Month 16

At 16 months, Swe-cha still loves to climb. He has also started practicing akyat-bahay skills of topping the fence, swinging his legs over the top and then coming down on the other side. He does a good job of "escaping" his enclosure most of the time but when he gets tired, he loses his hold and tends to fall so we usually run to him as soon as we hear him grunting because that means that he is climbing again.

Wearing shoes does not seem to bother him at all, he can still climb - pulls himself up mostly using his upper body strength - even if he cannot hook his toes inside the diamond holes in the fencing. This was when we decided to upgrade his fencing, thus, expanding his play area and making it impossible (or so we think) for him to climb out... for now, anyway.

From 18.5 sq ft, he now has 49 sq ft of play space - not including the space occupied by the exersaucer. We also moved the bookcase that used to occupy the wall right beside the patio door and secured that against another wall. All this took us almost 3 days but it's worth it to see Swe-cha happy in a bigger space.

As for the old Play Yard, we took it apart and each of the 3 panels now secure our 2 computer tables in our upstairs bedrooms.

Amazingly, nothing seems to deter our little boy from climbing. Since he is unable to climb his new fence for now, he would push his toys against the sofa and use it as a step stool so he could get up. The first time he climbed the sofa, he kept shrieking with glee and would climb up holding one of his toys (usually, a stacking block or a car) and then throw it in the space behind the sofa. We didn't realize that he was throwing his toys there until we noticed that his toys were considerably less and started looking for the rest.

We're also seeing a lot of big-boy behavior from Swe-cha. He would sometimes pull out his bumbo chair and sit down on it while he watches his videos. One time, I also found him sitting on a chair and playing with toys on the little round table in daycare when I got there to pick him up. I can't wait till he's able to sit down long enough for us to start him on art activities - finger painting, doodling w/ crayons, etc.

On the down side, he had his 15th month well-baby checkup this month and his pediatrician is concerned about his poor weight gain. We were sent home with orders to fatten him up. We're going back to see his pedia again in 1 month for a weight-check and if he has not made good progress, we might have to be referred to a feeding center for some therapy. *eek*