Who's Augie now? Augie at 13.5 months

(I'm so sorry that I didn't mention in an earlier post that Augie's paternal/maternal great-grandfather died recently. Augie was born with five living great-grandparents (can you believe it?!), four of them on the paternal side. His Chinese great-grandfather passed just before Christmas. I'm sorry that he never had the chance to meet Augie, but I hope that we are able to take Augie to Sydney (Australia) to meet the rest of his Chinese family, especially his great-grandmother, in the next few years. Our love and condolences to great-grandmother (Pau Pau), and her children (Augie's grandmother and great aunts and uncles) Peter, Ah Mah, Tina and Tisa). 

I haven't done an Augie update since 11 months, have I? Oh, how things have changed! I don't even know where to begin.

The biggest recent development around here is that Augie is really starting to communicate. Even a month ago, his verbalizations were mostly raspberries, clicks, and unmodulated singing/talking/yelling. Shortly after seeing his cousins over Thanksgiving (here, too), Augie began really trying to talk. And in just the last two weeks, he's come closer and closer to matching our intonations and consistently using the same words (well, sounds) in the same situations. It mostly just sounds like, "doh" and "dah", though. But the exciting thing is that he's picked up all of the signs that we've been using. Since he was about 7 months old, we've been using the ASL signs for the words "more", "milk", "all done", and "potty." In the last four days alone, he has begun consistently using them all.

The most exciting part of the signing is that he now regularly signs "potty" anytime he's going pee or poop (in his diaper). We are not actively toilet training with him, we've just been sure to make the potty sign and say the word every time we notice him peeing or pooping (and it's not hard to tell when he's pooping). Now, he tells us when he's peeing or pooping! We are going to get him his own potty and starting training in earnest pretty soon.

Since he started walking at about 10 months, and now he's working on running, jumping, walking backwards, and walking up and down stairs without crawling up them (when the stairs aren't too big). He loves to go down slides, bang things together to make music, and dance. Oh, how I love to watch him dance! He has taken a definite interest in everything we do and likes to mimic us. When I'm cooking I get a bowl and wooden spoon out for him, and he stirs with me. He also likes to sweep the floor with a short-handled broom! This is all very Montessori, as you'll read about below.

He's such a joker. His favorite jokes right now are zerberting us, electrifying us by holding onto one of our fingers (a little game James taught him in which he grabs onto one of our fingers and we make a buzzing noise and act like we're being electrocuted; we now use it as a way of saying grace before dinner), and putting his toys in our mouths. Of course, peekabo remains a constant.

He has started eating solid foods in considerably greater quantities. He's still breastfeeding several times a day, though we've cut out a couple feeds per day. His appetite and palate have really developed lately and we are amazed at how much he eats. His favorite meals right now are juk (a Chinese rice porridge), lentils with veggies, and pasta. He can use a spoon and fork to get food to his mouth, but we're still working on helping him to get it out of the bowl first. He also has three new teeth: a canine on his upper left and two upper molars, for a total of 11 teeth.

Sleep is still a bit tough for us. Every time we start to make significant headway, we make some sort of significant change - like international travel. The three days before we left Princeton were the best he's ever slept, followed by 2.5 weeks of the worst. Here in Stockholm, we've switched to a Montessori bed out of desperation and it seems to have helped our problems: his napping has vastly improved since we laid out a mattress on the floor for him. Nights seem to be better, too, but we'll see how the next week goes.

Speaking of Montessori, I've recently been reading a lot about it. I got a book for Christmas titled Montessori from the Start, which presents Montessori theories for ages birth-3. I've also been reading some fascinating blogs (see here and here if you're interested). The overgeneralized idea is that Montessori is about fostering independence, concentration, and self-care in children, right from birth. According to Dr. Maria Montessori, at around 15 months, children have a desire to participate in family activities like cleaning, straightening, cooking, etc. - they want to contribute to the household. That definitely seems to be what Augie is doing now, with his stirring and sweeping. We are going to slowly implement some Montessori play ideas and other theories over the coming weeks.

(And for those who are wondering, I'm doing much better since this post. Augie's sleep is better and I've had more time to myself to get comfortable in this new place. Thanks to those who have expressed concern, support, and love.)