Can you believe our little baby boy is 1? I can, actually. He has grown up a lot in the last couple months. He has such a unique, silly, sweet personality. And oh, that face!!
*He loves playing patty cake, especially when he is half asleep as I'm putting him to bed. He does it or will put your hands over your face to make you do it.
*He regularly tries to mimic what we are saying, especially if we are yelling to each other from upstairs. He also says "hi" and "bye" and even tried to say "Kev" a couple times. I can see him trying to say words sometimes but can't decipher what he's trying to say.
* I know he understands a ton of what I'm saying. I love it. He's like a real little person, lol.
*He is not really close to walking, I don't think. He can stand up from the ground without holding on and occasionally will stand on his own for a while. If I try to help him walk, he just gets annoyed. I don't really care when he walks, but it sure would make my life easier. He gets so dirty on the floor and I have to carry him everywhere. I already am chasing him everywhere since he crawls so fast, so I would just love to have him take that first step.
*Since I am carrying him a lot, it's nice that he is still quite a peanut. According to my bathroom scale, he is about 18-18.5 pounds. I have noticed he is heavier lately, so I'm not surprised he gained at least a pound this last month. That still puts him in the less than 5th percentile. Despite being an eating machine, he's still sooo skinny!
*Doesn't really like whole milk (just like Josie) and pretty much just drinks water and breastmilk (Josie only likes water too). Instead, he gets lots of whole milk organic yogurt, which he loves! It's got more fat and is healthier than milk anyway.
*His idea of the best day ever would be snuggling with his family on a great big bed. He is happiest when Kevin and I are both home and loves being snuggled by both of us at the same time.
*He knows he can get his sister in trouble. She barely touches him and he will look at me and whine like he's saying, "Did you see that?!"
*Every time I turn around, he is upstairs or at least halfway up. He has never fallen and our stairs are carpeted, so I just let him do it. They have to learn sometime! Now if only I could get him to learn how to go down.
*Along with the stairs, he also has a toilet fixation. If a lid is left up, you can bet he will be playing in it! Even Josie has learned to make sure and close the lid.
*For a while, it seemed he was wanting to go to just one nap a day. It seemed he was not really ready, but I could only get him to take one. Thankfully, he is back to 2 naps for a total of 3-4 hours total. I look forward to him only taking one nap since it would make things easier, but only when he's ready. Otherwise, he's grumpy and tired all day and he sleeps even worse at night.
*As for night time sleep, we are really trying anything at this point. Just so you know, he has NEVER slept through the night, or even more than maybe 6 hours (that was once). I know this is more common than many parents admit, but we want to at least try and see if we can help him. First, I wanted to night wean him. His waking had turned from need to eat to habitual sometime around 6 months, but I had hoped he would sort of naturally night wean himself like Josie did. Nope. So, we determined Kevin would be the one to go in and comfort him so he wouldn't have the temptation to nurse. To be clear, if he was only waking once, maybe occasionally twice, I wouldn't have a problem with it and would continue to nurse him probably. We are talking at least 3-4 wakings, sometimes as many as 6-8! It's bad. They are not tame either. He screams bloody murder and it only gets worse if you try and see if he will go back to sleep without going in. Plus, his room is next to Josie's and he sometimes wakes her up. I don't know about you, but I can't sleep when my child is screaming. I'm not ok with just leaving him to cry all night, but I do understand there will be some tears with this process and I know it wont hurt him. I will always go in to comfort him, but I'm hoping that will be less and less "hands on" until he is finally sleeping through. I am really hoping that once he is night weaned (with Kevin's help) he will loose his reason to wake and will then start sleeping longer. If not, it will really be fun, I'm sure. I really think if there is no warm milk tempting him, he will realize how tired he is and sleep. When we were out of town in hotels, he was sleeping with us part of the night so he wouldn't wake Josie and the other hotel guests. He slept really well next to me, but pretty much wanted to nurse all night long. I had to repeatedly say "no" and turn over. He didn't like that. Now that we are in town for a little while and we won't have company, we are sticking to our plan. Kevin has been going in a much as possible and really helping and I have been offering him water in a sippy cup at night instead of nursing (which he only takes maybe 25% of the time, the other times shoving it away from his face). After a rough couple nights, he has had two fairly good nights in a row. Really hoping it continues and he will be sleeping well before our trip to Florida in a couple months. Any tips or advice? I know every child is different and I have been trying to listen to my intuition. I know he wakes habitually now and really likes to have that reassurance. Side note: he always goes to sleep on his own and doesn't ever nurse to sleep. He is always put to bed awake. The problem isn't getting him to sleep, it's getting him to stay asleep and not scream and freak out when he wakes. My mother in law was here last week and took care of the kids so we could meet up with Paul Mccartney (another fun story for another time) in Chicago. After she put him to bed, he woke up every hour or two and really gave her a show. She said she thought he was in pain or there was something wrong with him. I assured her that's how he is normally and it's mostly just drama. That's how bad it can be, lol. Every family has to have one, right? Thank goodness Josie is a great sleeper!
*All that considered, his sweet, happy face giving us kisses in the morning totally makes us forget what a stinker he was the night before.
All the pictures I took of his birthday are on the other camera (Kevin's nice work camera) and he's out of town (again). So until I get those, here are some of the kids and Kevin's mom (the grandkids call her "Ahna") at the park.
He is way obsessed with any kind of drink contraption. Sippy cups, cups, water bottles, etc. He loves liquids.
He makes the funniest faces sometimes!
