Not so nice personality traits

At 17.5 months she started hitting us. It all started when she developed an ear infection which required us to give her antibiotics in the form of a nasty syrup. Of course she didn't like it and attempts to mix it with something else didn't always work so we had to hold her down and force it in her mouth, a complete violation of her trust. From then on she would show her contempt by slamming on the table or hitting us and say no. For 2 weeks she occasionally hits us for no reason and I believe it is to test us. Now at 18.5 months she doesn't hit us anymore or slam the table because there is no pent up anger towards us anymore.

When I scold her after she hits me, she immediately makes up for it by reaching out to kiss me because she knows what she did was wrong. It doesn't make it OK and I need to make that clear to her.

On Mar 12, we had people from church over for Bible study. There were several other kids. Allison did not like them playing with her toys or when Tom held any of them. When a boy opened this toy door, she'd slap his hand away and close it, saying no. This repeated about 10 consecutive times.

Today, same thing. We were at someone else’s home and there were 4 different kind of laptop computers. If another boy crept up to her laptop, she’s push him over with her body to edge him out. She did not like to share and I did not like to see this side of her. I made it very clear to her that she has to share and she understood bc she looked sad. 

I am reading that not sharing is normal for this young age and is something that they will develop over time. So as parents we have to promote it as best we can by modeling it with each other and encouraging her to do so. 

Development stories

1. While brushing teeth I often give her an old smart phone to watch videos so that she won't fight the teeth brushing. I keep it behind the mirror and she knows to point to it and ask for it only during teeth brushing time.
2. She knows that we keep snacks in a certain pantry so when I ask her if she wants a snack, she goes to it and opens the door.
3. Very consistent about pointing out the owls, butterflies and ducks in her bedroom. And dogs and elmo whenever she sees it. Any other animal she will call a dog tho, lol.
4. When we read books over and over, she really remembers the words on some pages and will say it before we do. For other words that we teach her, she is able to remember it after only teaching a few times.
5. She is able to count from 1 to 10 in alternating fashion with us. So I'll say 1, she says 2, I say 3, she says 4, and so on. It also works when I start on 2. I've counted from 1-10 a handful of times with her and they do that in school as well. It's pretty amazing to witness!
6. March 10: when picking her up from school, she ran to me as usual and then went to go get her coat from the table (first time ever). It shows me that she knows the pattern.
7. March 11: I asked for a kiss and she said no. I acted very sad so then she gave me lots of kisses. This shows me that she can understand feelings and even more, tries to make the situation better. Amazing!
8. Tom has been working late so it's just me and her in the evenings. She asked about daddy and pointed to our bedroom.
9. As of March 10 she calls out for "daddy". Said it the first time when she woke up crying for us. I don't think that she knows how to say mommy quite yet. She called me daddy when I picked her up from school and says it when I ask her to say mommy.
10. When we pick her up from school and see that she is in the middle of fitting a wooden puzzle piece, she yells in delight to see us but finishes putting the puzzle piece in before running to us. Hehe.
11. Unrelated but something I want to document. We taught her the sign language for "please" & "thank you" so when we ask her to say that in relation to giving her something she wants, she only signs it and doesn't say it. One time she was asking for something and keep signing please but I didn't pay attention so she said really loudly, "please!!" It’s funny to me.

Words

Allison has been picking up a lot of new words. At her 18 month checkup, the doctor asked the following: can she walk up and down stairs assisted? Can she feed herself with utensils? Can she say at least 15 words on her own? Yes to all. Here are the words she can say on her own, some of which she learns through books: 

Food: Water, rice, bread, cereal, ba"nana", oatmeal, dan tat (egg tart), to"fu" 
Animals: dog, duck, butterfly, lion, mouse, elephant. Can recognize seals. 
Greetings: hi, bye bye, night night, please, more
Cloths: socks, shoes, hat
Actions: change diaper (in viet), up, down, fart, all done
Objects: brush, paste, TV, phone, book, fork, spoon?, this
Expressions: oh no, wow
People: mama, daddy, gong gong, Umma, elmo, ba ba, Mei mei
Body parts: can point to nose, ears, butt
Numbers: Can count in alternating fashion with us (I say 1, she says 2, she says 3, etc).
Colors: can say after repeating but not yet recognize: orange, blue, red, green, purple.
Other: can say after repeating : soon, outside 

Words that she can sign but not say: please, thank you, more, itsy bitsy (as in the spider)

To teach next: colors, shapes, abc

Hats

Different hat projects made in school to celebrate holidays

18 months

today (Mar 3, 2015), Allison is official 1 and a half years old! She's very aware of everything that goes on around and knows what to expect because of the routine that we have. For example, she knows that when one puts on their coat and/or shoes, they are heading outside. She knows that when we go in the car, we are heading someone else. She's very happy when we drop her off at school, which is such a happy thing for a parent to see.

She also picks up and remembers things pretty quickly. She can identify ducks pretty well, even if she hasn't seen that particular one before. For books that we read often (even library books), she remembers the words we say with most pages and will say those words before we do (like this book we read about dim sum and the characters "ba ba"or mei mei"). There is another book about Pandora which I read to her and she now can do or say the same things that I did when I read it to her before (like saying "tee hee" or "oh no!"). I have captured it on video and will post it. Similar effect with children songs that we listen to often, she can say some of the key words at the right time... like itsy bitsy spider or wheels on the bus or twinkle twinkle little star. It's very cool to see her grow up in this way.

lately she's been calling our phones "rice", it's so funny. "rice? rice? rice?" It's also amusing to hear her say the word "shrimp" very clearly.

The latest thing which I'm very pleased to see is that she has shown me that she can connect the words "poo poo" to the action. When I said it, she pointed to her butt. This happened yesterday and is a sign that she may be ready to start potty training (can happen as early as 18 months but average start is 2 years). Maybe this means I don't need to buy anymore diapers!

Last week, she had a cold and somehow developed an ear infection. She had elevated temperature for a whole week and had to stay home with grandma while one of us worked from home. Antibiotics in the form of a bubble gum flavored syrup had to be taken 2x a day for 10 days, 1 teaspoon each. It's been a struggle of sorts to get it into her mouth. So far it's worked when mixed with oatmeal for breakfast, and in the evening, 1x with apple sauce, 1x with flaxeed oil. other times we have had to hold her down and force it in her mouth, to which got her very upset. She'd spit it out or blow it out but eventually swallow. It's upsetting for us to have to do that to her, and I realize that is the reason why she was very contentious with us this weekend, slamming hand to table and yellow no! or hitting us. I think we've hit a new break tho because I bought this very tasty mango smoothie from the Naked brand and it's strong enough to mask the flavor of the syrup.

Beginning of hide & seek

One day I picked her up from school and saw her being playful like this.. Hiding underneath some coats that were hanging on the wall. She definitely has a silly side =P