20 months

by now, 20 months and some weeks. he is such a little boy. all traces of baby are virtually gone and we are quickly approaching two years. it's still a hard concept for me. two years ago i was pregnant. he has had every first holiday, and almost every second holiday. it's crazy.

i don't have any stat updates as we don't see the dr. until two, but he's slightly heavier than at 18 months and taller for sure. he can reach things that used to be safe from his grasp. he is active and sleeps less at naps. he's had trouble sleeping at night and wakes between 5:45 and 6:45 am sobbing but still tired. i've tried to let him cry it out because honestly, no one in our house is ready to get up then, but most days i have to go in and put him back to sleep for another hour or so. he's always slept later (7:30-8:45am wake up) so i don't believe that he is ready for the day at 5:45 am.

he eats fine but is more independent and picky as the weeks go by. one day he loves kiwi, the very next he gags over it. sometimes he'll eat dinner that the family eats and other times he won't. i dont make two meals but i do add items to his plate (in advance, not after he rejects other food) that i know he will probably eat.

developmentally, he is growing leaps and bounds. we've only had three total EI session (developmental only) but we've spent a considerable amount of time working on structured activities rather than all day open play and it seems to be helping. he is great at puzzles already and he will spend a bit more time doing things he doesn't prefer. verbally, he is just beginning to advance. a day or two before his EI eval he said his first officially word: car. that was less than a month ago (i think?).

for my own sake, here are the words he can now say:
mama (technically his first word, but it hadn't been used with purpose)

dada


ball
bee
baby
bus
boat
bye
car
go
hi
more
uh-oh

he knows most of his body parts, the signs for more, please, all done, thank you and help, and a variety of animal noises/actions. his fish mouth is particularly cute ;) he threads beads, matches items, plays with play doh, uses finger paints - typical kid stuff.

we start speech therapy this monday so i am anxious to see how it helps him. he seems to finally be interested in saying words with purpose and understanding their connection with communication and objects, so i'm hopeful that he'll catch up in no time and chatter my ear off soon :)

halloween 2011

perhaps a bit late, but we had a good halloween. finley went as nicholas the bunny from richard scarry's i am a bunny book. it's his favorite story and we read it 5+ times a day.


(not sure why this image quality is poor...)

i tried to dress him as a lion since he can roar, but he hated the costume. every time we put it on him he freaked out and had a sob story meltdown. i decided to go the homemade route in hopes of keeping it more like everyday clothes. i bought the red overalls on ebay and he already had the yellow shirt and brown shoes. i made the bunny hat, tail, hand covers, and shoe covers out of fur fleece. easy, and even though it looks homemade, he was cute.



i thought he would hate the makeup but he didn't mind me putting it on. the first time he saw himself dressed up he cried and shook his head, but eventually he'd run to see himself in the mirror. and he only rubbed a bit of the makeup off while we were out.



he wasn't as into the pumpkin carving this year and did not enjoy touching the seeds and strings. it was a short lived project :) happy (belated) halloween 2011!

15 minutes as a toddler

i have lots of updates but for now, a run down of the last fifteen minutes inside my toddler's head:

3:55pm i should army crawl. right now. ok, yes, belly on floor dragging body. good. done.
3:55pm i need to take off my pants. pretty new to this...
3:57pm pants back on, thanks mom. let's ride my wheely bug towards the dogs. and again!
3:59pm hmmm, mom is cutting up meat. she's busy. i will take over on the computer.
3:59:20sec vvvvvvvcchhhhhhh (oh, hai mom!)
4:01pm this office chair in the middle of the room is no good. i can't reach the computer.
4:02pm vvvcc... oh, hi mom. ::gets down from chair::
4:03pm wheely bugged! ::leaves room::
4:05pm then i'll just carry this laptop around instead.
4:06pm rude! ::minor fit after laptop removed from arms::
4:06 35sec ok, better now. ::throws ball 17 times:: ... ::turns printer on::
4:07pm which shoes are mine?
4:07:30sec these women's pink gym shoes fit perfect. clomp clomp.
4:08pm walking to the kitchen. walking to the living room, walking to the kitchen. ::trips::
4:09pm wheeeeellllyyyy buuuuggggg! printer!!
4:10pm ::sits down:: "mama?"

somehow i thought a 50 minute nap would leave him more tired than this. i was obviously mistaken. i may have missed turning the printer on and off possibly 3-4 more times, as well as a minimum of 3 musical/sounds toys/books being operated.