Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Development milestones with Toys

Was supposed to do mini post to keep a journal of Matthew's progress but have been swamped with work and lack of sleep. Here are some highlights to remind me in future.

4 Months 3 weeks
Matthew amazed me when I left him in the playpen to play by himself while I had my breakfast of pancakes.

I bought him Fisher Price kick piano sometime back and he loves kicking to the music. Usually when he was 4 months below, we would place the piano at the base of the playpen for him to kick. Now as he is older, we put it at his right side to encourage his hands to touch the keypad. Instead, he usually curls up his leg up to kick it. So that day, he was only kicking the keypad "D" and "E" which is at his waist level. "A", "B" and "C" was higher up his waist which can only be reached by hands.

Hence, I casually showed him to use his palms to press the "B" and "C" then went back to the dining table to have my pancakes. So I heard the sound "D - donkey" and "E - elephant" for a few times. Suddenly I heard "B- bear" and "C-cat". I was so amazed and proud of my son at that moment. He picked up from one demonstration. :D

I was hoping he will use hands too to touch the key pad instead of only kicking with his feet and he has managed to pick up the cues. However, this phase will soon pass when he wants to explore other toys. 

It is cute to see that whenever he is happy, he will kick his leg to indicate so... :) I attribute it to getting this toy for him to associate happiness and music whenever he kicks. In my opinion, this is a good investment. Compared to the newer kick piano like Precious Planet, this has 3 modes of music. This retails at RM149.90 in major departmental stores like Aeon Jusco. (Will do a review in future as I think it's worth talking about this toy.)

4 months 4 weeks
Matthew has found his feet by putting them into his mouth. Before this, he found his fingers and would stare intently at the fingers as if noticing them for the first time. Now his flexibility to curve up his legs to his mouth amazes me. Of course, he still uses his legs to grab stuff eg books I try to read to him and his play gym.

I am thankful that the toys I bought during pregnancy is used and enjoyed by my son now. For example, this Fisher Price playgym is his favourite activity pre-bath time. We lay him on his back (minus the yellow cloth which is a bit warm) and he will grab the dangling toys. At this stage, he has even curl up his legs to try to kick down the toys so parents supervision is a must. We usually put heavier pillows at the base to prevent the playgym from moving. Another good toy to amuse my son.

5 months
Matthew doesn't like tummy time. He will turn over (either himself or by us) for a few minutes before crying in protest. However, recently he cheekily turns over if we put him on the playgym too long as if he is telling us "I'm bored. I want to go elsewhere".


Simple Dimple playgym which retails at RM79.90 (not really recommended to use over playpen because the green curvy arches are not very padded and the steel inside will fling straight easily)

Hence, as read in some websites, I use toys to lure him to turn over towards the toys. His favourite are  Lamaze PeekaBoo Clutch cube and Sophie the giraffe teether.


What he did surprised my hubby and I. Matthew flip over onto the giraffe and his mouth landed over the giraffe's face. He happily chewed the face while on his tummy.... :)

5 Months 2 weeks
Last weekend, Matthew amazed us by saying "emmm - mahh". He exaggerated and dragged the "emmm" by pursing his lips together. We have not figured out what he wants, but I have noticed is whenever he wants anything (i.e. walk, milk, diaper change), he will say that. If he still doesn't get it, he will start crying.



To date, I am a happy, sleep-deprived mother who is striving to cram as much parenting information she can and trying her best to bring up her son in this world... Thank God for guiding me so far and I hope He continues so with His love.