MY VIRTUAL CHILD

CAIDEN APOLLO AT 18 MONTHS OLD

Caiden Apollo enjoys climbing up the stairs to your apartment but 

still goes down them backwards, holding on with both hands to the step above.

1. Caiden Apollo likes to play make believe with cups, dolls, and toy telephones. He sometimes talks to himself or makes the dolls and toy figurines talk to each other.

 You let Caiden Apollo play by himself, unless he wants  to share with you, as you don’t  want to interfere with the development of his imagination.

•  With this, I will just let him play. I will just guide him and make sure that he’s okay while playing. If he wants to play with me, I will just go with the flow and to let him explore so that he will have a great imagination.

Caiden Apollo has a tremendous drive to use his motor skills.You have to keep an eye on Caiden Apollo because he will quickly toddle off into the crowd at public places or even into the street!

2. Caiden Apollo sometimes prefers quiet activities in his room, and sometimes likes more active games or sports.

You go along with whatever Caiden Apollo is interested in doing at the moment, and sometimes introduce new games or activities.

• Just let him do what he wants to do because with this age, babies will still find some interesting stuff. He’ll still do something, and of course as a parent we will introduce more activities.

Caiden Apollo is sometimes interested in dancing or singing along with music and sometimes doesn't seem to notice or care.

You teach him some simple preschool songs and try to encourage him to respond to music.

3. Caiden Apollo sometimes takes on problems that are too difficult for his age level. He sometimes gets frustrated and gives up. When you see this happening, you:

Show an interest in what he is doing and make occasional helpful comments when Caiden Apollo gets stuck.

• We chose this because as a parent, we are the ones who should motivate him not to give up to small things. We will show him that we too are interested on what he is doing and we should give a big support so that he will not feel bad and upset. 

Caiden Apollo has shown some interesting new behavior. He acts shy when looking in the mirror, uses the word "me" a lot, and wants to do things himself.

You think the new behavior is a sign of self awareness, and you have to decide what the balance will be between allowing Caiden Apollo to be independent and teaching him to follow your rules.

4.  Caiden Apollo is a regular chatterbox now. He has over 50 words at his command, and some really cute two-word sentences such as "Mama up" and "Doggie outside." What will you do to improve Caiden Apollo's communication further?

Chatter back, using slightly longer sentences than Caiden Apollo's, such as "Yes, the doggie is outside." Introduce descriptive and useful new words gradually, such as "The doggie is SCRATCHING the DOOR."

• As a parent, we should also help our child to speak good and to protect him from bad words. With this, we will teach him new simple words because this will help him to construct his own. 

You are showing Caiden Apollo how to take care of the growing number of plants you have on the sunny balcony of your apartment.

Fortunately the balcony is child-safe, and there is no danger of Caiden Apollo falling.

5. Caiden Apollo is fairly calm most of the time, but sometimes starts whining and fussing when he is very tired or overstimulated.

You try to be sensitive to Caiden Apollo's moods. When he seems overstimulated, you suggest a nap or quiet activity.

• I chose this because I have to understand his emotions. If he starts whining and fussing I will take him to a peaceful place or cool place because sometimes the weather affects the child’s way of acting. And also, I will let him relax and yes, I suggest a nap so that he will be more relaxed and he will not be stressed out. 

6. You notice that Caiden Apollo is less clingy lately, and often wants to be put down to explore rather than to be held. His favorite places to venture out are the park and the store.

You recognize this as a normal pattern of increasing independence, and you leave him alone unless he asks for your attention.

• We chose this because we want him to explore more and let him enjoy other things, we’ll just watch over him and help him.

7. You notice that Caiden Apollo doesn't show much interest in the age-appropriate blocks, toys, and building sets that you have, and gets frustrated when he does occasionally try to play with them.

You try to boost Caiden Apollo's interest in these toys by showing him how to play with them and providing a lot of encouragement.

• By choosing this, we should really encourage him and to show him how interesting these toys are. We will help him with this activity so that he will have an interesting  childhood with his toys. 

8. Caiden Apollo has recently become resistant sometimes to your requests for cooperation. For example, he says "no," or refuses things that he accepted before such as food or bath time.

You recognize Caiden Apollo needs to have firm limits, explain that you need his "help," and let him decide between two choices (both of which are things you want him to do!)

• We will not spoil him that much, we should also teach him to choose what is right and wrong.  We will teach him how to cooperate, and with this age, we will have a little discipline so that he will not be a spoiled brat. 

9. Caiden Apollo continues to be shy around adults, and has only two or three adults that he will rely on for emotional support. You also notice that he is standoffish with other toddlers in his daycare or play group.

You choose one friendly new adult and one new child at a time for Caiden Apollo to get to know, with you present for support. You are sure to give Caiden Apollo several opportunities to slowly warm up to each person.

• We chose this because we should help Caiden to have a good interaction to other people and so that he will not feel alone and of course as a parent, we should also need to know those people for us to protect our son. 

10. Lately Caiden Apollo has become more hesitant to part with either you or your partner at daycare. He greets his the caregiver enthusiastically, but when you try to leave Caiden Apollo wants to leave with you. The caregiver keeps assuring you that Caiden Apollo calms down after you leave. What should you do?

You reassure Caiden Apollo that you will return, and tell him where you are going and why you go there.

• Well this is a tough situation. If we will not tell him this, he would be confused and he will cry so hard. So we chose this because we are sure that he will calm down as soon as he finds out where we’re going and why we have to and make him a promise that we will return. 

11. You know that by age three Caiden Apollo needs to be toilet trained for daycare/preschool. You buy a potty chair, training pants, and a little storybook about a child learning to use the potty.

You praise him for small steps such as trying on the training pants and sitting on the potty chair, even if nothing "happens".

• This would be a good training for a three year old. If we keep on doing this to him, he will be use tou it. The potty chair would be a great help too.

Mary Laurenz J. Barbaton, Ryan Cordova, Edel Rose Rivera

BSPT-2C