the last time i wrote about updates on theo was when he's 10 months old. shame on the mommy because the little tot is already at his 17th month and a lot of stories and updates have to be told about him! :) since he already turned one last october 2010, theo is now officially a toddler. and with a personality stronger than his kuya inigo, he is quite a handful at times. i sometimes refer to him as 'maton' since he seems to look like a toughie.
but toughies have all also their soft sides and it's being a mama's boy which makes theo endearing... he can already hug and kiss me! hihi. not to mention his boisterous laughs and charming smiles or grins which never fail to smitten us.
the little einstein
if there's one thing that i am very proud of about theo is that his cognitive skill is quite advanced for his age. he's already a keen observer and easily picks up what he sees around the house. i undermined this skill before and was shocked one afternoon to see him unplugging my laptop from the power outlet and plugging instead the television as he wanted to watch playhouse disney. i think he was only 10 months old then. he also knew how to use most of the items inside our house like the comb, phone, keys, laptop even before he turned one year old.
he started early too with some antics compared to inigo. he loves me to sing nursery rhymes for him like "twinkle, twinkle..." and at 10 months he can already demonstrate some of its actions, something that inigo only started to do when he's already a toddler.
the littlest bookworm
i'm glad that i have instilled the book-reading habit to inigo as i think this has been passed now to theo since he always sees me and his older brother reading books especially before bedtime. at his age, the youngest member of our family has favorites already; probably because he likes to hear the rhymes, or probably because he likes to do the actions which i made up for every page. our reading style now is i read the book while he does the actions which he has already memorized by heart--cute! :)
the signing baby
i made sure that theo will also learn how to sign as it really served useful for us during his older brother's time. the first word he learned to sign is "milk" since it's also the first word i thought. hehe. it's followed by "eat" and "drink". now theo has more words up his sleeve such as "more", "thank you", "chicken", and "fish".
i hope he will learn more in the coming weeks... err, i hope i can teach him more words to sign. hehe.
the little headstrong
when it comes to behaviour theo is... ugh!... more terrible than his kuya inigo! theo is quite a brat. he throws tantrums when he doesn't get what he wants. and oh yes, this baby of ours hits, and he hits a lot! :S he hits when we say "no", when we say something which offends him, or when we don't give in to his whims. i hope this hitting will pass quickly as resolving this issue is not my cup of tea as it's not really much of my concern with inigo before.
the baby bull
what i love about theo is he rarely gets sick. the last time i got worried about his health is when he caught a cold virus when he's six months old. there were occasions after that when he had fever, two i think, but it quickly resolved on its own and he's well again.
i also find him sometimes in a wrestling bout with his big brother but thank God he never had bruises nor sprains. :D
the happy baby
theo remains to be a happy baby. he loves to play with his and his kuya inigo's toy, which caused the little fights sometimes, hehe. and mind you, he knows how to play with some of these toys. one time i saw him playing with inigo's toy helicopter. i asked him for it and let the tiny chopper run on our floor. the baby shook his head in disapproval and took the toy from me. he stood up and let it hover up on the air using his hand while he's making these little sounds "weez, burrrrr, shoo-shoo"--the sounds of the plane, car, and train all mixed up. hehehe. anything from a little babe is really adorable, right?
he also loves to play with his ride-on-car, which he got as a gift for his 1st birthday. but sometimes he wants to show that he can do something better and rides the twist car. it's amusing to see him driving this as he knows how to increase his speed using his feet. he's baby-no-more sometimes! :)
the tv-addict in the making
i know it isn't good for him but i can't help but let him watch the tv sometimes especially when it's his kuya inigo's viewing time since we usually stay in one room. he's an avid viewer now of playhouse disney and his current favorite is mickey mouse clubhouse. he never fails to stand up and dance when it's already the "hotdog dance" part.
he's a tv-addict in the making that's why i limit his viewing to one show a day. he tends to become so absorbed by what he's watching that he sometimes ignores my call.
do i need to say more... :D
development and milestones
- we went to his pediatrician for his routine check-up two weeks ago and theo was weighing 10.8 kilos. he's quite heavy i know but still far from the border of being obese. his appetite increased remarkably these past few months, which explains why he's heavy. i have already introduced formula milk for him, since i want to slowly wean him from my breastmilk, but theo, no matter what brand i offer, likes only breastmilk. hay, good luck to me!
- he's still not walking! :( my boys are late-walkers. inigo started to walk when he's already 14 1/2 months. i already expected theo to walk later than him because comparing their milestones, inigo learned to sit and stand earlier than theo. but i didn't expect that it would be this late. but we're not worried, just impatient, hehe, since we see progress on his motor skills every week. now he can already make a few steps, it's only his fear of falling that hinders him to walk further.
- his language skill also lags. i know i shouldn't compare my two boys but i can't help but always use inigo as my benchmark for milestones. inigo at theo's age now can already speak a lot of words, which are not only limited to monosyllabic. but theo's words are still limited to "bo" for ball, "boo" for book or other toys. and "eee" for jollibee or mickey. hehe. he has other words which i often hear but he uses them interchangeably so even me, his mom, can't understand him. i have already asked his pediatrician about these concerns but he was quick to reassure me that theo is fine and he just probably needs more stimulation.
i remember during inigo's time, my issue about my eldest was he isn't yet pointing with his index finger at age two, and since it's mentioned in baby books that pointing is a good sign that the kid isn't autistic i was really worried of what could have been inigo's condition. now it's my time to worry about theo. though he started to point with his index finger at nine months, my concern now is possible speech delay.
- i've already mentioned about his cognitive skill and probably because this one is quite advanced that's why the other skills lag. i also enjoy seeing theo catching up on my instructions. he knows my rules for him: don't touch the electric fan (rotor part), don't plug the electrical devices, and don't go beyond our improvised safety gate for the room. he attempts sometimes to break the rule but when he sees me glaring at him it's he who gives me the "no" sign. hehe.
