This post is about 9 days old, but better late than never! I feel like we have been so busy this month that I haven't taken as many pictures. Or I have taken them but haven't had time to edit them.
Unofficial Stats:
- Height: 33.5 inches
- Weight: 27.8 lbs.
- Clothing size: 18-24 month pants and 24 month pants, 18-24 month shirts and sweaters. Your 24 month pants need to be rolled up a bit and the 2T pants need to be rolled up a lot. Same with the 2T shirts. I have to roll the shirt cuffs up and they are still rather long and wide on you. You didn't grow into this size as fast as we expected! 18-24 month clothing fits perfect though so I imagine you will grow into the rest of your clothing by the end of the season.
- Shoes: You had a big foot growth spurt this month. You wore size 4's almost all year long and had just recently switched to 5's. All of a sudden though your 5's are getting snug and even some are hard to put on! I predict that 6's will be here much sooner than I had anticipated.
- Diapers: We are finishing your 4's but we have you in 5's for your overnight diapers.
- Naps/Sleeping: You are trying pretty hard to ditch your nap. Please don't. When the time change happened it really threw you off. Now here we are over 2 weeks later and you are still waking up at 5:30, taking a 1 hour nap (maybe) at 10 am and then staying up until 6:30 pm. For one day we had your schedule back on track before you reverted. Your new schedule makes you very cranky.
You are doing so much this month! I feel like you have had a little cognitive/language explosion. And a personality explosion. You are so silly! Here are just a few things you have been up to...
You like to tickle Mama. You walk your fingers up my chest and try to tickle my neck like we tickle you. Also you like to tickle my toes.
You have started blowing bubbles with me. Usually you just catch them and we work on language while we do so. Now you jump right in and take a turn with the wand as well as popping bubbles. You can't always make a bubble when you blow but its super cute how well you imitate me. When you do blow a bubble you get so excited!
You have started pointing at EVERYTHING! And when you see an animal, car, airplane, light or anything exciting you get very excited and animated as you point and jabber. I also feel like you are pointing at things and asking me what they are. This is new and I am loving that you are finally showing interest in vocabulary!
You have gotten very good with imitating our intonation when we work on
vocabulary. Occassionally you have said the beginning sound. For
example, you and your dad were playing outside and pointing at a dog.
You pointed back and said "D!". Also you match intonation for sentences.
You pointed at the ceiling and when I said "That's the ceiling" you
copied my intonation perfectly.
You said a new word! You have added "Uh oh!" to your vocabulary and you use it appropriately and unprompted.
You really aren't a fan of Mommy always discussing words and sounds. Sometimes it makes you downright mad and you melt down into a fit until I stop talking. I don't blame you. I get tired of hearing my voice talking too.
You love playing with flashlights and will chase your own flashlight
beam around. Also you have noticed that when you shine it on different
colored items/surfaces the color and size of the beam changes.
You turn everything into a phone (or a hairbrush). We called you on the phone and you listened, got serious and then talked back.
You are honing your problem solving skills. You wanted cereal and I wasn't going to serve you a snack when you hadn't eaten. You decided that since I couldn't understand your wishes you would take care of it yourself. I saw you go up to the cabinet, pull at the door, look over the edge of the door and press down on the child latch with one finger and then open the door, get the cereal box, and then grab your bowl off the counter. I interjected before you poured your bowl of cereal. ;-) Also, now the cabinets have two sets of child locks.
You understand so much. You run to the front door when we are going to play outside and you run to the backdoor when I say that we are going to the store. You like wearing shoes. I think its because you know you need shoes for outside because if I don't put both shoes on you will cry.
You have also started showing us that you understand what we are talking about. You were chasing a squirrel and I asked you were the squirrel went and you pointed to the bushes where he had disappeared. Also your Daddy handed you a nightlight and told you it was a light. You immediately turned and pointed at the ceiling fan light.
You also are attending to directions better. If I ask you to bring me a
ball or where the ball is you will bring it to me or point to it. During
play you are getting more consistent with following directions and
mimicing what we do.
And on the subject of mimicing, you have been modeling what I do when I
take clothes out of the drawer or put them away, clean, pick things up
off the floor, etc. You are such a great helper! It may not actually
"help" but I love how these joint attention activities open up
opportunities for conversation between us. You get so excited and
personable when we communicate.
You wave all the time now. Unless you are being shy you will respond
with a wave when someone says "Bye". Also you wave unprompted and
appropriately. I think its cute that you wave "Bye" when we leave the
store. Also you have changed your wave to mimic the way the person who
is waving to you waves. My favorite waving story was when I returned
from a baby shower and you and your Dad were outside and you walked up
to the car waving. I didn't even know that you could see me approaching
in the car and recognize me. You notice a lot more than I probably
realize.
I hardly ever leave you but earlier in the
month I left you for a few hours to go on a Mom's photography excursion.
You saw me putting on my shoes and I told you that you would be staying
with Dada and you gave me your first real true hug. You threw your arms
around my neck and held on tight for a while. It was so sweet. (usually
you run to me for a hug but you don't hug back)
Your favorite game is dumping stuff out and then putting it back or poking things in small spaces, dropping toys into buckets, down paper towel tubes, etc. Dropping, Dumping, Pushing, and Poking.
You love to do somersaults and also to roll around the floor. I don't know where you get all of your energy. You are one busy boy!
You get
so excited when your Dad comes home. As soon as you hear the
garage door opening you squeal and run to the back door. Sometimes you
get so excited you don't know what to do with yourself. You'll run
around with your hands on top of your head. You love chasing, being
chased, tickling, playing rocket and hanging upside down.
You are more tied to Ghost bear than ever. Getting Ghost bear away from you to wash him is a struggle. One morning you snuggled with Ghost Bear for one hour after you woke up then left him on the floor when you went to the highchair. I thought it would be a good time to throw him in the wash along with the other laundry I was doing since you had forgotten about him. As soon as you got down from the high chair you started to cry and look for Ghost bear where you left him, in your bed, etc. Ghost Bear #2 made you stop crying for about 2 seconds and then you went back to crying. Only an episode of Wonder pets distracted you while Ghost Bear was in the dryer.
You are doing great in the church nursery. You no longer cry when we
drop you off and you enjoy your playtime. However, you are getting sick a
lot now. It seems like every other week. I hate to blame the nursery
but I think that is where you are getting your germs. Good news is that
your food allergies are getting better. This may be in part because you
somehow always got a bite of someone else's snack and would have a
reaction after church. Now it doesn't happen anymore. Then I noticed
that when you got into another child's pretzels while I was watching
you, you didn't have a reaction. You seem to be able to have around 3
bites of a wheat product without difficulty. By the time you double that
you have an Eczema outbreak. Progress!
I love that as I was sitting on the couch last Sunday I saw you walk by out of the corner
of my eye with a bowl on your head. I love that you
wear bowls as hats! You are just too fun at this age. Sure it has its challenges (don't even get me started on all the different ways you like to eat a banana and how picky you are about how it is served) but you are so full of personalitly and joy. I love that you get so excited about the little things. I can't wait to see what kind of fun this new month brings!
