Little gal development progress - 20 months

At 20 months, I am surprised with my gal's development. 

Expression

She can expressed herself now by saying simple words of what she wants. E.g. She will say "shoe" or "Out" if she wants to go out. She will say “开” if she wants you to open something. With some prompting, she will say "Please, 开". She will say “谢谢” when being offered a cookie (but need some prompting). She will say "soup" when she wants to drink soup. She will say "Bread" if she wants to eat bread. She will say "Nice!" if the food taste good and many others. 

Memory

She has very good memory and can remember what you teach her and relate back when you ask her. For instance, I read to her a book about feelings and how to express surprise 1-2 months ago. Recently I read to her another book also about feelings but with a different surprise expression. When I asked her what is surprise, she expressed her surprise similar to the first book she read instead of the recent book. She is like a sponge, absorbing what was taught to her the first time. 

Understanding

She likes to listen to our conversations and can also understand very well what we are talking about. For instance, when I was discussing with my mom to bring her out, she immediately go to her shoe rack, point to her shoe and say "shoe" and stand at the door waiting to go out. 

She can name the pictures in the book when I point to her and ask her what is it. Things she can name clearly are Dog, cat, mouse, cow, apple, ant, fly, arrow, bear, boat, car, bus, ball, balloon, baby, bag, bib, card, cake, egg, duck, flower, fork, spoon, hat, heart, book, pig, shoe, clothes, train, and etc. 

She is better at pronouncing simple words with 1-2 syllabus. She can't pronounce words with 3 syllabus yet. However she can understand most of it and point to the picture or item when I asked her. E.g. when I asked where is the umbrella? She will go look for her umbrella and bring it to me although she can't pronounce it yet.

Name body parts

She can name clearly and point to her body parts (Eyes, ears, mouth, nose, toes, arm, hand). 

Basic Opposites

She can say "Up" and "Down" and raise her hands when up and put down her hands when down. She can identify if the things she touch is cold or hot. 

She knows "Big" and "Small" but not able to say out yet. But she demonstrated her understanding by expanding her hands when I asked her what is big and narrowing her hands when I asked her what is small. 

She also knows who is a boy or girl. She will point to a boy and say "Boy!" and point to herself when I asked her where's the girl. 

Motor skills

1. Drink from cup

She is able to drink from a cup (not sippy cup) independently now with minimal spilling and finished every drop of it. She can also feed herself but still got tendency to spill the food all over her. With more practice, I believe she will be able to feed independently in no time.



2. Walk up & down the stairs

She can walk up the stairs to 5th storey and walk down by holding on to the rails. I have to admit that even I have difficulty catching up with her.



3. Throw, roll and kick the ball

She knows the difference between throw, roll and kick the ball and can do it when being prompted.



4. Riding scooter

She can ride a scooter now by herself in a slow pace. Not racing stage yet.



Follow instructions

She is able to listen and follow instructions very well. For example, she can pick up the correct thing and bring to you when being told to.




Loves to read

She loves to read and every night before she goes to bed, she will go into the bedroom automatically and find her books and ask me to read to her by pulling my hands and point to the books. When I am not reading to her, she will flip the book pages and try to read it herself.




Likes & dislikes

She starts to develop her own personality and likes and dislikes. For example when my mom tried reading to her, she refused and say "no no no" (cos my mom don't understand the book and anyhow read, and she knows it!). But she is ok when I or her daddy read to her.



When I sing to her, she will be very happy and start dancing by spinning around. But when my mom or aunt sings to her, she will stop and sulk (cos my mom and aunt sing out of tune and she knows it!).


What surprised me is she actually knows and will listen to you if she thinks you knows your stuff well. So she is starting to be aware of what is right or wrong and good or bad. I think she got a very positive and serious attitude towards learning.


I'm not sure how the other children of same age progressed. I read articles before that some very intelligent kid can read all alphabets by the age of 1 year old. My gal may not be in that league but I am happy and satisfied with her development every day bit by bit.


What matters most to me is she grows up happily, healthily, be a good nature child, have compassion and care for others and doing and learning what she loves best.