This is not the update you are looking for

[oloriel]

but it is an update.

Felix has learned so insanely much in the past weeks that I really feel guilty about not noting it all down, because already it's hard to keep track of it all. I will try, anyway.
- I think I mentioned that he had mastered independent bipedal movement? Since then, he has become quite proficient at it, both barefoot, in socks and (last of all) wearing shoes. Initially, he needed help to get onto his feet in the first place - either by using a chair, wall or other suitable object, or by demanding help from present adults, but soon after he learned to get up all by himself: He pushes himself onto his feet while in a crawling position, and then simply straightens his back. He can also crouch down and get up again without losing his balance. Whenever he falls, he seems to be more angry than hurt; I think he takes it as a personal insult. He enjoys crawling up stairs, but requires help getting down; that is, the past two days he managed to make his way safely down by himself. But he refuses to crawl down backwards - he wants to walk down. It now works, thanks to the railing.

- He is also quite good at finding his way. He knows his way around the house and grounds, of course, but it doesn't take him long to get an idea of the layout of other places. When we were in Brittany, he knew the way from our holiday house to the beach and back after three days, dragging us where he wanted to go. He does that here, too - when he wants to go outside, upstairs, downstairs, wherever, he grabs your finger and tries to pull you. And when he doesn't get his will, he gets really furious!

- He is communicating quite effectively now. He only uses "Mama" and "Papa" occasionally, but he often says "nai" (nein, meaning "no"), "ja" (meaning "yes"), "ba" (meaning "yuck"), "mem" (apparently supposed to be "do that", "help me" or "let me"), "myam" (meaning "nom", also used in the sense of "I want to eat now!") and "da" (meaning "there" and also used for danke, "thank you"). He also creates his own words - current favourites are "dyuppeti", "djobbe", "nammenai", "yomme", "yech" and "bebich" (I suspect that the latter is actually a combination of "Baby" and "Felix"). When he is playing on his own, he'll talk endlessly using these words and other syllables. He plays "using the telephone" with my old dead cell phone, but also with other vaguely phone-shaped objects, such as his hairbrush or my pencil case: he holds the phone (or phone replacement) to his ear and shouts "Ja!" and laughs. He also uses some sign language of (more or less) his own invention, pointing at things he wants to have, clapping his hands when he wants you to sing a certain song, waving hello and goodbye (this is triggered by every motor sound) and raising both arms when he wants to be lifted up. All this is quite a relief to his parents, as he now only has to resort to crying when we don't obey his demands, not as a general form of communication!

- He loves books. He constantly wants us to look at books with him, although he doesn't yet have the patience to listen to the story (or wait until we've told him what's on the pages), but he enjoys turning the pages to and fro, pointing at specific things and hearing us say what they are. Over and over.

- He has three kinds of laughs, one genuine and nice, one genuine and nasty, and one forced and artificial. The nice laugh comes when he is proud of himself or happy about something. The nasty-sounding one comes when he wants to make the cats jump, or when he sees something else that he finds odd or funny - basically anything that moves fast or eratically. Falling leaves are hi-la-ri-ous! The forced laugh is heard whenever we laugh, and Felix doesn't want to be left out of the joke.

- His favourite occupation, aside from running, climbing stairs and looking at books, is putting things into containers and out of them, both with his hands and using tools like a shovel or spoon. He likes to empty cupboards or drawers, but astonishingly enough he sticks to the ones he's allowed to use (for instance, the drawer for potatoes and onions and the cupboard full of tupperware and baby crockery in the kitchen). He has fortunately accepted that he is to leave our bookshelves, and the tray with the cats' bowls, alone.

- Speaking of the cats' tray: A few days back while I was stirring yoghurt for supper, he demanded my attention, so I thought I'd distract with a task of his own. I gave him the empty yoghurt box and said "Put this on the tray for the cats, please". He took it and put it on the ground at his feet, and I thought "Oh well, shouldn't demand too much", but then he picked it up with both hands again and carried it over to the tray, putting it down right between the catfood bowls! Granted, after I'd praised him for being such a clever boy, he picked it up again to play with it, but hey, he still clearly understood what I'd asked of him, and acted on it, too!

- He is, however, still pretty high-maintenance. HE decides whose arm to go on, and when he wants to go on mommy's arms, daddy or granny or whoever can do what they want, he'll kick and push until they hand him over to mommy. He is really jealous when one of the cats manages to slip in some lap time - even when he's been happily cuddling with me, as soon as he sees a cat on his daddy's lap, he has to climb on there right then and there. He also doesn't like when I talk on the phone, or use the computer while he's awake. That is making typing things... difficult. He still won't fall asleep on his own; you have to hold him and sing to him until he finally closes his eyes. I have the patience to do that, so that's fine for now; but it does get you lots of comments along the lines of "Just leave him to cry, he'll fall asleep by himself eventually" (Hurrah, it's never too early to learn resignation :P) or "I wouldn't pamper him like that". Whatever.

- He now eats the same stuff we eat (with less salt and spices, generally) and no baby food at all, except in the evening, when he still insists on being breastfed. It's such a funny contrast - all day, he is this semi-independent big boy, but when he goes searching for my nipple, he suddenly turns into a blind, helpless baby again. XD

And that concludes the Felix part of this post. Actually, that concludes this post, because this is a) more than enough text for one post (most people would probably put a Teal Deer warning on it :P) and b) Felix thinks that he has kindly allowed me to type for long enough now. We'll see when I'll get around to write more. Lyra out!

Comments

[nelyo-russandol.livejournal.com]

OMG, time flies. He's doing all of that already? I wish I had kept a better record of my children's development. Sometimes I look through pictures from a few years ago or watch the videos and remember how small they were once.

My boy loved breastfeeding, it was difficult to make him stop. :o)

You've done great managing to write for so long, he must have given you a long time, or maybe you type much faster then I do!

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

My children are 21 and 14. They change and grow of course, but in more sedate adult increments.

But I remember so clearly the zooming feeling of toddlers. Every day something new and astonishing.

Felix sounds like a very busy little guy. And it is my belief that we are all younger at night!

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

He plays "using the telephone" with my old dead cell phone, but also with other vaguely phone-shaped objects, such as his hairbrush or my pencil case: he holds the phone (or phone replacement) to his ear and shouts "Ja!" and laughs

OMG! I remember when Alex did that seems like yesterday. Now that he is old enough, he has very little patience with telephone conversations.

(Hurrah, it's never too early to learn resignation :P)

That made me laugh. It is sad. They are right that it works--with most kids. There are those--like my grandson--who never gave up or maybe we didn't try hard enough! I suspect the latter is the case. Teaching a kid to give up somehow doesn't appeal to everyone equally. I was told with my first kid one when I was breast feeding to never nurse him until it had been a full four hours from the previous time. That never worked either! Who could do that, with a shrieking, hungry kid and leaking breasts?

Keep track of his invented words--they are very fleeting. It is sad when one tries to remember them and cannot. I can only maybe two of Laura's and none of my son's or Alex's. When Laura was learning Spanish, at five years of age, she reverted to talking to herself in fake-Spanish nonsense words while falling asleep alone in her bed at night until she had mastered the second language. I was fascinated. She was young enough to learn it the way she learned the first one.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Me too. My grandmother and mother kept proper diaries so I can practically look up what my mom (or I!) were doing at what age. I feel like such a failure, next to that!

Same with Felix. Well, now that he only wants to be breastfed at night, I guess I'm just going to continue a bit longer.

I actually typed it in various short(ish) increments! But in fact, everything is fine as long as he's playing and doesn't notice that you're occupied with something other than watching him. But once he gets the idea that he has to look at this book right now... well, you just have to obey him. ;)

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

And it is my belief that we are all younger at night!

We sure are! I regularly dream that I'm taking my graduation exams (from high school, mind you!). Those dreams are a terror, and when I wake up, I still feel all panicked because OMG GOTTA STUDY - even though I passed those exams ten years ago, in real life. :P

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

I was told with my first kid one when I was breast feeding to never nurse him until it had been a full four hours from the previous time.

Yeah, they used to teach that for a long time! These days, all but older relatives who were taught to wait for four hours have realised that evolution may not have had clocks and schedules in mind. :P

Out of curiosity, how did you go about teaching Laura Spanish at that age? Did you actually give her lessons, or did someone in your household just start speaking Spanish, or something in between? The traditional way for getting bilingual kids is supposedly to have one person use one language and another person use exclusively the other, but that makes little sense for us since none of us are native speakers of English. On the other hand, my cousin Sabrina grew up monolingual, but she went to an international kindergarten, where she picked up English more or less like she did her first language. So that clearly works as well...

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

Out of curiosity, how did you go about teaching Laura Spanish at that age? Did you actually give her lessons, or did someone in your household just start speaking Spanish, or something in between?

First, we moved to a Spanish-speaking country. Since school was out for a couple of months when we got there, I hired a very well-spoken teenage mother's helper to look after her and play with her every afternoon. The babysitting girl had a little English, but not enough to interfere with Laura being exposed to constant Spanish from her. Then she started school--full immersion. She was fluent within a couple of months. It was like magic for her. Meanwhile, I continued Spanish classes for two years.