Smiley's December Milestones

Smiley got to meet some of his relatives at Thanksgiving. That was good family time and a nice vacation.

In December we visited with other family in December, for Chanukah and Christmas. That trip was only a few weeks later. But it just so happened that Smiley reached a gazillion developmental milestones those weeks. It was a treat for his grandparents to see.

Language

He began using two-word sentences regularly, and using three-word sentences occasionally. This was helped by his starting to referr to people by name routinely.

He started saying "hi". This was especially popular while at the dining room table, since he could elicit a response from a family member without having to find something to talk about.

He started using "go" (as "start!") and "come" (as "follow me!"). Previously "go" had only one context: to start him spinning around on an office chair.

He became fascinated with "hot" and "cold". He also started creating guessing games. His favorite guessing game is for on a walk: he guesses if each car we pass is hot or cold, then touches the car, then says if the car really is hot or cold. (For Smiley, "hot" includes merely warm, so the front of a recently driven car is still "hot".)

He sometimes recognized the letter O. He sometimes informed us of a needed diaper change.

He started playing parent with his dolls and stuffed animals: feeding them, burping them, taking them for stroller walks, etc.

Large Motor

He learned to jump with two feet at once, rather than stepping off a ledge. He was soon able to jump off a two-inch ledge without holding someone's hands.

He began using doorknobs; deadbolts are now our friends.

Small Motor

He developed neater eating. Now he eats without a mat under his chair, and he uses adult dishes (but still toddler silverware).

He started drawing closed shapes and loops; previously he only drew zig-zags made of mostly straight line segments.

He learned to use very small stickers, including peeling the stickers off their sheet.

While at Carrow's restaurant he stacked 7 creamers; previously he could stack blocks that tall, but these were much more wobbly.

Once he unzipped his pajamas. Fortunately, he did not develop an interest in undressing.

Temporal

He really gained an understanding of "later". Previously when I told him that he could have a request granted, but later, he did not understand. Now he does, and is usually patient for getting what he wants.

He began talking about what will happen, not just what is happening.

He suddenly began enjoying hearing a story told aloud without a book, especially if the story was about what Uncle Nathan did today.

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Today

These days (a week later) using two- and three-word phrases is routine. Four-word phrases happen daily. His jumping with two feet is by now quite proficient, and currently among his favorite activities.

He is now each day saying words for the first time that are words no one has ever helped him practice saying: he has begun to naturally (if slowly) transition his receptive vocabulary into a spoken vocabulary.