Buttonitis (Kaftoritis)

My mother always says there are children with a talent for buttons and switches (the so called “Kaftoritis” children, from the word “Kaftor”, which means button in Hebrew) and children who don't/ There are children that are naturally interested in anything that can be pressed, turning a light on, and there are children who are not. Jonathan belongs to the first group.

He is truly talented when it comes to the remote control, the computer mouse and the TV switch. Turning on the light is a special treat for him too. A true Buttonitis (English for Kaftoritis, the same principle...) child will do almost anything to get to a button or a switch. Switching on the stereo in my husbands room is a staple for Jonathan, and suddenly there is loud music in the house. The has also learned to turn on the TV long ago, and to control the volume buttons. At my mother's house its the dishwasher that was his first victim, and recently he has also discovered the stereo there too, inside a cabinet! Even after a few weeks absence, as soon as we get to my mother's house he goes either to the stereo cabinet or to the other cupboard with the keys he loves so much!

He has always known how to hold the remote control, and has always delighted himself when something suddenly changed when he pressed the buttons on it. He even knows how to point it to the TV and obviously understands there is some sort of connection between he remote and the TV. He still however does not really get any results with the remote, but that is a matter of time only, and he has another solution to that problem, as you will read later. The computer mouse is a favorite, and he has the correct grip as if born with it! He even clicks it correctly and loves to move it about and see the arrow wriggle on the screen. The computer itself is also a much loved object! As the laptop is on a table and he cannot reach it when alone, he stands on the floor and uses the mouse and thus enjoys it even when not able to press the keys. He loves the phone because when you press the buttons it makes funny sounds, mobile phones have also lighted display screens! Cool! He has registered that one puts an apparatus with buttons to one's ear and talks to it, and thus even a pocket calculator becomes a phone is Jonathan's able hands. He mimics the phoning position to perfection!

Jonathan is however becoming even more clever in his button passion. Like a true Buttonitis child he improves his methods and thus can get to even more switches. He has recently learned o climb on his chair. So he pushes the chair about the house to a desired location, then climbs and stands on it and so he is tall enough to reach even the higher light switches in the house! Much to his delight! He uses the same system to get to the microwave and to the satellite control unit – which means now that he not only can turn the TV on, he now can also change channels! We have been raising things higher to avoid his reaching them, but we really cannot go much higher anymore and when he stands on a chair he is truly tall! After delighting as parents in his advanced climbing abilities we now have to start setting restrictions so he will not be impossible to control!
One day we found him on the living room table, on her table was a stool and Jonathan was standing on it! My husband almost had a heart attack! We try to show him when climbing objects is good (like to climb a chair and SIT on it, not stand on it, so he can eat with adults near the big table). For Jonathan a whole new world has become available, for us a parents, a whole new task or setting its limits.

Advancement by Imitation

Jonathan continues to learn by observation, imitating mommy in everything possible. Sometimes the result is almost girly, but hey! Mommy is after all, a girl! But Jonathan is boy enough, showing athletic tendencies by homing in on his climbing skills...

Jonathan likes mommy's hair clip. Such a wonderful piece of plastic! It opens and snaps shut, making a fun click noise. Mommy likes to tickle Jonathan with it too, what fun! The love of the clip was a sure way to imitating mommy's use of it, and so, one Saturday morning, Jonathan took the clip and tried to put it on his hair. Other such imitation learning include trying to put his shirt over his head (and also trying to put his ants over his head, after all both are his clothes...), putting mommy's shirt over his head with success and then getting annoyed at the long piece of fabric that seems stuck to his body. His love for removing fabrics and placing them on his had includes tearing his bedsheets off his bed in the kindergarten so he can cover his head with them - and so I made a special cover for his mattress with a zipper. This morning he also removed his sheets at home for the first time (putting blankets on his head and walking with it covering him is already a routine action, right along with emptying his fabric diaper drawer and the towels closet in the bathroom). His love for fabrics, hair clips and glasses (he loves to remove my glasses from my face and then try to put them back on) sometimes truly worries me as too girly, but this worry does not last long when one sees him running about!

Independence steps include repeated trials to drink out of a cup (a skill only practiced when he is in the bath tub, as mommy really cannot stand for liquid being freely poured around the house), trying to take the plate from mommy and to carry it alone to his little “table” in the kitchen, while pouring out half the contents on the way (the “table” - Jonathan has a stool that serves as his own eating corner in the kitchen) and blowing on his fried egg to cool it down (just like mommy does – did I mention he learns by observation?). He also likes to pick up food with a spoon. Despite his very limited success in this action there is always a little bit to lick off the spoon anyway – so he is rewarded, and so he tries again and again, smearing his clothes, face and hands – generally just making a big mess of himself and around himself. When Jonathan is finished with his food he spits it out, making a lot of extra noise in the process, so I will not miss his point! I AM DONE! Thank you! In this protest action he is a lot like me, because when I was a baby and finished my meal, I would just throw the plait away, along with the remaining contents. And my mother had to clean up (she quickly changed to plastic plates...).


Further advancements include climbing down and up the stairs alone standing up and using the fence on the staircase! YES! He can go up now as well, no more crawling up the stairs. Climbing chairs and standing up on them to reach things and climbing the living room table is also occurring already – and so our “grown up” stuff needs to rise even more (our life style keeps rising...). He also likes to throw himself on pillows – he either does that on mommy and daddy's big bed (big soft German cushions make the experience extra fun!) or in the living room, on his big cushion (actually a large cushion for animals that I brought for him and where he has often drank his bottle ever since he was born). He still cannot climb onto our bed, so he walks to our bedroom and asks with his hands to be picked up onto it, by “drumming” his hands on the bed. After he is up he stand up on the bed, plays with switching the light on and off and then eventually throws himself on the pillows. Despite the wild action he never falls off the bed and seams to know exactly where the edge is and how to get off. I rarely have to catch him to prevent a fall (unless he is to distracted having fun... then I do need to watch over him).
I wonder how soon he will learn to climb onto our bed! Even more worrying is how soon will he be able to climb out of his own bed! He is already trying it, lifting his knee... I guess this will determine when we will have to pass him onto a bigger boy's bed.

The only field n which he is making no advancement is getting rid of his running nose and coughs. He is just so full of snot! The doctor says this is just so until the age of 8 years! I do not get worried is he has no fever, or if he can breath at night. If he becomes “to full” I give him inhalation treatments, and then scream my lungs out to calm him down by clowning and entertaining through the treatment ( and then I need the inhalation...). Despite a running nose and in the last few days diarrhea, he is a happy active child! And definitely boyish and mischievous enough!

Purim

Jonathan was dressed up as a lion for the Israeli Purim holiday. He was very sweet and did not seam to mind being dressed up in a strange suit with an extra heavy lions head hood. But a 4th photo shooting session in the afternoon annoyed him well enough!

I guess I sympathize, after all he was chased with cameras the whole day. I dressed him up in the morning and then took some pictures (he was willing to let me photograph him without reaching out for my camera only when I let him have another camera in his hands – thank god we have a camera gone bad that is still interesting enough for him because he can turn it on and off and it makes sounds during the process, it even activates the flash! Wow!). Hey, he even let me scribble some whiskers on his face without protest. Soooooo cute!

Then I brought him to the kindergarten dressed and the care takers said that the photographer will only come at ten and the toddlers get their breakfast first(at 1 year and 3 months, Jonathan is no longer a baby – as he walks he is definitely a toddler). So we took the costume off. The make up remained.
At 10 the care takers dressed him up and the photographer chased him around with a camera the second time that day. This time to keep him busy, then gave him a clown doll! The results were very cute, even though the make up got ruined bu then.

After his afternoon nap, the care takers decided to take some more pictures with the digital camera that they have in the kindergarten (parents get an album at the end of each year – very nice idea I think). They renewed the make up for this purpose. So by now this was the third photo shooting and the second time his face was drawn upon.

In the afternoon I picked him up and he was make up free and in normal clothes. Still I felt I had not gotten enough pictures with my cute lion and so I dressed him up again (4th time he had to put that ridiculous costume on), drew the whiskers again – this time under protest and therefore with not so nice results (3rd make up session) and drew some on my face too, and tried to take pictures again (4th photo shooting session). By now, he had had enough and was not so cooperative. The “gone bad” camera helped a little, but there was no getting him to smile and he expressed his protest in absolutely refusing to be held close for a cute photograph. We got some nice ones anyway and then freed him at last from the costume and wiped his face clean for the last time that day. At the end of the day, after a nice scrambles egg supper and a bath he just “dropped dead” in bed. Sleeping immediately – it had indeed been a a hard day!
(Makes you understand why actors and models are paid well for their work – its not only talent and looks, its also some pretty hard work! Posing all day!).

When a baby develops a personality

It is fascinating to watch Jonathan and see in his doings how his brain works. And sometimes I get to watch a quantum leap – as his thoughts are put together into action. A mother does not always get to see her baby's first steps, especially a working mom misses a lot of steps forward, so when I do get to behold an advancement, the pleasure is all the greater. My baby is now a walking toddler, with wishes and opinions – and I even understand some of his thought trails. As he develops a personality, all that remains for me to do is dote on him, facinated.

First steps are always delightful, as Jonathan began to walk more securely, we decided it was time for shoes. We took him shopping and brought him some nice sports shoes with Velcro strips. They are too big for him, because we were thinking a bit long term, but still they are not so big and he uses them now with pleasure. The first time I put them on for him he got up and walked in extra bog steps, looking at his feet and clearly questioning the addition his body just received. After a little while I let him g out and down the stair with the shoes. He seamed not to understand why his feet had gotten longer and continued to be clumsy and he struggled his way down the stairs. Jonathan is however a flexible and easy going type and by the time he was down the stairs he accepted the new strange things covering his feet and started walking faster with them. A few more days and he was a sure on his feet with shoes as without. He still sometimes struggles with the fact that the shoes make his feet longer, especially when going down the stairs and not managing to place his feet next to one another as he would wish, but he manages well enough.

Jonathan never really liked to go down the stairs like all babies do, that is bottom first. He skipped that stage and went straight to the phase of going down the stairway standing. At first he did this holding my hands, all my efforts to show him the railings were fruitless for a while, then one day he accepted my suggestion that he hold the railings near the stairs, and not me and every day he became surer in his steps down the stairs, clearly enjoying his independence. So much that I began to fear he will be too sure climbing down stairs that do not have a railing. But children are resilient, and Jonathan is no different. In our apartment house the railing is perfect for him, but near the post and also at my parents' house there is no rail. Having notices this problem, Jonathan simply went down the stairs without the rials bottom first – showing me that he can solve problems as they occur.

A nice thinking connection presented itself wen Jonathan used a wall and not a rail to go down the stairs in his kindergarten. The next quantum leap regarding stair climbing happened yesterday. Jonathan was going downstairs holding onto the rial as always, when he decided suddenly to change direction and for the first time he started climbing up the stair using the rail (until then he crawled up the stairs on his hands and knees). He tried a few stairs and then returned to going down, following me. He repeated this also later in the day and I expect that soon he will no longer crawl up the stairs at all.

Jonathan is getting bolder and has now started climbing the stairs placing his foot and not his knee on the higher stair. This climbing action also present itself when he tries to climb the sofa. He raises his knee high up and tries to place his foot on the sofa. With this tactic he has already managed to climb our living room table – pushing himself up, lying on his tummy and raising his knee high up and placing it on the table and crawling up. His father left him in the living room playing with the emote control as always and when he came back a moment later the boy was sitting ON the table!

Jonathan is also developing his expression skills and his able to express his wished better. He had however decided to call me “aba” which means daddy in Hebrew. There is a joke in Internet in Israel that goes like this. We mothers carry our babies for 9 months, loose sleep in their first few month of life, (mothers sleep less than fathers) breast feed them and put ourselves second to our children etc. Etc. and yet their first word is usually “aba” and all they keep saying is “'aba” - daddy. I think this would also work for other languages – daddy in English or pap in German and French. The sounds of B, P and D are easier that M – so babies say daddy long before hey say mommy. My frustration at being called “aba” is however greater, as it is clear that Jonathan can say the sound of M. he uses “mam mam” for food. Lately he also uses “na na” for food,and I believe this comes or the word banana – he gets lot of banana served because its healthy and easy to manage – the two guidelines for every mom – easy and still not bad for your kid. Fruit serve for me as sweet treats for Jonathan, and bananas and strawberry are his favorites.

He uses his body in his communication efforts. Pointing to things that interest him, lifting his arms to ask to be picked up and throwing himself on the floor in a tantrum when he is not pleased (usually when I forbid him to use the computer...or when I decide to put him back in his stroller after allowing his to roam). Jonathan is a curious baby and always reaching out to touch things and discover them. He will also offer me an object once he is finished researching it. Or he might just throw it on the floor if he losses interest. He claps his hands to congratulate himself on his achievements, looking at me and asking for my approval as well, I immediately comply and clap hands too! (This happens especially in the bath tub – Jonathan has leaned to put in the water stopper and then he looks up and claps – proud of his achievement – and proud he can be, it takes some motoric fineness to get that stopper in place).

He can also be very opinionated – Jonathan reacts with a small laugh when he sees his bottle, signaling that he would like to have it, even before reaching with his hands for it. He wails his complaint when I put a diaper on him – he clearly likes his freedom – he would prefer some wind between his legs..fresh air – just like he loves to freely walk all over the house or run forward in the street or a shopping mall. Pitty he is not potty trained yet – I am sure he would be more comfortable and I would save heaps of money on diapers... but the time will come soon enough.

That he is clever and a thinking child is also clear in the way he communicates a warning to me. If he is no longer hungry he will show me this by turning his head away, or playing with his food (if he is hungry he eats – no fooling around) and if I insist to try to feed some more (which like any “polish” mom I usually do – just to make sure he has had enough and does not want more) he spits it out. As he grows older, the spitting action becomes more of a protest and is hence more dramatic and a lot more dirty. Jonathan is a social easter, always coming to share when others eat. Today at a family dinner he even sat nicely on a plastic “growup” chair, clearly enjoying the food and the company and remaining sweetlyin his place for quite a while.

He was sick in the last two days and cranky. Since Jonathan is never cranky – I knew instantly that he is sick. (we have tenant at the moment and he says Jonathan is amazing because you never hear him cry – and once he heard him cry two days ago- our tenant asked immediately is Jonathan is sick). Did I mention that he warns me when something is wrong? Jonathan knew he was going to throw up, so he shook his head refusing to swallow medicine (he never refuses oral medicine unless he is about to throw up). Then he starts to cry and then to cough – giving me ample time to understand that he is about to throw up. I learned to understand these signs and this way was ready with a fabric diaper when he eventually did throw up – this way, only the diaper and my clothes got hit – not the chair I was sitting in holding Jonathan and not the floor – minimal damage! Its really sweet that he tries to communicate that something is wrong, and that he always does it in the same manner – so that eventually even I got the message.

He has his own language and the tones he uses are varied. Just listening to his language you can see that he is picking up the tones from adults. Jonathan is showing sensitivity to sound also in the fact that he clearly enjoys music. When my brother in law plays the piano at my parents' house, the boy sits on the carpet listening, truly fascinated. Music generating toys are Jonathan favorites and he loves it when I sing to him – either fun songs (with hand movements) during the day or calming lullaby songs at night are always welcome. He discovers his mouth again and again, making new sounds – today it was sticking his tongue out and spitting, making a sound like a motorcycle. I truly think he enjoys the sounds he produces and the process of producing them too. I enjoy watching him do it and reward him by repeating his sounds, and so today we were quite a motorcycle band for a while...PrrrPrrr Prrr Prrrrrrrrr

Bed Bottle Holder, Cool Tip

A bottle holder – anyone can make it, and if the baby learns o use it its a really cool thing to have.

Here is a useful tip I gt off a colleague at work who is also a mom: Make a bottle holder for your child's bed using an old pair of jeans. The legs go under the mattress and the waist is tied to the bed/pen. The pockets serve as cells for the bottles, and should be big enough to enable your child to also return the empty bottle to the holder (rather than throwing it out of the bed in protest of the fat that you again left him alone in the dark so he could do this strange thing called “sleep”). This also prevents milk from a full bottle from dropping on the mattress. Now all that remains is to tech your little treasure to actually use the new contraption... Hoping that the youth will learn to take his nightly drink form the holder (in which mommy placed a bottle at an earlier and normal hour) rather than calling at 3 am for me to make it and bring it to him is a bit too much, isn't it?

Learning by Watching Mommy Doing

Its been a while since I last wrote and Jonathan is making some progress. He now not only imitates what he has seen many times, but also what he hears (or what he thinks he hears) and sometimes even makes the quantum leap of imitating immediately something he has seen for the first time.

I may have already mentioned some of the below new accomplishments of Jonathan's, but hey, a proud mom is supposed to repeat the achievements of her off spring, no? After all, even if Jonathan isn't there, I am usually thinking about him... I sometimes wonder if this is not going a bit too far, but I have become a mother heart and sole!

When I blow his nose he has taken to making a noise with his mouth (blowing between closed lips) thus imitating the noise of nose blowing. It is obvious that he is trying to help. What is not clear is if he is really imitating a noise he has heard many times in connection with nose blowing, or he is trying to prevent the paper tissue of entering his mouth (this has happened before and made him spit the paper out). A further step in the nose blowing saga however occurred this morning, when he took the handkerchief from my hand, held it to his nose and blew with his mouth. Then he returned the paper to me.

Another clever reaction related to his nose is that he blows air out of his nostrils whenever he sees the nose pump near his nose. The nose pump is a simple contraption meant to help a mother pump out extra slime out of the baby's nose, its really just a rubber container that one presses to remove the air, then put the edge in the baby's nose and let go, the container fills with air and pulls the slime out o f the nose. Now that Jonathan blows air through his nostrils when he sees the pump, I rarely have to actually pump.

Progress also in the field of language – whenever he gives someone anything he always says “ta”. I am not sure what the origin of this sound is. It could be the end of the word “TODA” which means thank you in Hebrew and is that natural reaction Jonathan gets whenever he gives someone something, or is it the German “DA” which means “there” when we give him something.
He likes to sit on a small stool that we have at home or wonders to the kitchen in the kindergarten and sits nicely at a small table there and then waits, saying “mam mam” hoping to get some fruit, He also stays and eats sitting on the stool, until he is no longer hungry ad thus he looses interest, or just starts playing with his food.

One can understand why he comes to the table for food, the care takers at the day care center always have their breakfast at the small table in the kitchen, his stool at home is also in the kitchen – the source of food. Today he made the quantum leap of imitating something h saw me do only once. I was drinking a yogurt from a bottle that is comes in and then Jonathan just took the bottle and drank the last drops, just like second nature. I know drinking something dairy from a bottle is no news for Jonathan, but the package was different and it was nice to see him just follow my actions and also be rewarded not only by my encouraging words but also but the sweet drink itself.

More progress in the field of food, Jonathan now feeds me when he is close o ending his meal. He opens his mouth, hands me the food and says “ham” and then shoves it into my mouth, pretty much like I used to do when he was smaller.

He also likes to open my Labello and then lick it, trying to imitate the way I put on the lip balsam. Then he delights in closing the tube. Actually this is a nice piece of delicate mechanic abilities Johnathan is showing. Sometimes, when he does not get the tube closed or he tries to push a lid to close a box but missing its right place, he pushes it further, trying to use more force and then, so cute, he also seams to push his voice, holding his breath and crying out, in the attempt to prompt himself to more force. His voice is also the expression of his frustration at the lack of success to complete the task.

Lately he showed me once more how a computer and television is second nature to him. It has been a while since he started pointing the remote control towards the TV and sometimes even changing channels successfully, but just last week he simply took the computer mouse in his hand, holding it correctly with the first try and clicking on it naturally. This week, this new skill has developed further, he has understood that the mouse controls the computer and he can change the pictures on the screen with it, so he just stands on the floor near the computer table and reaches for the mouse. No need to ask mommy to sit on her lap to get to the computer and its delightfully changing screen. Definitely a newer more sophisticated generation...

Humor and Understanding

Lately it seems Jonathan has made a quantum leap when it comes to his understanding. He can turn buttons in his toys (a maneuver that is more difficult) and is showing clear signs of a sense of humor. His understanding is also developing well and he learns more and more by imitation, creating some truly cute circumstances.

Jonathan likes to laugh, and he always enjoys it when mommy makes funny noises. Lately he has decided to contribute himself to the fun! He takes the spoon in his mouth and shakes his head, humming all the while and checking my reaction. He likes to take my glasses and tries t put them on his head. I put them on for him and he thinks it is really funny to have the strange iron contraption on his nose. Such little gestures make him laugh, and prove that he enjoys a good laugh. He recently proved distinctly that he has a sense of humor. He was standing at one end of the living room and I was at another, leaving from work. When Jonathan sees me pick up my keys and bag, he knows I am going away and he begins to whine his protest. As he started to whine I lowered myself on my knees and offered a last minute hug, before going to work and he seemed to accept the offer and stated running in my direction, laughing. But at the last minute, before he reached me he took a sharp turn and ran into his room, laughing all the while! This was the first proof of a sense of humor but also of the child's understanding of the simplest manipulation that children have in their arsenal – hug prevention.

Another day we were in the shopping mall together, Jonathan, my husband and I – and he came to me for a hug, and when his daddy asked for a hug he started running towards him, turning at he last minute. Laughing as he maneuvered around my husband and not into his arms. I could not help laughing and thus the by learned that his actions are pleasing, and he repeated them a few minutes later, much to my husbands chagrin.

Another new ability that proves better understanding is the ability to tell a story. Jonathan still does not talk clearly but rather he mumbles in a language that is completely his own. His”talk” has however recently developed in the sense that there is a lot more “music” to his language. He is clearly talking and telling a story and his mumbles truly sound like conversation. On top of it all, he has recently taken to turning the pages of books and telling himself a story. It is truly the cutest image! I was inspired by his actions and have started reading him a story for bedtime. We still do not hold the book together or tell the story together, but I hope the start I have now made will lead to sch fulfilling bedtime story telling. In the meantime, he even tells himself a good morning story, waiting until we take him out of bed and keeping himself busy by looking through the pages of a fabric book that hangs on the bed and talking to himself! In such moments I wish I could understand him! I do so wish to know what he is saying...

Jonathan seams to be truly musical (like his mommy who could sing before she could talk...really – ask my parents). After all his first clear word is from a song (the sneezing rabbit). He loves any toy that plays music and asks for particular tunes by imitating the way that I sing them. There is a song from on of his toys that I sing by creating a lot of L sounds, and he asks me to sing by imitating the blolololo sound that I make. He makes the toys play a tune and claps his hands as a sign for me that I must join the toy in song!

He imitates adults around him. He tries more and more to eat with a spoon, spilling his food and creating a mess much to my chagrin. I really hate cleaning it all up, but hey its a part of being a mom and not all is pleasurable, though the majority of it all is. He likes to close ans open the glass I use for his mashed food. Each time he succeeds in closing it properly he rewards himself with a cheer! Then I ask him to open it so I can continue to feed him, and he does. And So we eat: open the lid, mommy scoops some food and shovels it into my mouth. I coordinate two movements simultaneously – I.e. opening my mouth for the food and closing the glass again. Then mom asks me to open it, and I do... and it starts all over again.

Jonathan's developed understanding also allows him to show clear dissatisfaction and even clearly oppose certain actions. He is growing 4 teeth now together and that means his gums are red and they hurt! Brushing his teeth is thus not a pleasant action and he shakes his head vigorously each evening when I offer him the tooth brush during bath time. If when he was smaller, we were not sure why he shook his head at times, now it is clear that it is a movement to mean “no”!
Imitation shows itself in the strangest of actions. He likes my Labello lip gloss, and he has mastered opening and closing the tube o his hearts content. But that is no enough. He opens the tube and then rubs it to his lips – imitating his mommy. Then he closes it. (he still has not gotten to the part where he spins the tube to let the lip gloss out...but still he clearly wants to use the funny blue/white tube just like mommy does.

The last weekend, we were at my parents' house and I went to the toilet. My husband who was looking for me, knocked on the door of the toilet to see if I was there and I answered the knock. Jonathan who watched this happen decided it would be nice to get mommy to talk to him from behind the door. And so he got up and knocked on the door too! Imitating the actions f my husband. My mother who was nearly said one could see the thinking process in the boys eyes. The thought and decision to get up and knock on the door so that mommy would answer him too.
The end of January is also the time of Jonathan's first sketch. Another action that shows a new understanding. One morning he decided to grab a pencil and scribble wit it on a peace of paper. Thus a few lines were created and a simple note to remind me of daily routines has been kept and placed in Jonathan photo album, for posterity.