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Theron and Isla, Spring NZ

Moving into Toddler-Hood –  from a manly man’s perspective ...

Our daughter, Isla, is now just over fifteen months old.  She’s gone from a slow moving newborn that liked to sleep often, to a fast moving toddler that walks like a “drunken sailor”, and naps maybe twice per day.  She has become our little inspector; she’d make OSH happy in the way she thoroughly investigates EVERYTHING!  Isla loves to discover anything new, inspecting through: tasting, smacking, and throwing.  Isla keeps us very busy as we try to intercept her before she gets ahold of dodgy items.  We are also kept busy trying to find the items she’s thrown into the bushes or off our deck.  She has also become a very vocal noise maker.  She makes heaps of noises in her mastery of her vocalization.  Isla now states with asuredness, “Mamma, Pappa, and Hi!”  She will point at me and say, “Pappa.  Pappa.”  Very adorable.  We’ve taught her sign language.  Her first and often most frequent sign was for “milk”.  She squeezes her tiny paw, as if milking a teat.  Isla now signs, “food”, “hot”, “all done”, “birdie”, and the universal “hi/bye”.  Sign language has been a fun and very effective way for us to understand what she needs.
Isla has now become a more interactive and a very energetic toddler, much more so than when she was a wee baby.  She has become very confident on her feet, most of the time, and likes to climb anything that poses a challenge.  I reckon she would be an excellent rock climber, if she is keen to purse that sport.  There is never a dull moment when Isla is awake.  I love watching her waddle off towards her latest interest.  Consequently, she now has many bruises and scrapes on her knees, arm, palms, face, and bum.  She has fallen off our low deck a few times and tends to fall all day long.  After a quick cry or a cuddle, if it is a traumatic fall, she’s all good and ready to waddle on again.  She’s definitely a goer.  Witnessing her attempts to negotiate obstacles and gravity has certainly tested my faith and ability to not interfere.  I do my best to allow her to learn consequences herself, within reason of course.  As those of you who have children well know, babies are very resilient and recover fast.  My concern for her is not always as resilient as her enthusiasm, such is the lesson for us parents.  I admire how she just cries for a bit, shakes it off, and resumes her exploration.  Ah, so much to learn from babies.

Tags: kids, parenthood