Let me preface my comments by stating that I have 3 children, ages 8, 5, 2 (and one on the way). So I am not new to this, but it's all still fresh enough in my memory that I remember it realistically. That's just so you know where I am coming from. And I ask your patience now for what I expect will be a long answer. The answer to your question is yes and no. If you think of discipline in terms of teaching and guiding, yes, you can begin to discipline a 9 mos old in terms of protecting them from danger. If they pull hair, you can distract them and say "no." You can say "no" and remove them from a situation like pulling an electic cord. But they aren't likely to learn any lesson from it. I know people say their babies understand "no" but I do not buy that. A baby might respond temporarily to the tone of the voice, but at that age, I don't believe, from my experience, they understand "no" in any disciplinary terms. In other words, you could substitute any word used in exactly the same tone and context and get the same reaction from the baby. At that age it is about protecting them. Even if you do get a response to no in a physically harmful situation, you still aren't going to get one over manners, i.e. crying and screaming in temper. If you think of discipline in terms of more concrete action=consequence the answer is no. If you think of discipline in terms of knowing what behavior is expected, the answer is no. That is the beginning of self-discipline and that is a couple years off. There are a million reasons why this baby would behave that way. First off, she is a baby. She has no understanding of socially acceptable behavior and won't for a long time. She could be coming down with something, maybe she's teething, or tired. Maybe her nap/sleep schedule is in a period of change making her more tired and cranky that usual. It is also common for babies that age to begin to feel frustration over their lack of mobility or autonomy. She knows what she wants to do, but she is not yet physically capable of doing it. That makes her frustrated and the only means she has to express it is to cry and scream. Some babies express that frustration more intensely than others, kind of like adults. Sometimes there just isn't anything you can do about it short of making life go their way all the time (and we all know how well that would go). We will all have days like that, some of us will have weeks like that. And it has nothing to do with our parenting skills. It's real life. What you do about it has more to do with you than with the baby. If a parent responds to a baby's cries of frustration with a raised, loud voice and frustration of their own, the baby's will only intensify. As a parent, you just have to stay calm. Rule out any cause you can resolve, fix it if you can, and ride it out if you can't. If baby cries because he doesn't really want to be in his car seat right now he'd much rather crawl on the floor, there just isn't anything you can do about it. You gotta do what you gotta do. You can't reason with him. You cannot impose a consequence for the crying. You really only can carry on with what you gotta do, try to offer a distraction, but if that doesn't work, ride it out. They are not old enough for the type of discipline that makes them understand you can't always have your way. They are still of the mentality "I am the center of the universe and as my mother it is your job to make me happy." The scream says "Why aren't you doing your job!" So when that age hits, try to see life through your baby's eyes, try to understand what their cry says to you, it helps keep your expectations within reason. If you can see the baby's view of life, it helps you determine if the fit is over a need or a want, thus the best way to resolve it. And remember that when you have days like that, you are not alone, we all have them, it doesn't make you a bad mother. Not to scare you, but the temper of a 9 mos old doesn't begin to compare to the temper of a 2 yr old. And most professionals do in fact say that the best way to deal with that is to ignore it. On the up side, you will have far more good days than bad. And when it is your child, you move into those temper cries gradually and 1)get used to them and learn to block them out and 2)have time to work into dealing with it slowly and not BAM there it is. When you find yourself having to deal with it, you watch your baby's needs. If you know your baby gets cranky being out of routine, try to avoid that. If you know strange places make him cranky, invite people to your house instead. You can try to make some compromised in your daily life to avoid things that will aggrevate the crankies. But life happens, you can't avoid it all the time and probably really shouldn't. I feel from the way you posted you are seeking information for your own use, not judging your friend. But I still want to say don't judge her parenting by this bad day, or even a rough few weeks. Instead, and I'm sure you're already doing this, be supportive and understanding of this normal phase. I hope from all that rambling you got something helpful. :o)

At 15 months a child is able to learn what no means. The trouble is that you started out wrong and it's harder to get the message across when you are trying to undo rather than teach. First check into childproof devices like outlet covers that enclose the plug and all, cupboard locks and doorknob covers. These will keep your child safe without hassle. Put things that you want to keep safe or are dangerous beyond reach if possible. When he goes near the stove say hot--you'll get a boo boo or what ever you say for a sore. Find a place where he can be confined but yet see you and call it the naughty corner or whatever and when he misbehaves put him there for a minute or so if he doesn't heed your warning that he is being naughty. Afterward get on his level and tell him why he was being punished. Don't put him in the playpen for punishment if you want him to play in it. The punishment place should be used just for punishment, so he gets the right idea. You must do this EVERY time he does the same thing so he gets the message. Letting things lapse once or twice will tell him you are not really serious. I know it will be a hassle but if you follow through he will get the message.Consistancy is the key and I can't stress that enough Start with the thing that you would most like to curb. If you think he is too young to understand he's not. Before my son was crawling, I put red sticker dots on dangerous things. Every time we passed one I would point to it and say no-danger that will hurt John. He never touched anything with a dot when he started to crawl, but he would point to them and shake his head no. I never put a dot on anything that wasn't dangerous just because I didn't want him to touch it though and my honesty paid off. I wish you luck

You might have to wait until it gets larger, or maybe until it flowers. Did you take a photo of the seed before you planted it? The photo on the seabean link isn't immature coconut seed, it's aborted seed. That is seed that didn't develop properly and died. They won't produce any plants. Although yours may have looked a little like them they wouldn't have been the same. But as I said, a photo of your seed might help identify it.

I'm pretty good about watering that entire side garden, maybe a little too much honestly. I try not to drench the tree, but that area gets such intense sun that im always showering all the other flowers, calamint, and rhododendrons. When we planted it i was pretty good at give it some huge soaks in the beginning as well. Should I be drenching it weekly?