Ingrid is one year old. Old enough that it will soon seem enough to count her age in years and half-years instead of months. Old enough to be a toddler rather than a baby.
Unfortunately much of this past month was taken up with illnesses: chickenpox and a strep infection with extras. I guess we had been pretty lucky, health-wise, until now.
Her two favourite games right now are pushing and pulling. Pushing things in front of her while walking across the floor (on her feet with tall and stable “toys” like chairs, on her knees with things that are small or move too fast) – and pulling things out of any drawers she can find and open. She continues to focus on bottom drawers, even though she can easily reach the next one as well. In the living room she spreads my hankies and underwear on the floor. In the kitchen she picks out all the tea lights (and chews on them). In the bathroom she pulls out cleaning cloths and spray bottles with Ajax. These are sometimes dumped on the floor, but she also likes to throw them in the bath, especially if there is water in there. Cleaning cloths are also fun to play with in the water.
The time of chewing on everything seems to be past, and it is now a lot safer to have her explore everything. I don’t worry much about plants or computer cables or CDs any more. Even books survive her attention for a while, when she manages to pull one out from the shelf. But the power button on the computer now has a cover, firmly attached with sticky tape, to keep away curious fingers.
The toy box hasn’t seen much use recently, and I think we will reduce its contents drastically soon. Some things can be thrown away (half-chewed egg cartons), others put back to where they really belong (sieves and bowls), and some simply packed away. Many of the toys that are actual toys may become interesting again later, I suspect, when she can find new uses for them.
The only toys Ingrid has been playing with recently are balls and stacking cups. We have been rolling and throwing balls to each other, and she likes chasing them across the floor. Not for long, though – her attention span is still short and she gets bored with such things pretty quickly.
Instead she has been a lot more interested in her cardboard books: picking them up from the bottom shelf where I keep them, opening them and turning the pages. But only if she can do it on her own! If I come and try to direct her at all, to talk about what’s in the pictures or to turn the book right side up when she’s got it upside down, she pushes my hands away. I do wonder what she sees and what she thinks when looking at an upside-down picture of a lamb. She’s never seen a real lamb, after all.
In some activities I am welcome to join her. The best one is a very physical game that involves a mixture of chasing (me after her, on the floor), climbing (her over me) and tickling – and lots and lots of laughing. I am never quite sure what it is that I do that she likes so much, and it seems to change by the minute, but it gets her shrieking with laughter again and again.
She is very clearly developing a will of her own, and I can see the first inklings of what will certainly become tantrums a few months down the line. When she is not allowed to do what she wants, or when I do something that she doesn’t like, she will arch her back and scream and cry. Luckily this really only happens when she is tired. But then the smallest thing can set her off, such as taking off a t-shirt. She has also learned that it’s my hands that do things, so she tries to push them away when she expects them to do something she doesn’t like.
Speaking of things she doesn’t like… I think we now have a fix for her aversion for brushing teeth. Solution: two toothbrushes, one of which goes in my mouth, and another one that I put in her mouth. Seeing me brush my teeth is either sufficiently interesting and weird to amuse her, or simply makes it clear to her how those toothbrush things work.