WONDER Week 37 has come complete with the return of The Diva. The fussy, crying, clingy, sleep-challenged full-on Baby Holly. Yes, move over Diana Ross.
As explained in my last post, The Wonder Weeks is a book by Hetty Vanderijt and Frans Plooij which has uncovered the eight “fussy’’ phases in the first 14 months of bub’s life and shows you how to turn them into magical leaps forward.
The problem is I thought the bittersweet Wonder Week 37 had been and gone. Sure, there was the li’l cold and the emergence of the rabbit teeth, but the little bit of cranky during that period was surely the developmental leap. It seems not. On the weekend, we hit week 39 and Baby Holly’s delayed reaction to Wonder Week 37. Kind of like Charlie Sheen’s delayed reaction to now being a nobody. And this Wonder Week’s a doozie. Again, just like Sheen.
This sixth developmental stage – and by stage I mean mega Opera House-sized stage considering the drama that’s ensued – is called The World of Categories. Baby Holly is:
- Learning about things belonging together. The example given is “a banana looks, feels, and tastes different than spinach, but they are both foods’’.
- Her language skills are also continuing to develop, picking up “Ella’’ but still not “mum’’. Hmm. Through her speech development, she’s also beginning to understand a lot more of what I say to her (except for “please, please, say mum just once’’).
- She’s understanding names and objects, so when I ask her where something is (like Ella), she looks for her.
- Is mimicking what I do. After patting her on the back the other day when she was coughing, she started patting my shoulder in response. She then laughed when I started coughing.
- She’s trying to master the art of crawling. She gets up on all fours, does a bit of a rock, tries to get her limbs to move forward and then nosedives. Cue: crying. Thanks to the WW there’s a lot of this happening, especially when it comes to settling of a night.
Here’s what we’re doing to help her development during Wonder Week 37:
- Giving her blocks in different sizes to play with
- Reading her touch and feel books and material books
- Helping her stack the rings on the pole
- Playing in and next to her tunnel toy. This helps her learn about space.
- Sitting in front of the mirror and talking together
Afterwards, babies are expected to have a greater awareness of their surroundings and can often be more independent.
I’ve already posted about Week 26, provided a copy of the Wonder Week chart, reviewed the book and had author Frans Plooij guest post. There’s more about the new expanded version of the book on the official Wonder Week site. But to learn more about the Wonder Weeks themselves, buy the book (affiliate link).
How do you cope with your children’s fussy periods?
I picked up this book after your last blog and it’s made dealing with my little ones fussy periods so much easier. Thank you.
Glad it’s been of help, Jill. It really does shed new light on what they’re going through. Although, I always can’t wait ’til they’re over!! 😉
Kellie I so wish I’d known about this book when mine were babies. It sounds fabulous. Bit of baby whispering. Hard to believe that adorable little person could give you trouble. She is way cute 🙂
Hehe!! She’s definitely testing my patience at the moment!!! 😉 Although, I love seeing all the new skills she picks up during it. She’s on the cusp of crawling at the moment. She’s oh, so close!
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i heard about these wonder weeks when my little one was younger but never truly understood them…. but certainly something to think of second time round 🙂
I’m so grateful for knowing about it this time around. It’s made coping so much easier this past year. Hope it helps you too. x