Independent

So are your kids hugely independent? Does your child look you in the eye and then continue to do what he/she wants to anyway? Did your child start at 10 months testing you? Mine did.

One night I was giving L and bath and she tried to stand up in the tub. I sat her down and said "We're sitting." She looked up at me with the most precious expression, and then stood up again. My thought was, "Holy crap, here we go." She proceeded to stand up about 20 more times, all the while looking at me daring me to stop her. Each time I sat her down and said something along the lines of sit down, we are sitting, time to sit, etc. How does a 10 month old start testing!?!?!

The next night I could tell my method was working because she only tried to stand up about 6 times. Since then all I have to do is say "sit down" once and she stays.

Then came her testing int he high chair. She started a new thing of swiping the food on her high chair tray all over. She thinks its hilarious to send the food flying. The first time I said "No" in a firm voice. She looked me straight in the eye, yelled at me in baby Chinese and swiped again. Over and over we went through this. Does anyone know where this strong will comes from??? Couldn't be from me!

She swiped once with daddy and he told her no...oh you would have thought he just beat her. Her little lip came out and she sobbed for about 2 minutes. Then swiped again. Apparently daddy saying no has much more of an impact than when I say it. She just yells at me and does it again. So these are our new things! Is it normal for a 10 month old to do this?

I have spent many years working with people who have disabilities. People from age 11 months all the way to almost 70 years old. I was used to not being defiant until about 3 years old because my kids at school/work were so delayed. So this surprised me that L would test me so early. But I think this is a typical development at this age, so we are grateful for neurons connecting the way they are supposed to.

I am continuing to let her know when she is not supposed to do something, but also replacing the behavior. For example, when she goes to swipe, she can't swipe food, but can swipe with a wipe at the end of the meal to "help" me clean up. Hope all these strategies I've been passing out to parents for several years work with my little rascal.


Other new and cool things L is doing...
1. Following one-step commands "sit down and come here"
2. Walking 10 steps fairly well
3. eating big girl food -- bread, cheese, yogurt, apples, pears, grapes, blueberries, baby puffs, rice, chicken, beef, bananas, refried beans, tortillas, and some others I probably forgot.
4. Signing milk and more
5. Has imitated moooo, meow, and neigh
6. Laughs so much more -- she used to laugh at something only once. Now she laughs frequently
7. She tries to follow the big kids from room to room to play with them
8. This afternoon she may or may not have swallowed a penny. Guess we will find out tomorrow.
9. Looks like our little girl has an under bite, so at about age 6 or 7 she will probably have to wear a hockey mask to fix the jaw.

Have a wonderfully wonderful day! In just over a week our baby girl turns 1!!!!!