The Beginnings of a Toddler

My son is almost 14 months old and he is definitely growing out of that cute "baby" phase and moving on into "toddlerhood". He is a very active little boy & doesn't stop moving climbing up and down and playing with his toys or the odd shoe left in the living room. It has been a joy watching him grow and develop over the last year and especially in the last few months. His understanding of words just amazes me. Just the other day I asked him to bring me a white bag that was left in the middle of the room, it's like he knew exactly what I said and he walked over to the bag with no hesitation, picked it up and walked back to me and put it in my hand. And what's even more amazing he is beginning to talk. I was sitting at my computer one time & he walked over to me and handed me a book and said "read". I then asked him to sit down which he did immediately and I sat next to him and began to read him his book. When did he learn to do this? It just stunned me & I've just realised I need to try and keep up with his developments. On the flip side I've noticed an increase in what seems to be the start of tantrums and I can see it happens when he tries to communicate with his babbling and pointing but I'm unable to understand what he really wants and he walks away in frustration.

Recently I've read in a parenting magazine about baby signing and research has shown that it can accelerate a child's acquisition of speech and signing can reduce the frustration often experienced in pre-verbal children which is a major contributor of toddler tantrums. So I think it's time to learn about baby signing and hopefully  we'll be able to communicate with each other and have less of the toddler tantrums. Stay tuned and I'll let you know how it goes.