21 Months Old

21 months have come and gone already...crazy how fast time goes by! There isn't anything huge to report for our little guy this month. He is learning new words and how to pronounce stuff everyday. He is responding more to questions with yes and no answers. He is enjoying playing with lots of trucks and trains as well as coloring and "reading" books. He is still wearing size 4 diapers, however I think we may start potty training in the next few months as he is hiding when he goes poop and when I ask him to change his diaper he goes to lay down right away. He is also wearing anywhere between 18-24 months and 3T depending on the brand and style. We just recently went up to a size 6 shoe. Again depending on the brand sometimes he is still a 5 or 5 & 1/2. He is using utensils to eat food and for the most part does fairly well until he starts playing with his food. Before you know it he has chocolate pudding all over himself. We have taken a time out from swim lessons. I felt that he wasn't learning anything new going to the lessons and since it's warm enough to be in our pool at home we have just been practicing at home. I hope to get him into one of those survival classes come fall/winter and then back to swim lessons after that. We also took our first family vacation to California this month. We went to San Diego for about 5 days. Lots of beach time and a day at Sea World. He loved seeing all of the animals in the tanks but not so much the shows. He also loved the beach! He was laughing so hard once he got comfortable with the sand and water. He would crack up from the waves "chasing" him. It was such a great trip! Next year we are planning to go to LEGOLAND. Just a few short months left before I have a 2 year old running crazy around my house. I love it though and am so ready for another baby...

 



20 Months Old

20 months old and counting...SAD. So close to turning two and every day gets a little bit closer. Our little boy is growing up and learning new things every day. He started learning to sign some words. We have taught him some as well as his new daycare lady, Staci. Of course the first thing he learned was cookie. He can now sign 4 words, cookie, please, eat and hat. We have been working on thank you and finished. We are also trying to introduce new activities to him such as more games and arts and crafts and learning new things like numbers and colors and shapes. He likes to figure out on his own how things work. He gets frustrated trying but still keeps going. He loves going to the library. He ran around excited to see all of the books since he LOVES to read stories with mom or dad. He also enjoyed feeding the ducks at the library, he was cracking up at how fast they were swimming to get the food we threw out. He is starting to form words better and communicate a little bit better. I feel like we have already entered the "terrible twos" phase. He throws fits when he hears the word NO and when I can't pick him up and hold him when he wants me to he loses it. He has lost all interest in swimming lessons so we are going to put them on hold for now. We will continue to practice lessons in our own pool at home and are hoping to enroll him into a survival and learn swim class next spring. Other than that mostly everything has stayed the same and consistent!

 



19 Months Old

The countdown to turning TWO has begun. I say it every time, but why does he have to grow up so fast? I am with him every single day and I still feel like I am missing so much of this little boy. He is turning into quite the little man. This kid is so tough, he falls down and never cries. He gets so dirty from throwing sand everywhere and running around with his sidekicks Baxter and Bert. He loves sticks, rocks, plains, trains, boats and anything to do with water. This kid is ALL BOY!

Not much new going on since last month. Still sleeping very well, still wearing the same size clothing and diapers, and still has a ridiculous amount of energy inside of him at all times. The 3 new things that stand out to me this month are he is FINALLY drinking milk and eating meat. I can't tell you how many times I have tried to feed this kid chicken is every way, shape or form. He always shook his head no, spit it out or threw it on the floor. Same thing goes for milk. I have been trying to give him whole milk since he turned 1 and he has consistently turned it down. Never had any interest in drinking it. I thought for sure he would be a 100% water drinking toddler. Now he is drinking milk with every meal and drinks water the rest of the time. I am so proud of him for finally branching out to new things, and on his own watch. I have never forced him or hurried him into doing anything as far as milestones or trying out new things. I have always let him do his own thing at his own pace. Even though it took him a few months to do it, I am glad he is finally eating meat and drinking milk. I sure does help with food options to give him.

The second new thing is that he started a new daycare about 3 weeks ago. Our daycare girl that had been watching him for the last year or so moved back to Texas with her family. She was fantastic with him and she will surely be missed, but that's life...constantly changing. So needless to say I was in full on panic mode trying to find a new sitter. When we had first moved into our house, a couple of the neighbors came over to introduce themselves and welcome us to the neighborhood. One of the lady's that came over happened to do daycare out of her house. She literally lives right across the street from us. So I went over there a couple of weeks ago and talked to her about watching Will. It has been a perfect fit from the start. He has never once cried at all since starting this new daycare. He just loves it. She is a single mom of 5 kids (all of them teens to early twenties) and they just take to Will like he was their own sibling. She also watches 2 other girls Will's age. Its like the 3 musketeers when they are all together. I was completely relieved that everything worked out! Not only is it $200 a month cheaper and right across the street, but she is the sweetest, nicest woman I have ever met. Her kids are so sweet and polite too! I just really got lucky with that! God sure does know how to show you the way sometimes...

The third new thing he has started to do, which I am not too fond of, is only wanting mama. It doesn't matter what is going on he just wants me to hold him, me to comfort him, me to play with him. ME! ME! ME! And if I am busy cooking dinner, or doing laundry or working he pretty much throws himself down on the ground and cries. Sometimes it turns into full on fit mode!  It is so very exhausting! I mean I love my son and I am happy that he sees me as number 1 but it takes a toll and just wears me out sometimes. Since he has started doing this I have slowly started to ignore him in hopes that he will cool it and get over it. I mean it was happening all the time, when I was around. It since has gotten much better and he hardly does the whole fit "mama! mama!" thing. I guess the "terrible twos" are starting early for me :(

I am just starting to plan Will's 2nd birthday party. It won't be as big as his first but it will be just as cute and just as fun.

                         (the best of 19 months...a bunny Easter egg and a new photo bomber)



Spring-18 Month photo session

Since Easter is right around the corner I had booked a photo session with a new photographer for Will's 18 month pictures. I normally use my friend for his photos but this time I chose someone else only because she was offering photos with a live bunny for Easter. I could not resist! He started off pretty good but once he saw the bunny he was terrified! I was actually shocked because he loves animals. It wasn't until the last 5 minutes of our session that Will finally came around when the bunny hopped off a crate and right into Will's lap. That made him laugh so hard and the photographer was finally able to get some great shots. Here are my favorites.

 



18 Months Old

Happy year and a half my sweet boy! I cannot take it! This time is flying by with him...and it makes me so sad. Before you know it he will be going off to preschool. He is starting to say more words...or what sounds like words. He loves planes, cars and trains. When he sees a plane in the sky he always says "bye aerpay" which is bye airplane. He also says lots of things like cheese, stick, up, down, see. He has started to love bubbles more and writing and coloring with chalk. He can climb on the couch by himself too. It makes me a little nervous because he has already fallen off on his butt once and we have flooring and not carpet. He hasn't hit his head or even cried when he did fall off but it still makes me a bit uncomfortable. He is starting to enjoy his TV shows and Disney movies more. He will actually sit on the couch and watch the show or movie. His new favorite show is Sherriff Callie's Wild West on Disney Jr. He just loves it and dances when the opening song comes on. He has also started to give me kisses. This is probably the best thing ever. I just say, "Can mama have a kiss? Kiss, kiss, kiss..." and he comes over and kisses me, He only does it with me so far and not every time I have asked him. He also found this lamb that his Grandma Mary bought him awhile ago and now he has to sleep with Scout AND his lamb every night and every nap. He gives his lamb lots of snuggles and kisses too. He has gotten 2 more teeth as well. I think that puts us at 14 teeth...but not 100% sure since he never lets me look. Only 6 short months away until birthday number 2...I just want him to be my little boy forever!!

 

 

 {some outtakes from our monthly photo: monkeys, a selfie and a photo bomber)



17 Months Old

We are almost to a year and a half old...time sure does fly! Our little guy is having the time of his life running around and getting into every little thing. He is my gym, that's for sure! He is loving our weather right now too because he can play outside anytime and can now start playing with water and water toys outside. The pool is still a little to cold but since we have been having 80-90 degree days I am sure it won't be long!

Will had his first swimming lesson on the 17th. They are only 30 minute lessons and it is every Monday for as long as he is in the program. I get in the water with him and the instructor goes through a series of exercises to teach the kids basic swimming topics. The first thing we did was monkey walk. The kids put their hands on the side of the pool and move along the side holding on while the parent holds on to the child. Will hated this part because he thought we were getting out of the pool. It was actually really funny because he kept pushing away from the side with his feet. We then worked on floating on the back. He also hated this part too, which I am not sure why, but the instructor says that a lot of kids do not like floating. The next thing we worked on was rolling from the floating position. He did really well with this but still was getting fussy and I honestly think it was because he is used to going in the pool and just playing. He has never had any type of lesson about swimming. After that we worked on kicking and he did really well with that too. Next was paddling and he nailed that! He even kicked while paddling. He loved that part. But his most favorite part was getting out and coming back in. The parent stays in the water and the child learns the right way to get out and come back in while mommy or daddy is in the water. Every time he got out he started shivering because he was cold but then started laughing immediately because his favorite part was not jumping in the pool to me but sitting down at the edge of the pool and reach out to me to get in. He just loved that sooo much! I am glad he isn't just quick to jump into the water to me, I am happy he is taking his time to sit down and feel comfortable enough to reach out and come to me when he is ready.  He had never been under water before either...until his first lesson. He did a quick dunk and came up surprised and scared at the same time. He did not cry but every time we got low in the water he thought he was going under again and he would grip me with his hands. arms and legs. So we blew bubbles in the water instead of going under. All in all he loved the lesson and I am eager to watch him learn the basics of swimming and the importance of only going in the water with mommy or daddy.

He is now wearing 24 months to 2T. Growing like a weed! He also had his 15 month check up at 16 months, since our doctor was on vacation. He is weighing in at just under 25 lbs (68 percentile), height is 33 inches (88 percentile) and head is 19 1/4 inches (91 percentile). Still a very very good sized toddler and getting more grown up by the minute! I had Valentines Day off this year so Will and I went out for breakfast and had a little mommy son date. He got a new book and some wooden blocks for Valentines day. He also devoured a Valentines day cupcake...frosting everywhere. I took a couple of valentine's day pictures this year with a friend of mine's daughter. They are the same age and they turned out pretty cute.

 

 

 

16 Months Old

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year! Not much has changed with turning 16 months. Will officially walks 24/7. He is almost running sometimes too which is just crazy to me. I feel like this kid grows up over night sometimes! He loves to stack blocks when he plays. He also got a really cool teepee for Christmas and just loves playing in there. He has always enjoyed reading books before bed too and he just gets more and more excited about that as he gets older. His current favorite books are "The Monster at the End of This Book" and his baby Bible. His former favorites were "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" and "Goodnight Moon". I think he still likes those books but we read them sooo much that he probably needed a break. He is down to 1 nap a day and will typically sleep anywhere between 1-2 and 1/2 hours depending on how late he sleeps in. He still goes to bed between 6-7 and wakes between 6-7. He LOVES going outside to play and would just be happy walking around holding a stick or two from a tree. His godmother, Nicole, brought over some outside toys for him to play with. He Just LOVES going down the slide of one of the toys she brought over but still prefers just holding a stick and hanging out. He is still eating the same and has actually opened up to trying some new foods. He never liked pizza before and now he does (I make him homemade pizza with pita bread) and he will try anything that we are eating...probably because he just wants what we are eating. He even tried blue cheese dressing the other day and he tried these homemade energy muffins I made. He liked them both...go figure! He is starting to also climb on things...which scares me a bit since we have a brick fireplace. He thinks its fun to climb on that but I am NOT a fan and tell him no. Of course he cries and throws a little fit but gets over it rather quickly. He is wearing 18-24 months still but is starting to fit into some 2T clothes as well. The only thing I do NOT like that he started doing is this screaming thing. High pitched and for no reason...Oh my gosh, can't wait for THAT to be over with!

Since I had today off we had a little mommy and son date. We first met my mom for breakfast and he just loved that. He ate some cereal, watermelon, mandarin oranges and pancakes. And watched Oswald on my phone of course. After breakfast we stopped at Barnes and Noble on the way home and he picked out 2 new books "Another Monster at the End of This Book" and "Brown Bear Brown Bear". Of course he would want the first one! Then later in the afternoon, after his lunch, we went to Santan Mall, which is an outdoors mall, and played at the kid play area. He had never been there before but really enjoyed it and he just loved seeing all the other kids there...I think he made a friend or too!  After that we went to get a cupcake, but of course once we got it he was ready for a nap, so we took it to go and home we went! He is out cold while I write this blog post! Nothing beats mommy and son days...except for maybe mommy, daddy and son days :)