What can your real life 12 month old do?

[Caitycat]

Inspired by a thread about milestones. I wondered what our actual babies are doing as they reach their first birthdays.

Dd is a week off her 1st. She can crawl and stand up against furniture but has no interest in walking and sits down if I take her hands. She finger feeds and can put a loaded spoon in her mouth but there's not a chance she could load the spoon herself! She loves looking through books and can turn the pages for herself, she loves taking things apart and removing things from boxes - rarely puts anything back in. No sign of any shape or colour sorting ability yet. She has four words. She sometimes sleeps through the night (until 6) but not always.

PS I really don't want this to be a competition, just genuinely interested.

My DD is a month older than yours and doing almost exactly the same things! She also has four words - mumma, dadda, dog and 'iss (one of our dogs is called Missy) and has said no a few times, think she might've said where the other day but hasn't repeated it! In the last two weeks she's learned to walk with her little trolley walker thing and in the last couple of days has started to walk holding onto my fingers. She has slept through the night (8-6.30) a few times in the past fortnight.

DS can walk, sorta shapes, plays a lot of pretendy games like feeding his cuddly toys etc. only just started pointing stuff, feeds himself with fingers or spoon, getting ok at loading it himself. Likes pop-up books.

Has no real words, an occasional mum, dad or no - sometimes I think he says other words but it's a bit on my part I think. Understands a lot of words.

Oh and sleep through the night? Hahaha. Ha. Ha.

When DS was 12mo he was walking by 3 weeks so still falling a lot and still very staggery. He could scoop food with a spoon but could never keep it on between his bowl and mouth he tilted the spoon and it all fell on his tray. He could say about 8 words. He only just started sleeping though til 5 and not every night. He has little tantrums as he wants to do all the things his big cousin does and can't.

Dd is 1 in about 5 or so weeks. She can crawl and sit and roll and pull herself up and is beginning to take steps whilst holding my hands or the walker. She can feed herself using her fingers and is good at the pincer grip. She is beginning to put the spoon into the bowl. She will copy, or try o copy some noises. She can play hiddy boo and clap hands. She can knock down towers and put things into other things.

She can't yet make any words or respond to questions eg where's mummy?, she doesn't seem to show much understanding I don't think, but I haven't really given her any tests so to speak.

She does sleep through the night, has done for months and months. She responds to her name and comes when called.

I try not to compare her to ds because when I think back to his milestone, I'm never sure on the times or ages he met them. And, of course, she's a totally different baby.

When DS1 was 12 months he was walking confidently and sleeping through the night. I was that smug mother sure I was doing everything right - DS1 walked the day before he was 9 months and slept through from 3 months old.

However with DS2 it was a completely different story, he was cruising round the furniture but knew he could get there quicker by commando crawling or shouting his brothers and he did not sleep through until he was 5 and at school!!

My ds walked independently around 11 months and now at just gone 13mo charges around at a fast toddle. He claps, waves, points, high fives, blows kisses and can negotiate small steps without help. He has been sleeping through (7.30 till 7am) for a few months now. His understanding of what I'm saying or asking is pretty good e.g. asking him to find a particular toy or fetch a book. However he doesn't really have any words yet. He does say uh oh, and will imitate sounds occasionally but that's it. He does babble a lot using lots of different sounds, sometimes saying mumumu and dadada but not consistently or convincingly to refer to us.

He eats with his hands and can use a spoon for easier things like yoghurt, but that's a very recent development - it was a bit hit and miss at 12 months.