B

Dear
Parents:
aby’s
First Wish
A h a

1 Year Old
p p y & h e a
Cooperative Extension Service

l
New Mexico State University

t h y l i f e

Your baby is
now 1 year old.
Congratulations!
You made it through a
whole year!
Both you and your baby have
come a long way. You’ve helped
your baby grow into someone who
can sit, stand, climb, and reach for
things and who can think, feel,
understand you, and maybe even
say a few words.
You can look back with pride
on the past year and give your- I am me. In all the world, there is no one else like me... I have
self a well-deserved pat on the
back. At times it was hard, but the tools to survive, to be close to others, to be productive,
you managed well. From now on, and to make sense and order out of the world of people and
your baby will be growing and things outside of me.
learning at an amazing rate. You
can look forward to the coming Excerpted from “Self Esteem” by Virginia Satir, Celestial Arts,
years, confident that you will Millbrae, Calif. 1970.
help him develop into a responsi-
ble human being.

A m o n t h - b y - m o n t h n e w s l e t te r f o r y o u a n d y o u r b a b y 25 & 26 Months 1
What’s It Like To Be
• I hold things with one hand
How I Grow while I’m doing something else
with the other hand.
• I may walk, but still prefer to
crawl—it’s faster! • I use my index finger to point to
things.
• I may also try to do other
things while I’m walking like • I try to dress or undress myself,
wave to you, or pick up my but I’m not very good at it yet.
favorite blanket.
• I insist on feeding myself.
• I stand by pushing up from a
squatting position.

• I climb up and down stairs, if I

How I Talk
have the chance. • I repeat words I know—it’s good
practice.
• I may even be able to climb out
of a playpen or crib. • I babble away in phrases that
sound like short sentences.
• I use my hands to remove lids
from jars. • I make up my own words to
describe objects or people.

How I
Respond
• I trust people I know well.

• I imitate people, even if they are

not around.

• I am still afraid of strangers and

unfamiliar places.

• I am very definite about my likes

and dislikes.

2 Baby’s First Wish

1 Year Old?
How I
Understand
• I remember more because my
memory is getting sharper.

• I hunt for a toy, and even if I

don’t find it right away, I can
remember where I saw it last.

• I keep trying to do something

and may even solve the problem
through trial and error.

• I follow simple directions and

understand most things you say
to me.

• I have favorites among people

and toys.

How I Feel
• I feel great that I have a person-
ality all my own

• I’m developing a sense of humor

and think a lot of things are funny.

• I still don’t like being separated

from you and am relieved when
you return.

• I feel secure and happy eating

meals with my family.

• I feel—and show—love and

affection to my favorite people
and things.

1 Year 3
Looking Back, Looking Forward
Looking back, you have many You could go on and on reliving • You are your baby’s first teacher.
memories of all the things you the memories, some of them Teach the things that you think
have shared with your baby. Do happy and some of them not so are important in life.
you remember the times when you pleasant. • Follow your common sense when
stayed up all night? How about But now you and your baby are you have a problem. Do what
the times that you thought the cry- ready to move on to the second you feel is best for you and your
ing would never stop, or the times year. There are many more baby.
that your baby smiled and laughed “firsts” to look forward to: the first • Try to take some time out for
and you felt good sharing his joy? walking steps taken alone, the yourself—your needs are impor-
first words read out of a book, the tant, too.
Do you remember when your baby: first day at school, and so many Your role as a parent has not
• Made his first sound besides others. ended. For your baby, life has bare-
crying? It is often easy to forget the ly started. He is just beginning to
• Held his first toy? things that work well in the learn about the world around him,
• Used a spoon the first time? process of raising a child. Here are and there will be many new adven-
• Took his first steps? a few thoughts to keep in mind: tures to share through the years.

4 Baby’s First Wish

1 Year 5
Feeding Your Baby Games
What, When, And How Much? Babies Play
Milk—about 2 to 3 cups daily with a variety of other foods from the
food groups listed below.
Most health authorities recommend that a baby should be at least a
Pull-The-Right-String:
year old before whole milk is given. Until your baby is 1 year of age, A Using-A-Tool Game
breast milk or formula is the most appropriate milk to feed your baby.
In addition to milk, give several small servings from each of the
following food groups over a two-day period. Purpose of Game
• Helps your baby learn to use
• Vegetables, fruits
objects as tools to get what she
• Meat, fish, poultry, egg yolk
wants.
• Cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese
• Bread, crackers, cereal, rice, spaghetti
How To Play
How Much Should My Baby Eat? • Hold your baby in a sitting posi-
tion on your lap facing a flat
Your baby doesn’t have to eat something from every food group at every
surface like a table top.
meal. He may eat well at one meal, not so well at the next, and refuse
the third meal. One hearty meal a day plus four foods from the food
• While she is watching, tie one
groups listed are about average at this age. Forcing babies to eat can
end of a piece of string around a
work in reverse and make them refuse any food. Or they may continue to
favorite toy.
eat just to get your approval.
Offering food to babies when they are upset may quiet them for a few
• Place the toy out of reach on the
moments, but it will also teach them the habit of using food as a solution
table and say, “Get the toy.”
to problems. Instead, try to find the cause of the problem and solve it,
without using food as the pacifier..
• Your baby will learn to pull the
string to get the toy.

Another Using-A-Tool Game

• Place the toy on the string out of
reach again.

• Place two more strings alongside

the string with the toy attached.

• Your baby will learn to pull the

string with the toy attached.

If you have questions, call your

county Extension office. Phone
numbers are listed on the last
page of this newsletter.

6 Baby’s First Wish

What Little Boys And
Little Girls Are Made Of
Parents sometimes treat boys and girls differently and react differently
towards them. They may give toy trucks to boys and dolls to girls. They
may get upset if a boy picks up a doll and starts playing with it, because
they think a doll is a girl’s toy. The same thing may happen when a girl
plays with a toy truck or car.
Although your child is still a baby, it’s not too early to consider your own
attitudes about sex roles. Now is a good time to evaluate the messages you
want to give about “what little boys and little girls are made of.”
Here are some questions to help sort out your attitudes:

• Do I hold back hugging my son just because he is a boy?

• Do I use a different tone of voice for my daughter than I would for a
son, even though tenderness is comforting for both sexes?
• Do I expect different kinds of behavior from my children because of
Building Self—
their sexes (for example, leadership and strength from a son, and crying
and softness from a daughter)? Confidence
Allowing children to express themselves freely regardless of their sex Being a parent can sometimes tax
will help them grow into healthy, capable and confident individuals. your patience, as well as your con-
fidence in your ability to cope with
daily problems. At times, you may
feel comfortable and self-confident,
and at other times you may feel
uncertain and fearful about your
decisions.
We all strive to feel comfortable
and good about ourselves. Self
confidence is measured by the way
we feel and the way we behave.
There are ways to bolster your
self-confidence, so that you feel
better about yourself. Here are a
few suggestions:
• Examine and determine what
YOU want out of life—not what
other people want for you, or
want you to do.
• Don’t put yourself down. Instead
of saying “I can’t do it,” try say-
ing “I am going to try to do it. “
• Live your life from this moment
A good book to read about raising children is Pick Up Your Socks: on. Don’t become discouraged
A Practical Guide to Raising Responsible Children, by Elizabeth Crary by past mistakes.
and published by Parenting Press in 1990. You can purchase it • Trust your own decisions. You are
from a bookstore, online, or look for it in your public library. the best judge of what works
well for you.

1 Year 7
 NMSU COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICE OFFICES

Baby’s First Wish Alamogordo

Albuquerque
Aztec
401 Fairgrounds Rd.
1510 Menaul NW
213A S. Oliver
437-0231
243-1386
334-9496
Editor: Diana S. DelCampo, Ph.D. Bernalillo 811 Camino del Pueblo 867-2582
Child Development and Family Life Specialist Carlsbad 1304 W. Stevens 857-6595
Carrizozo 300 Central 648-2311
Clayton 100 Street 374-9361
Clovis 818 Main 763-6505
Deming 700 S. Silver 546-8806
Dulce Hawks Drive 759-3530
Española 1122 Industrial Park Rd. #82 753-3405
Estancia County Courthouse 384-2416
Baby’s First Wish was adapted from Parent Express, Fort Sumner 514 Avenue C 355-2381
California Cooperative Extension, by Dr. Wendy Gallup 5002 W. Historic 66 863-3432
Hamilton and Dr. Diana DelCampo, New Mexico State Grants 515 W. High St. 287-9266
University Cooperative Extension Service. Las Cruces 808 N. Alameda 525-6649
Las Vegas County Courthouse Annex 454-1497
Lordsburg 300 Shakespeare 542-9291
Los Alamos 475 20th St. 662-2656
Another 4-H Prevention Program Los Lunas 319D Hwy. 314 865-9561
Los Ojos Los Ojos Hwy. House 72 588-7423
Lovington 100 N. Main Ste. 10-C 396-2819
Mora Hwy. 518 387-2856
Mosquero 3rd & Pine 673-2341
Portales 705 E. Lime St. 356-4417
Raton 3rd & Savage 445-8071
Order Alert: Baby’s First Wish is an educational pro- Reserve County Courthouse 533-6430
Roswell 200 E. Chisum, #4 622-3210
gram from NMSU’s Cooperative Extension Service. This Santa Fe 3229 Rodeo Rd. 471-4711
newsletter series is designed for parents with young Santa Rosa 450 Parker Ave. 472-3652
children. To order the series, contact your county Silver City 2610 N. Silver 388-1559
Extension office. 2002 Socorro 214 Neel Ave., NW 835-0610
Taos 202 Chamisa Road 758-3982
T or C 2101 S. Broadway 894-2375
Visit our Web site at: www.nmcyfar.org Tucumcari 301 S. 3rd 461-0562
Zuni 02 Route 301 North 782-4495

New Mexico State University is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. NMSU and the U.S. Department of Agriculture cooperating.

1 Year

LAS CRUCES, NM 88003

BOX 30003, MSC 3AE
COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICE
NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY