Hellobee

I’m just entering this stage with Panda and remembering all that I loved when Lion was this age! It’s so much fun seeing the communication skills start to take off, but it’s also the age where tantrums started for us. I really enjoy toddlerhood, even in spite of massive tantrums, because the upsides are just so enjoyable.

I absolutely love the start of toddlerhood!

Biggest Challenges:

• Tantrums. It seemed like the day that Lion turned one, tantrums started full force. Our pediatrician was initially concerned that there was some physical reason for his outbursts because she felt he was a little young for tantrums, but then right there in the doctor’s office, Lion got mad that we wouldn’t let him play with trash and he laid down on the floor and started screaming and crying. “Oh, I see . . . yes, this is just a tantrum,” she told us. Although Lion still throws tantrums, they seem to be less frequent than they were at this age.
• Biting. Lion was never a biter, but a lot of his classmates were! I was always worried whenever I saw an incident report tucked under his daily sheet (and would actually hope that he was bitten and not the biter). I worry that Panda might have some bite reports since he’s bitten me on a couple of occasions.
• Communication frustration. Although Lion’s vocabulary really took off during this time period and he acquired more than 50 words before turning 18 months (I lost count around 50), there was still a huge disconnect between what he wanted to tell us and what he was actually able to communicate. He would often say something that we wouldn’t understand, then he would repeat it three or four times and then become incredibly upset that we didn’t get it. This communication issue was frustrating both for him and for us.
  
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• Dangers of climbing. Once Lion got walking down and grew a bit taller, the climbing started. I’d always worry at the park or even in certain parts of our home when he’d try to climb on top of certain structures.
• Transitions. We got rid of both the bottles and the pacifiers during this time and while it was easier than I expected, there were still challenges. Lion transitioned easily from the bottle to a sippy cup, except for his last bottle of the evening. He demanded that last bottle and when we finally went cold turkey at around 15 months, we had a rough week where he didn’t want to go to bed. The pacifier ended up being easier since we had already restricted its use to nighttime only. I was terrified since his pacifier had been like a lovey and he did ask for it during the first couple of nights.

Lion spending our vacation stacking rocks.

Things I Loved:

• Sheer awe. I remember around 16 months, we set up a Christmas tree then picked Lion up from daycare. He walked in and instantly pointed at the tree and exclaimed, “Tree! Tree! Tree! Tree! Tree” for the next thirty minutes. He was so impressed by the fact that we had a tree in our home that he asked to see it every morning for the next two weeks. This was just one moment where we got to see how excited something small could make him.
• Delight in the little things. Related to the above, I love how much joy young toddlers have at the simplest thing. I remember at around a year old, Lion discovered acorns which were constantly falling in front of our home. He’d pick one up and throw it. Find another one and throw it. We couldn’t take three steps without him wanting to pick another one up. He wouldn’t just do this for acorns, but for everything. While it could be frustrating, it was also adorable and forced me to slow down a bit and enjoy the little things myself. Everything becomes a toy, and everything is a potential item of interest.
• Growth in vocabulary. As I mentioned above, Lion’s language really started taking off around this point. He probably had 20 or 25 words by 15 months and then started acquiring a new one almost every day past that point. It’s so much fun to be able to start communicating and to watch Lion’s face light up when he would say a word and we would understand. It’s also really cute to see them develop their own way of saying certain things. To this day, instead of saying “thank you,” Lion’s appreciation comes out as “thank youm.”
• Imaginative play. Lion actually started a bit of imaginative play around 9 months, but it really started taking off more after he turned a year old. He would pick up objects and pretend they were phones or stir air into a cup and tell us he made some sort of food. The beginnings of imaginative play are a lot of fun!
• Dance parties. I have so many videos of Lion rocking out and dancing from about 15 months onward. He had so many styles of dancing and I love how excited he would get whenever music would come on. At this age, he was totally unafraid to be himself and dance in all sorts of crazy ways.
• Help in the kitchen. At around 15 months, Lion went from being very interested in the kitchen and wanting to “help,” to actually helping. I stopped worry that he was going to dump everything onto the floor and was able to give him a large bowl, spoons and things to mix while I did other things. He’s only become more helpful and independent as time has gone on, but this is when it really started taking off.

Sense of wonder over the smallest things.

What were your favorite and least favorite moments of the 12-18 month stage?