This is my last baby update – I don’t have a baby anymore! Maia is toddler girl now, 13-months old. After Maia’s big first birthday on December 2nd, I wrote about her party and christening (read here) but I didn’t write a monthly “baby update” with her development milestones so I thought I’d do that now. 🙂
Everyone always says that time flies and children grow up so fast. When Maia was born, time definitely wasn’t flying. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I didn’t enjoy that time but when I was at home alone with the newborn, days and weeks just blurred into one and especially nights felt never ending. But once we were out of the survival mode and got used to the family life, time sped up. Overall I really enjoyed my year at home with Maia and seeing her grow and develop was such a joy. And now, 13-months later, I look at my daughter in awe, wondering “when did she get so big?!” I thought I would feel more sad about not having a baby anymore but actually, while I have loved every stage, she’s more fun now than she’s ever been! It’s amazing to see her personality come out more and more and to be able to interact and play with her “properly”. Maia is a strong-willed, active and curious little girl, but seems a bit anxious too. She reminds me of myself but I’m hoping she’ll grow up to be more laid back than what I am, to be honest!
When Maia turned one, she weighed 6.9kg, wore nappy pants size 3 and “6-9 months” size clothes, and had seven teeth. Maia’s hairdresser auntie cut her blonde fringe for the second time as she still wasn’t too keen on hair clips. In addition to her hair, Maia had also grown longer but because of the series of colds she had had, she had not put on weight but had actually lost some and felt quite dainty. We sometimes joked that her legs looked like spaghetti and it was a miracle she could stand on them, but in all honesty we always get stressed when she’s eating poorly because she’s so little to begin with (she’s since put on 80g and is eating better again now that she’s recovered from her cold!). But she had learnt to stand up without support and proudly claps her hands looking around for praise which she of course gets! Just this past weekend she has also learned to walk pushing her walker!
In my opinion Maia’s most significant development milestones around her first birthday were mental rather than physical. Her little games had become more complex and constructive (as opposed to just tearing everything apart). She had come up with the game of putting things into a box/bag/drawer/etc and taking them out again or pushing them through narrow gaps. Maia’s favourite games include putting toys into the “boot” of her car and taking them out, and taking teabags out of the kitchen drawer and putting them back in (unfortunately not into the same drawer). She also now tries to build things, putting legos together for example, instead of just destroying everything I’ve built her haha! For Maia’s birthday she got a little toy pram and somehow she immediately knew to sit her bunnies and teddy bears in it! I was even more impressed when she put also her toy mobile phone in the pram (although this made me question my phone use a little bit…).
Maia’s games are more interactive too – she knows how to pass a ball to me, rolling it on the floor. She likes to bring me things, I’m not sure why but I say thank you and she looks pleased. She’s also trying to feed me which is cute except when none of her meal actually ends up in her mouth! On the other hand, she’s learnt to be very helpful when I’m getting her dressed or undressing her, putting her arms into sleeves etc. Considering how little patience she’s got for this activity, it’s a big bonus!
During December she learnt many more skills. My favourites were learning to give kisses and saying many versions of mummy!! Maia has said “äiti” (mum in Finnish), mama, mum and mummy, making me so very happy. She’s super chatty but although she has repeated actual words I don’t think she knows their meaning, other than mummy of course. She has learnt other new means of communications too, such as pointing at things she wants. The more she communicates and interacts with us, the more she comes across as a real person instead of a baby (no offence to babies). Just in time for Christmas, Maia cut her 8th tooth and I’m hoping we’ll get a little break from teething now…
Sleeping and eating milestones are very important (to the parents anyway) but unfortunately we’ve been going back and forth with both. Poor Maia was very unlucky because she was sick very often during the autumn – she had a cold at least once a month! When she was poorly her sleeping and eating regressed a lot which was tough on us all. Luckily whenever she recovered, things returned to normal. In the last couple of weeks we’ve been night weaning and are sleep training her out of the habit of coming to our bed at 5am, but more about this soon!
I’m not sad that Maia is now a “big girl” because having a toddler is great (so far). But maybe I’m feeling a bit nostalgic because the baby phase with her is now permanently behind us. It was so special and I consider myself extremely lucky having been able to stay at home with Maia all of her first year. I’m definitely grieving after my maternity leave!
xoxoxo,
Sini