SylkeWeb – Sylke’s mutterings to herself on an island not so far away

I can't believe a year is over. My little tiny baby that needed to be at mummy's boobs ALL the time has become so much more independent and is now furniture cruising and babbling.

Six months have passed since I did my last progress report, so here are some things Yannick did over these last months:

• Learnt to crawl! He also very steady on his legs and is cruising furniture a lot. I've seen him standing without support for a few seconds - but he didn't realise what he was doing.
• Has got to grips with finger food. For example, he picks up peas and rice with his fingers and eats them. He loves big cucumber and carrot chunks to bite into and has also had a go at a whole apple. He still eats loads of porridge and baby rice with fruit too as he wouldn't get enough otherwise.
• Admired the moon.
• Threw over the clothes airer and didn't hit himself, even though he ended up sitting in the gap created by the 'legs' of the device. That's where mummy found him when she followed his complaining voice. He wasn't crying, just unhappy that he didn't know how to get out of the cage that he built for himself.
• Fell head-over into the laundry basket, legs hanging out, couldn't move in or out. Mummy was in a different room and heard him suddenly complain very loudly so she came for a swift rescue.
• Fell asleep while sitting up.
• Discovered cars and bvvvvv. He also adores wheels on push-chairs. Wherever we go, I have to watch that they all have their breaks on. One day I was at a coffee morning with loads of prams, Yannick screeched with delight when he finally managed to get himself into the middle of them.
• Got another six teeth, so he has eight in total now!
• Is very frightened of anything that makes a strange sound, e.g. vacuum cleaner, hair dryer, toilet flushing, shower, … He used to be OK with the toilets, but lately he is out of the bathroom like a flash the moment I turn round to flush. I am sure it's just another phase.
• Has started to make more sounds: in addition to 'lah', 'mmmh', 'baba' and 'bvvv', we now have 'yaya' and 'vava'. I am trying to teach him to say 'mama' but no luck so far.
• Is telling me now what he wants to play with by giving me toys or books and waiting for me to do something with them. I love it!
• Did his first sign: he stuck his arm into the air (as you do for the plane sign) and went 'bvvvv' (as you do for the lorry on the same page in the book we were looking at - sigh). He's also started to kind of point at things.
• Had his first night with only two awakenings. That's almost like sleeping through…!
• Discovered flies. He was at first terrified by them and now he seems fascinated by their antics.

I am really looking forward to seeing what my little one will learn next. It's very exciting to see him master new skills.