The Yogurt Monster - Week 41

Without a doubt, Theo is a yogurt monster. If he knows that yogurt's coming, his mouth will be open even if the spoon is a mile away, as you can very well see from the photo above.

Now at 41 weeks old, Theo has been successfully weaned. Although Mommy D still provides her nutrient-rich breast milk once in a while, Theo has already developed the taste for different delicacies, and one of his favorites, aside from yogurt, is vegetable curry. He has also become very fond of pears and has clearly shown his disinterest for apples.

This week, Theo has shown his ability to imitate the "bye-bye" gesture, without the need for us to guide his hands. He has also been spending much time making sounds or vocalizing (the first signs of language development), esp. if there is music in the background, as if he is trying to follow the song. And if we turn on the visualizations of Windows Media Player, he'd be glued to the PC monitor for as long as 30 minutes, carefully studying the undulating shapes that appear in response to the music. If he is interested in something, his attention span is very long, and that's something that we have found amazing recently.

For proper brain development, meaningful and relevant stimulation is important. More than 80% of the brain develops during the first year, and the more the child is stimulated (without being stressed), the more connections the neurons will make, which will hopefully lead to higher intelligence. Certainly, stimuli alone are not enough without the right nutrition, and breast milk is still the best for the growing infant brain.