Becoming more mobile
By the time they're 10 months old, babies are usually able to crawl well on their hands and knees. At this age, your baby can also sit confidently and may even walk while holding onto furniture
Izani can crawl very very well... he looks like a cockroach with a missing foot (lipas kudung) when he's chasing after something or someone (most usually, me). He can already stand and inch his way while holding on to furniture. The malays call this 'infecting' (berjangkit), depicting the movement from one furniture to the next.
Izani standing holding on to a chair and a table
Grabbing with his fingers
Your baby's fingers are becoming more agile. He may be able to pick up a small object with his thumb-and-finger pincer grasp without having to rest his wrist on a solid surface. He's intrigued by tiny things and is still likely to taste-test them.
Tell me about it! This boy wants to put EVERYTHING in his mouth. He has eaten pencils, erasers, rubber bands, candy wrappers, and has chewed on his siblings' books. I have to make the older brothers do a 'security check' and clear the floor of anything Izani might put in his mouth. (Ilham just loves the military sound of this request). It's worse now that he's got so many teeth. He could bite through bottle caps, paperback book covers and even people's fingers and toes. I've had a few bite marks on my thigh because of him.
Count my teeth! And I have more coming!
He is also quite adventurous with food. He'd want to try anything you're eating. In fact, he has developed his own taste. He doesn't like sweet stuff (though he likes chocolates), but prefers savoury food. He also loves crunchy stuff, like crackers and crisps. Just like me :)
Izani stuffing himself with goreng pisang (banana fritters)
Blooming personality
Your baby's personality is probably really emerging now. He may be very social, granting broad smiles to everyone he meets, or a little more reticent, shyly hiding his face when well-meaning strangers try to engage him.
When we went home for the holidays, he was quite shy with the new people he met, even his grandmother. After a while though, once he is used to the 'new person', he'd be comfortable with them. It took him a while before he allowed my mom to hold him, but she grew on him after we went to Jakarta and spent a whole week together.
Izani with his maklong (eldest aunt) and his nenek(grandma)
Izani is very attached to his older siblings. The first week when we got back to S@udi and the kids started school, I found him wondering from room to room looking for them. Nowadays he refuses to go to sleep after 1pm coz he knows they're gonna come home soon, and he shrieks with excitement when he sees them as I open the door.
Izani and Ihsan
He'll repeat sounds, gesture for your attention and may even wave goodbye when he sees you head for the door. He's also developing a mind of his own, which you've probably already noticed when he protests being put in his car seat or pushchair
Izani waves his siblings goodbye at the door every morning when they leave for school. Sometimes he even imitates me scolding the kids, with raised voices and pointing his index finger. It can be quite funny to watch.
He also has this cheeky expression he makes when he thinks he's caught doing naughty stuff.
cheeky cheeky little boy!
Handling your baby's fears
There will be times when your child is scared of things he can't understand or of things that didn't formerly bother him, such as a ringing doorbell or the telephone. When this happens, the most important thing you can do as a parent is comfort and reassure him; tell him that you're there and he's fine.
So far, he has not displayed any fears yet. A few startles when I suddenly scream his name to stop chewing on wires or something, but nothing that made him really scared.
He doesnt like to have anything over his eyes and on his head, though. Playing peek-a-boo can sometimes get distressing instead of fun if it wasnt done right, and I have a hard time making him wear the spiky hat we bought him on new year's eve in Jakarta.
my durian boy
Talking to your chatterbox
Your baby is just beginning to understand many simple words and phrases, so it's more important than ever to keep talking to him. Give your chatterbox a head start on good speech patterns by repeating his words back to him using adult language. Though it may sometimes feel silly, having conversations with your baby is a great way to encourage his language skills. Giving your baby a blow-by-blow description of what you're doing is also a great idea, whether you're dicing onions for dinner or folding the laundry.
Since he's my only companion at home during the day, I can't help but talk to him about everything. I'm afraid I'm guilty of sometimes using baby talk, like "mamam" for eat, "muah" for kiss, and imitating him blowing raspberries. Most often than not, though, I talk like a regular person. Sometimes I talk to him even when I'm outside walking or shopping, which makes me look like a crazy person, but what the heck.
He already recognizes his name and of course, the first word all baby learns: "No".
I think the first phrase he'll learn would probably be "Izani!!! What's that you've got in your mouth???" or the malay equivalent "Izani makan apa tuuuu?????". I think he probably already knows what it means coz as soon as he hears anybody say this, he'll clamp his mouth shut.
Izani with the measles
