Milestones

A friend who visited us recently was talking about the milestones she monitored for her grandchild. We found it quite interesting and decided to look for such cues from chikoo.The quest led us into some very interesting observations.

For the last few weeks chikoo has been trying to coordinate his hands.It soon became clear that his ultimate aim was to put his  fingers into his mouth.It used to be hilarious to see him making funny actions.His hand will come near his mouth, but the fingers will overshoot and he will hit his eyes.Yes, he does have long hands and long fingers.We were anxious that he should not hurt his eyes, but nature being so cautious, makes him shut his eyes with a start just before the fingers reach.He would be looking forward to putting the entire fist in his mouth and tasting it and when it is thwarted will let out a big yell. But he will immediately start the next round of hand movements.It used to be fascinating seeing the slow progress he will make every time and finally a few days back he was able to land his fist exactly into his mouth.We turned and saw him happily tasting his fist and then his fingers. It did happen that one long finger went almost near his throat and made him cough. Slowly by regular practice he has perfected the technique and whenever he is free(!) this is his favourite pasttime. 

Milestone: hand coordination to achieve goal of finger tasting complete.Fingers as tasty as AVM milk.

D has been very proud of the fact that his leg movement are very vigorous and well coordinated. He keeps kicking and making regular aerobic exercises with his legs for quite some time. She would go for dance class when she was pregnant with him. No, not to dance, but to watch a class in progress and learn to do nattuvangam from her teacher. She believes that the regular sound of nattuvangam is what makes him kick his legs with such rthym and grace and vigour. Yes, she did say that his leg movements were like changing gear in a truck but that was long long ago. 

Milestone: Almost bharatnatyam style leg movements.

Chikoo has been perfecting the technique of kicking his legs and going backwards while lying on his back. He kicks with such force that if he is on your lap, he very nearly lands on the floor, head first. He is put on a mat on the floor, he usually does four or five laps backstroke. Very little hand coordination is used. Perfect swimming backstroke technique.

Milestone: Ready for swimming training.

Chikoo is creating new sounds every day. It was not so long ago that we waited with bated breadth for his "cooing". Now that is passe. He is actively following all that we talk to him and tries to take part in adult conversation. Every now and then he will do a 'agum' with such a peaceful look, that you are sure he is understanding what is being said. His most common sound is 'kku'. He says it when he is slightly excited with the surroundings, like seeing some moving and colourful objects.Suddenly he lets out a shriek which is quite easy to imitate(which D does to the T) but difficult to put in words.The closest I can manage is  'akilikile'. It is usually very sudden and without any warning whatsover and hence gives us a start and we burst out laughing, asking chikoo what does he want to tell us.And all the while, there is a steady stream of saliva bubbling in his lips that makes everyone who sees him say that he will start talking early and not only that will be a big chatter box.

Milestone: He is getting ready to be a linguist(his appa's wish list)

We put him on his tummy and he is able to raise his head almost fully and have a different world view. His head is not so wobbly and getting almost fully steady, well not quite, but getting there.The first time a few days back that he was able to lift his head, he became so excited that he wanted to try it again and again. We madcaps also got excited and allowed him to do it repeatedly. It tired him out and made him cranky for the later part of the day. Slowly does it is the mantra now.

MIlestone: He is on the way to having a steady head on his shoulders.

His motto seems to be 'something attempted, something done, that earns a good night's repose'