milestones

According to ivillage.com, these are some milestones most babies should be hitting by about one year.

Let's see where Jack is...

• Says "ma-ma" and "da-da" discriminately - Umm, sort of. He says, "mamamamama" and "dadadadada" to me and to John, respectively. I think that counts, right?
• Understands "no" - I'm pretty sure he "understands" the word no. He usually chooses to ignore it.
• Claps hands - Sometimes.
• Waves bye-bye - Yes, when prompted.
• May take one to two naps daily - Yup.
• Triples birth weight and is 29 to 32 inches long - Let's see... he was 9.5 pounds at birth. So, he should be 28.5 now? He hasn't been weighed since his 9 month check. We'll find out on April 5th when he goes in for his one year, but I won't be surprised if he's darn close to that. I have no idea how "tall" he is.
• Bangs two cubes together - Loves to bang things together, and on the table or floor.
• Puts objects into containers and then takes them out - Yes.
• Voluntarily lets objects go - Yes. Especially off his highchair tray when eating.
• Shakes head "no" - Absolutely. And he also nods "yes."
• Has fun opening and closing cabinet doors - Yes.
• Crawls well - Finally, yes. He still army crawls once in a while, but usually crawls or...
• "Cruises" furniture - All the time.
• Walks with adult help - Loves to walk. He's also standing on his own for short periods. I think we're close to solo walking.
• "Dances" to music - This guy is a dancing machine. He is constantly grooving. I'm pretty sure he has a soundtrack playing in his head non-stop.
• Interested in books and may identify some things - We read together several times a day, including before bed. The Boy loves books. He does point to some things, but it's more of a "what's that?" kind of pointing.
• May understand some simple commands - This one is hard to gauge. The Boy is so headstrong. It's tough to tell whether he gets it, and is choosing to ignore it, or if he's just oblivious.
• Fearful of strangers - Eh. Not so much. Maybe this will come? He definitely prefers Mom or Dad or a family member.
• Shares toys but wants them back - Not big into sharing at this point. Unless you consider taking toys away from others as "sharing."
• May form attachment to an item - Totally attached to paci and his blankies. Does that count?
• Pushes away what he doesn't want - Yup.
• Prefers to push, pull and dump items - Loves to knock over towers, pull things out of cupboards, dump out toys.
• Pulls off hat and socks - He leaves his socks on, but is into taking hats off.
• Understands use of certain objects - Yes. He is learning cause and effect. He loves to press buttons on the remote. He knows that the yellow button (pause) makes the TV stop and go. He knows how to press the button on my iPhone to make it light up (he's even unlocked it a few times).
• Tests parental responses to behavior - Yes. Every. Single. Minute. Of. The. Day.
• Extends arm or leg when getting dressed - Getting dressed and changing diapers is a wrestling match every time. He does put his arms into sleeves without much struggle, but the rest of it is insane. I contemplate just letting him be naked every time, but then I would have to clean up pee puddles.
• Identifies self in mirror - If by "identify," you mean admire, flirt, and preen, then yes.

I think the Boy is on track, and relatively "normal." Whatever that means!