12 Month Checkup

Milestones are funny things. I remember when Abdullah started coming into the "stacks blocks" phase of milestones. He didn't have any blocks. He has blocks now. Our Afghani friends came over one day and it took about 15 minutes to explain what the point was to having them. Strange to think that something so ingrained in the fabric of American childhood is completely foreign to the rest of the world. I'd love to see what milestones are like in other parts of the world. 12 months old, your child may begin to make pretend rotis and can now push food around with a chopstick.

Nevertheless, KC's appointment went well. Aside from her new word(s?), they also checked off the following milestones for her:
* Tries to hug. (Still working on her aim)
* Says mama and dada/imitates you. (She's said Umi, Dijah, and Jeddah and a host of objects so far, but all only as imitations)
* Says one word, (See last post)
* Bangs two objects together. (Whatever you got)
* Helps/messes up around the house. (More of the latter, but she did toddle over to the shoe shelf last week and put back one of the 12 shoes she had pulled down. I think after seeing Abdullah clean them up so many times she realized, what goes down, must go back up.)
* Plays patty cake. (See last post, she's not ready for the big leagues)
* Walks/cruises. (They need a word for walking and then falling over and over again)
* Understands simple commands like come here, sit down (Yes, when she wants to, or she'll try to smile her way out of it)
* Gives you a toy. (She likes her toys too much. She did try to feed me some cheerios one day, but she quickly realized that she wasn't getting them back. Now she just fakes like she's going to give them to me.)
* Drinks whole milk.

They asked again about her waving, but since her 9 month check up, she's given that up. Instead, she prefers to flail her arms wildly. I'm not sure if she's waving or just reminding me that she hasn't disappeared.

She hasn't hit the "says mama and dada correctly" point. There were a couple others that I can't remember. I'm also adding :
* Gets down out of a chair carefully. (Mind you, Abdullah's chair, which she loves to commandeer, is only 12 inches high, but she is very careful in getting down.)
* Plays with toys without mouthing them. (She seems to understand that every toy is not, necessarily, a chew toy. She still sneaks bites of most things, but she likes to play with Abdullah's blocks, Lego's, and puzzles imitating his motions with very serious focus.)