Her temperament, character, and attributes have shown from such an early age, from newborn.
She is warm. She has that cheerful nature in her.
She has always been a smiley and happy baby (smiles since 4 weeks old).
She is not afraid to interact with strangers (chatting to two strangers for the entire 15 minutes when she was only 6 months old and I did not even know coz she was facing the other way and I was too busy chatting with my own friends, until the two strangers told me before they leave!)
She shows confidence in a lot of times.
She shows confidence in a lot of times.
She is also independent.
She is a born leader (not a follower), not afraid to make other people do stuff - lol.
Whilst she is not as physically explorative as baby boys in general - she is definitely not placid. With us, Alexis loves to test boundaries (her hobby! for example, she knows she is not allowed certain objects - like phone, sandals - when I noticed she is touching the sandals, I said dont do it! and she got so excited, run away on the spot, flapping her arms and say aaaaaarh. she also like to put her feet ABOVE the high chair table, when I said no she puts down her foot with a smile, and then she does it again and look at our face to get our reaction), likes to interact with people and also get reaction from people, loves anything to do with fine motor (manipulating objects) quite a lot. She loves pulling and pushing things, drawers, cables, anything of a hard object. Maybe because I buy a lot of those? lol its probably a chicken or egg theory. She gets really excited / her eyes lit up whenever she discovers something new in terms of object manipulation. She shows her soft side by kissing us, patting us, hugging her dolly & doggy. She loves us making dramatic gesture, or little gestures but have surprise component to it, and us making stupid, silly noises. Her laugh is the cutest thing ever - the best music to my ears. She shows her ba-bai side when she does something that she knows we wants (e.g. eating certain food, stacking things) and she claps to get us claps for her! lol. She loves interacting with strangers, staring at them, giving them stuff, getting them to do things (e.g. clapping). She has her jokey side and is just so so gao xiu (hilarious).
One thing I really notice, she shows the desire to be independent from such an early age.
She has the desire to takes charge, she would NOT let anyone put anything into her mouth, but is very gladly grab the spoon and put it into her own mouth. She would NOT let anyone brush her teeth, but is very gladly grab the toothbrush and put it into her own mouth, or my mouth!
She likes to copy people's gestures, she wants to do everything that the adults are doing. Example like drinking from a cup, mixing something in a bowl, put lipstick on lips, copy dancing when watching people dancing on TV, cheers. She just loves doing everything we do.
Sometimes she doesn't understand why she can't do what adults do(like opening a bottle lid, her fine motor is just not there yet) and so she gets very frustrated when she can't do it & throw the bottle out of frustration. Her perseverance is average (i won't say she is super determined), so when things get hard, often she just abandon it, rather than keep trying. It appears that she don't have that much patience. This is an area of improvement.
She goes into rage when she feels like she doesn't like the situation and is getting into a helpless stage. I calm her by either breastfeeding (but I use this too much) or rocking her so that she feels something greater than her own rage (i.e. the bounces) and that calms her and then makes her to go to sleep. We use the big bouncing ball a lot to make her sleep.
She does exhibit anger emotions - something I need to teach her how to manage.
She does exhibit anger emotions - something I need to teach her how to manage.
She hates being pressured. She is not the type that will succumb to peer pressure. Either she rebels (chuck the stuff and then stare back at you), gets angry, or leave (and abandon the whole thing). She shows that strong willed from very young (few months old).
Alexis is also a thinker and is a massive observer. Often, in a new environment, she would be one of the quietest. Whilst you see other babies already crawling / walking around, discovering objects, but you will see Alexis just stay still and barely responsive. There are so much things to see, she just goes into a complete immerse mode, absolute quiet and she also doesn't move much. She is definitely "think before she acts"- type of person. She needs to be familiar, comfortable (finish observing) the environment, before she start moving around, interact with people, playing with objects. Note she definitely pays attention to the people first before she goes to explore to any objects.
In the first 10 months or so (before separation anxiety), Alexis is extremely smiley. But as she turns 1, she smiles less because she understands more. She has absolutely no pretence (im sure all babies dont pretend) - if she does not understand, she won't smile. She look at you in a confused look. But when she does get it, she gives you the biggest smile. She gives you the most serious look when she is manipulating objects.
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Because of her strong will, she, more than average babies, really need a close guidance, particularly when she gets herself into undesirable situation & how to manage her emotions when its all over the place. When she is facing adversities, when she is not skilled yet, she need to gradually learn how to deal with that, and not let that get into her / making her too worked up / emotional - by first understanding what is happening with herself.
Her desire to be heard, get heard, is very strong. She tells you what she likes and dislikes. With me the mother as we build the trust, she is comfortable to tell me her moods, her discoveries, her journey. I feel very happy and privilege knowing that she trusts me enough to show me everything about her.
I very much let her lead the way. I am a strong supporter of whatever she does.
However when she is lost (you can tell by her start misbehaving, screaming, chucking stuff, throwing things, agitated) then I step up & take charge. I know during these moments, she needs capable adult to make the decision and give direction. Adult who is not afraid of her emotions, adult who step up, command a direction, set the environment is what she needs to narrow down / eliminate the confusion and makes her feels safe.
Sometimes when she hasn't gone into feeling emotional, say she cant open the bottle lid, she will give it to me and ask me to open it for her.
But when she feels emotional, then try to first acknowledge that emotion. But if you know she may not self soothe there and then. But you know she may not subside from that emotion, that you have to do bigger interference to help her soothe herself, either work on the perceived threat (whatever she cries about), if that doesn't help, then remove the object, if that still doesn't work, then physically change the environment (i.e. distract). At this age, whilst distraction helps a lot, try to have her confront her own feeling & the situation that makes her cry first.
It is a lot of work, energy and presence from an adult like her mom and her dad to assist them to grow to become a happy, self-confident, capable, well-balanced, well adjusted individual.
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