to support to stand.

This girl likes to dance! Whenever we sing 'Bom-cha-cha Bom-cha-cha", she'll bounce and shake her bumbum and always always with that big big smile! Then she'll sway left and right as her next dance routine. She sways too when seated. She'll dance and sway when she hears music play.

She can now easily clap on our commands, in both English and Mandarin (though she reacts to English faster). Once awhile, she waves BYEBYE (BYEBYE is same in English and Mandarin hahaa) though it quickly morphes into a clap. An even harder trick is for her to reach both arms high in air when we say 'Hi!'. But this she does successfully once in a blue moon. Usually she does it in random occasions so we're not sure what prompt her.

She's very fast on imitating sounds from mouth. She learnt to make kissing/mooching, clucking and smacking lips sounds in days after I showed her. Of course once she acquired those skills, she drops and picks up again whenever she pleases.

She knows when she is on the edge of our bed, sofa, chair etc. She'll go near the edge, slow down and retreat once she realises it's not safe. We noticed too she is afraid of falling. Each time she feels she may fall, she'd quickly grab on to something to hold on to (usually my shirt, that's why my clothes are all worn out heeheee!). I hope this instinct will stay with her to protect her from any fall.

She is now more efficient in self-feeding through hands. Always strong with her hands and legs since birth, her strength in fingers grasp has grown too. Initially, she easily picks up food with either hand but had to try a few rounds before succeeding in getting the morsel into her mouth. Food would've fallen off or fallen in between the corners of her palm which then she would tried to get it by licking her palm (so cute!). Now she picks up food deftly with her fingers and easily puts them in her mouth.

She has also learned to cuddle up to us for comfort. When she feels tired in the car, she would turn to me and rest her head on my shoulder with a thumb in her mouth (her signs of sleepiness). In the nights, she would stirred and wormed her way to my shoulder for a cuddle. It usually last for 5 secs and she'll roll back to her spot to resume sleeping.

We're not crazy about flash cards or training her to read early. Hey, she got many years to learn that. But we like to instill a habit and culture with books with Kaylene at an early age. This is a touch-n-feel book which she loves. We read to her regularly ; during playtime, during bedtime. We just want her to grow up having books around. We place books among her toys and it's one of the things she enjoys. She enjoys flipping the pages and just touch the different texture inside. Of course, now her pincers are strong and she can easily rip off some of the flaps. Some of her other books suffer a lot of chewing from her. But that's OK cuz it's part of her interaction with books.

Milk & Meals
I feed her solids twice a day. Once at each lunch and dinner time. I am slowly giving her outside food if there is suitable ones for her though her daddy disapproves (he's the paranoid papa). As she has only functioning front teeth, she can bite but can't chew on anything so she still needs to be fed pureed food though lately I been making it coarser for her. So far she eats most things we feed her. Oatmeal, apple, pumpkin, sweet potato, banana, avocado, brocoli, cauliflower, potato, baby pasta, cheese, carrot etc. It's most vege and fruits mixed with her organic cereal. Only during our dinners if there's suitable chicken/fish/meat/tofu cooked without heavy sugar/salt that I feed her small amount of meat. Until then I intend to hold off meat and seafood until she is 1.

In between, she gets 3-4 times of milk. Her appetite fluctuates. Sometimes she can downed 9oz of milk. There are times, she won't finished even 5oz of milk. Doesn't matter. What matters is she eats. It never worries me as I know we can trust babies to determine how much they want to eat and drink. This girl is very sure of herself. When she has enough milk, her left hand would push the bottle away from her mouth. No matter how hard we try, she just won't drink anymore. We never force her to finish her milk. Forcing means overfeeding. Overfeeding means the baby will not learn how to recognize the feeling of being full and this may lead to overeating and obesity in future.




Emotions
This is a Tiger baby alright. Even when she's around 8 months old, we saw signs of her temper. It develops fully by 9th month. At 10month old, she shows her determination to hold on to her things. If we take it away, she would jumps and cry OUT LOUD. However she is not bad tempered child, she doesn't throw a tantrum easily. Only when provoked. Just like a tiger.

Overall this is a very cheerful girl. She is generous with her smiles and laughs. Always energetic. Doesn't fuss much. If she fusses or cries, it's a sign that something is very wrong. Or as we learn these 2 weeks, she needs to poo. Heh heh!

She is also a little reserved (okaaay, a teeny weeny reserved) when seeing new faces though she warms up easily with people. She is very sociable as we bring her out to meet our friends and relatives frequently since birth. In the few times she is among the company of other babies, we noticed she is the first one to reach out to them. It means a lot to me she is not the timid baby like I was.


Moving On...
2 months more she is moving on to toddlerhood. I am too emotional, I am still missing my newborn baby, my little baby....how can I not miss my baby when she becomes a toddler? I think I am the one who needs to learn to grow.

:p