My little sunshine

I am a little late with the update of my little sunshine. He is shinning like a rock star. He turned one on July 12 and he had his birthday party on July 21. He had a good time in his first birthday party. He is in the stage of shyness, so he was a little shy in his birthday party, but he warmed up at the end. He enjoyed the cake so much! 

Enjoy the pictures of him eating his first birthday cake,

 it is the first time actually eats a piece of cake. 

We are very proud of our little man and we wish the best for him. We all enjoy being around him! Since he was about 8 month old, we could not distracted him from something he wanted, so now that he is toddler it has gotten worse. He is showing temper tantrums when he doesn't get things on his way. The fun is just staring! He has giving a whole new dynamic to our family. He is very funny and curious boy.

Francis's 11 months milestones

• Rolls a toy car a cross the room
• Does simple forms of pretend play (Takes a block a pretend is a cup and share his drink with me).
• Points to a body part (nose)
• Favorite word "No"
• Increases his vocabulary. Three new words: nose, ball and salta.
• Repeats words after us in both languages (English and Spanish). Some words are not very clear
• Shows interest on walking down the stairs.
• Follows instructions in English and Spanish

Francis's 12 months milestones

• Keeps improving to walk up and down the stairs
• Keeps improving his dancing skills, which is funnier.
• Keeps improving his climbing skills
• Likes riding toys even when they are too high for him
• Enjoys playing with balls, cars, piggy bank.
• Stacks blocks of different sizes. 
• Actively plays Peek a-booh by covering himself under a blanket or taking the blanket out to discover an object or a person
• Begins to incorporate words to his pretend play (He says hello! to answer his phone that is his hand that works as a phone in Francis' world)
• He can place smalls rings in a thin pole
• Point at pictures on books or objects when named 
• Helps to put a few toys away
• Increases his vocabulary (Uses often the words: bye, agua, banana, mom, mamma, bubble)
• Say the animal sound for  caw and dinosaur. He is currently working on the animal sound for sheep and horse.
• Put a hat on and take his sucks and shoes off
• Switched from the baby bottle to a straw cup
• Begins to drink with open cup, but still working on it.
• Enjoys to be around other kids. 
• Shows shyness toward strangers
• Explores unfamiliar environment

Word Count at the end of his 12 months

There are two reasons I am keeping a word count of words Francis has said since he was 8 months, when he began to say mama and dada. The first reason is that Bilingualism can cause language delay. And the second one is that I had a concern when Francis was born, I noticed he could have Ankyloglossia or a heart shape tongue. His pediatrician checked him and his tongue passed his lips, so it is very mild that it won't cause issues in his speech. So far, speech is one of Francis's strength in communication skills. Here is the list of 24 words Francis has said so far: go, bebé, hi, hello, ball, daddy, bye, agua, banana, mom, mamá, mammy, bubble, nose, salta, booh for pick-a-booh, tah for clap, book, voy, no, papá, qué, bear, hola

Video of Francis's First Words at his 8 months

Video was taken on March 20th, 2012

In this video Francis was calling me "mom." 

My little man ready to go to church

 Francis doesn't like to pose for the camera,
 but I could capture a good picture of him, well a little messy.

Our supper baby is modeling an outfit sponsored by Aunt Melissa 

and the shoes were sponsored by Aunt Ibeth

This is one of Francis' favorite toys. 

Going up holding the rail to get Daddy

Video of Francis going up and down the stairs

Our expert climber gets up on the slide.

He is still working on sliding down by himself

At the moment, Francis is not having language delay due to bilingualism.
His speech and language development are right on track and maybe ahead; He is perfectly dominating both languages. I am persuading myself to not feel a guilt for not stimulating him as much as we would like to. It seems he knows it all. When I think I am teaching something to him,  he already knows it. He is very observant, which is an important skills for quick learning. He was 2 months ahead of kids of his age when he was two months old, and now
he had accomplished milestones 6 months ahead of his age. Having an older brothers helps for his stimulation, but it is not enough to jump developmental stages 6 months ahead. 
I don't know what God has planned for my little sunshine, but I am ready for it!

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Ankyloglossia is very common, but many parents don't realize about this until it is an issue with speech. Ankyloglossia runs in families, but I haven't find a connection in our families, yet. The website www.tonguetie.net has great information about it.