Watching your baby grow each day can give you an ecstatic feeling that comes with parenthood. But this is not to say you will not have your fair share of troubles especially at this stage when the only means of communication your baby has for her needs is crying. You can lose taking note of great changes as they unfold in your baby if you are not careful enough. This happens to many parents and it makes it easy for them to conclude that their babies do nothing more than eating, sleeping and crying. You would be dead wrong if you are one of such parents because your baby actually does more than these.

One of the greatest spectacular views you can ever have as a parent is to watch your baby develop through stages. At such a time, it is very important that you are involved all the way as your child grows. Your active participation will help to ensure that you are made aware of all the details about the growth of your child and at the same time you will be able to make a meaningful contribution wherever necessary. Apart from crying, there are some remarkable signs which are unique to the individualities of babies that they show even at their tender age. For you to see and understand these signs, you would need to pay rapt attention to the developmental process of your baby.

The development of your child at age one is a remarkable one. Understanding the average skills that come with child development at this stage such as rolling, crawling and even smiling back at people will surely place you well in giving the right attention to your child. Many at times parents raise false alarm when they discover facts that ought to have been aware of earlier in their babies but this kind of situation can be avoided if as a parent you can follow up very well on the development of your baby. You will also be able to make an assessment of the development of your child and be able to determine if you need to consult your Pediatrician or not.

Physical Changes to Be Noticed In a One Year Old Toddler
The weight your baby has may be a very good sign of the type of developmental changes that are taking place in her as well as her general state of wellbeing. It is expected that the weight of your baby should be about three times her weight at birth. This is an approximate measure but all the same her weight should not be too far from this.

As your baby continues to grow during this stage, there would be an increase in her activity and as this takes place, variation would be observed with her respiration rate and her activities as well as her emotional state.

Usually before the cranium which is the bone that houses the brain hardens up, growth takes place. The cranium of your baby at this stage is still soft and can accommodate expansion hence a slow increase in head size would be observed at about 1.3 cm every six months. With advancement in age, this will stop as the cranium thickens.

The growth may slow down a bit when compared with what has been happening before and even the legs may appear bowed still. These will straighten out with time. As soon as the toddler begins to walk, the legs will gradually straighten out under normal circumstance and there will also be a gradual loss of “Baby Fat”.

Part of the physical changes that will be apparent will also be in the shape of the body which the baby will now have. There will be a more adult-like appearance with the protrusion of the abdomen while the back sways.

The Development of the Motor System
With increase in age, your baby should be able to increase in crawling skills. Crawling movements will be more preferred and this would be at a quicker pace.

By clinging onto upright structures, your baby will begin to learn standing on her feet with her legs wide apart and stiffened. She will be quick to lift her arms for your support if she senses danger or would want additional support. After some time, she would be succeeding in her attempt to get up on her feet unaided.

At this stage most babies succeed in their attempt to walk around objects or structures and yours may not be an exceptional case although she may fall often and never really succeed in maneuvering around objects like toys and furniture.

Soon enough your baby will learn how to collapse backwards when her legs hurt and she would want to sit down or use furniture and other objects to lower herself to the floor. She would also show her preference to push or pull toys while walking.

Your baby will also begin attempting to run but may experience difficulty in stopping on time and so may fall many times during this period. The direction your child faces during this period may be deliberate so you should watch out she is kept out of harm’s way whenever she chooses to run.

Cognitive Development
The power to identify objects and link them to particular locations is soon developed. You would soon see that your child loves object-hiding activity would attempt to search in the same location for objects when they are hidden but before long, she should be able to search other locations when objects are hidden.

One of the neurological developments you will be able to observe in your baby is the ability to pass a toy to her other hand in order to receive another one offered to her. The cognitive ability to keep objects arranged begins to develop too and this will be noticed when she has to handle up to three or four toys at the same time. She will be able to set the toys on the floor or on her lap when another toy is offered to her.

As against earlier times when every object handed over to her goes into her mouth, your baby will begin to put her toys into her mouth less often.

Your baby will begin to give responses by using facial expressions but may not succeed in imitating other people. His habit to imitate when other people do would also be seen when she holds on to mechanical objects and tries to make them work after seeing other people do the same thing.

Language Development
Words are still largely incoherent but your baby should at this stage begin to put words and sounds together so as to make speech-like patterns which may be interpreted in time by you.

Her sense of following simple directions and orders develop rapidly this stage and pointing your finger may be all you need to do to show her where to go.

Your child will be able to respond to questions with a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answer even if she can not say more than these which may be adequate to collect information or response needed from her.

She will also begin to use gestures like pulling or pointing in order to direct your attention to something strange or her need.

It may make you happier when your child at this stage begins to learn some of the body parts if you can make the efforts to teach her such as the nose, toes etc. she will even point at them when asked.

Your child will begin to show her enjoyment for songs and rhymes and this will be easily noticed in the way she will sway her head and body from left to right even if she does not get the wordings right.

This stage is one you can not afford to miss in your child’s development. There is so much effort you would be required to put but there is a large reward for you which I have seen put smiles on the faces of many a parent.