Isabelle is still cruising for the past month and has not been courageous enough to take an independent step alone. She is starting to inch her toes around though. Gambatte to our little girl!
This month, she has also learnt to put things into a container. Finally, she can play the Busy Ball Popper toy on her own, by putting the balls back into the machine if they fall outside. She has also learnt to push the knob on the ball popper and also press tiny buttons on toys, the aircon remote control, and the DVD player.
She has shown us her ability to copy actions - from us, or from the TV. I have been teaching her a few signs, such as milk, water, eat, drink, daddy, mommy, hello/goodbye, more, again. She has been able to hand-sign "milk", and "more" quite frequently. Although, sometimes I am not sure whether she really means she wants to drink milk when she shows me the sign. She has also attempted to sign "eat" and "water" after watching us do it.
Everyday, after her bath, I will let her see herself at the mirror and show her how to wave hello and goodbye. Now she is quite an adept at it, whenever we passes by the mirror. She can also clap her hands in joy, and hold up her arms when she wants us to carry her.
She appears to be recognising books that have been read to her before. Everyday, one of her routines is to rummage through the bookshelves. She loves to pull out the paperbacks that are meant for Ian, until I rearranged the shelves to bring the board books to a lower level within her reach. Now, her favourite activity is to pull out the board books and throw them onto the floor. When she sees something that she has been read to before, she will bring it to me to read to her. Or, she will flip through the books on her own.
Her favourite books now are:
- Moo, Baa, La La La (Sandra Boynton)
- Peek-a-Who? (Nina Laden)
- Pat the Bunny (Dorothy Kunhardt)
- Blue Hat, Green Hat (Sandra Boynton)
- Chinese flashcard book
She is also not one to be bullied. About 2 weeks ago, when Ian grabbed a toy right out of her hand, she retaliated by chasing after him, beating him on the back, screaming at him, and also grabbing his leg and attempting to sink her teeth into his flesh.
Oh yes, she has 4 teeth now, 2 middle incisors and 2 bottle incisors. I am not sure why, but she loves to bite my legs when I am wearing my black and white pajamas. She has also bitten me on my tummy once. I don't recall Ian ever biting us!
Her favourite word now is "ma ma" or "mum mum". She will say "ma ma" when I come out from the shower. I am not sure if she is actually calling me, but it sure makes me a very happy mama! She will say "mum mum" whenever she wants to eat something.
She is also showing greater independence now. I can leave her alone in the room with Ian and my Mom for a few minutes without her crying for my presence. She is also crawling around the house even when we are not inside a room or following her. There was once that I had to search around the whole house, and found her in my master room toilet!
How time flies! In a month's time, our little girl will turn one year old!
