15 Month Old Baby
Contents:
- Physical Development of a 15 Month Old Baby
- Nervous and Mental Development, Your Baby at 15 Months
- Skills and Abilities of a 15 Month Old Baby
- Boys and Girls – are There any Differences?
15 Month Old Baby
At the age of 15 months, parents start to notice not only the changes concerning the development of their baby, but also the changes concerning the way he/she behaves. This is the age when your baby doesn’t only repeat movements after parents and does something to make him pay attention to him/her. The fact is that he/she is now able to enter into a dialogue with the parents and play games based on the simplest scenario. Actually, it’s quite hard to assess the speed with which a baby of this age develops. No one can say what a baby of 15 months old should be able to do.
Actually, babies of this age can behave themselves in different ways. There are those who start talking and walking. At the same time, there are those who continue crawling and don’t say a word. You should understand that the early development of your baby doesn’t guarantee his/her high-level of intelligence in future. The maturation of the nervous system and the brain is the process that can start at a different age since every baby is unique.
Physical Development of a 15 Month Old Baby
As a rule, a baby of this age is already able to walk, go up and down the stairs holding by the hand of a parent and stand up/sit down without the need to ask parents for help. Even if your baby is yet unable to walk by himself/herself, he/she should be able to stand up and walk using a wall as a support. Besides, he/she should be able to walk holding by the hand with a parent. The movements your baby makes become more kind of “free and confident”. He/she is already able to bend, turn back and turn from one side to the other one. Mind that your baby still may lose his/her balance and fall down sometimes when doing it.
The majority of babies who have turned 15 months old become more cautious. It implies that babies understand that if you get close to the edge of a bed or a sofa, you may fall down. They also understand that if they hit their heads on a wall, it will hurt a lot. A baby is constantly making efforts to start walking, climb or run. Of course, such like efforts contribute to the development of his/her coordination of movements and the sense of equilibrium. A baby tries to sit down, raise oneself on tiptoes, run and make more complicated movements. For example, a baby tries to throw and catch a ball and learns to carry toys using both of the hands.
A 15-month-old baby that’s healthy, sleeps well and eats enough is always happy and energetic. He/she runs, crawls and plays with toys. Mind that a baby is constantly changing the toys he/she plays with and distracted all the time. As a rule, the maximal period of time during that a baby can stay focused on something amounts to 10-15 minutes. His/her teeth continue growing after he/she turns 1 year old. There appear not only canine teeth and cutting teeth, but also grinding teeth. At this age, you should provide your baby not only with purees and porridges cooked from grinded foods, but also the foods he/she needs to chew.
Nervous and Mental Development, Your Baby at 15 Months
A baby of this age can play all day long. It is exactly through playing a game that he/she acquires the most important skills, learns to build relationships with those around him/her and discovers the world around. It’s very important to start teaching your baby something while playing a game. A baby will be eager to do any tasks and repeat any movements after his/her parents if he/she is introduces to all these while playing a game. The style of playing a game with parents changes once a baby turns 15-18 months old. This is the time when a baby starts to play together with his/her parents and stops playing separately from them.
It was quite different before. Parents simply watched their baby playing a game or showed him/her how and what he/she needs to do. Now, it’s different. Your baby understands that he/she can play a game together with someone. Consequently, he/she actively encourages parents to take part in a game. The interesting thing is that the babies of this age play games not only together with parents or other adults, but also with their age-mates. They can play together in a sandbox, build houses using toy blocks or play with cars. Unfortunately, babies can’t play together with each other for long. Several minutes after they started playing, they may have a desire to take one and the same car or a trowel. They start fight with each other or cry. Alternatively, they may try take the item they liked from the other kid. everything depends on the features of a baby's character and his/her disposition.
The majority of 15-month-old babies like to have something only for their own. They don’t understand and don’t want to listen to the parents telling them that it’s necessary to be able to share with others, play a toy together with another baby or give it to him/her simply. Parents shouldn’t try to appeal to a baby’s conscience. It’s better and more effective to try to distract him/her. For example, you may suggest your baby playing a different game together with you or go watch something. You may also try to reach a compromise with your baby. For example, tell him/her to change toys with another baby, play a toy in turns or take a toy that looks very much like the one your baby wants.
A baby of this age understands that it's necessary to take away the toys, go wash the face and go to bed in the evening. You need to start teaching your baby to do certain things. For example, he/she may help you to take the toys away before going to have dinner or wash his/her face before going to bed.
Starting from the age of 15-18 months, you need to regularly read books to your kid. This is the time when your baby is not only able to look through the pictures in a book, but also listen and comprehend short verses and fairy tales. The most important thing here is to choose interesting and easy to understand books for children. The babies of this age like nursery rhythms very much. For example, quatrains and short fairytales like “The Enormous Turnip”, “The Bun”, “Hen Ryaba” etc. parents should not only read the fairy tales aloud but also comment on them, explaining the meaning. You need to make your baby be interested in the story, show him/her the pictures and explain what’s depicted on them. A 15-month-old baby is able to show you the animals he/she knows as well as the characters of fairytales or items he/she knows.
A baby of this age knows approximately 15-20 words. He/she may also pronounce certain sounds and use gestures to explain you what he/she needs. There are babies who can pronounce 5-10 words well at this age. At the same time, there are those who only start to pronounce the first combinations of sounds. You shouldn’t worry if your baby doesn’t speak yet. The most important thing is that he/she understands what you’re saying and is able to follow the easiest requests and accomplish simple tasks.
Once a baby turns 1 year, he/she becomes very much interested in the babies around him/her. When you go for a walk with your baby, you may notice that he/she observes not only cars or houses, but also his/her age-mates and babies that are a bit older. Babies of this age are still quite shy. Therefore, they don’t come to a group of other babies playing with each other a game. They like to watch other babies playing.
Skills and Abilities of a 15 Month Old Baby
At the age of 15 months, your baby should be able to:
- – walk by himself/herself (at least make efforts to), stand up and sit down;
- – tell where is left and right, bend, squat and turn;
- – follow your requests and accomplish simple tasks. For example, he/she can bring toys, points to certain objects, gives you his/her hands etc.;
- – tell you the names of objects you use at home as well as the names of animals. He/she knows his/her name and reacts when you call him/her by the name;
- – pronounce several words and use gestures to explain you what he/she needs. For example, he/she may use a gesture when he/she wants you to come closer, take him/her in your arms or when he/she wants to drink etc.;
- – show various emotions when he/she sees the mother, the grandmother, the people he/she knows and those people whom he/she doesn’t know;
- – do the same actions when using the same object. For example, he/she “feeds” all the dolls or animals, plays with all the cars, build houses out of all toy blocks there are, talks when holding a real and a toy cell-phone;
- – hold a spoon. A baby tries to eat porridge or a puree by himself/herself. He/she also tries to drink from a cup by himself/herself.
Boys and Girls – are There any Differences?
The difference between boys and girls becomes more obvious once babies turn 15 months old. As a rule, boys are more active. They are little fidgets. It’s hard for them to sit on one place. They like active games more, especially the games that they can play in the streets. It’s hard for them to focus on one game or one object. The majority of 15-month-old boys already have a collection of toy cars. They also like to either cradle dolls or let them drive a toy car.
Girls like books with bright pictures. A girl likes to spend a lot of time with her mother, play with the dolls or cars. The majority of the girls stay indifferent to different kinds of weapon. As a rule, everything is easier and less chaotic with the girls of this age. They are more cautious and prefer to hold a mother by the hand tightly. They also prefer to keep closer to the parents when walking. This is the thing they do just in case.