Growing Boy

The past few weeks have seriously been trying. My baby is teetering on the infant/toddler line. As I have mentioned (way too many times) the past few weeks have presented challenges I was not at all prepared for. Mobility, Language, Comprehension, Independence and more surprising changes.


Mobility - Whoa can this boy move when he wants to. He is crawling and pulling up on everything like he has been but he has added using furniture/stationary objects or people to move around the room. He stood w/o holding onto something a few times. But just a split second. Today, He tried to take steps while letting go of my hands to run/lunge at his granddaddy. He was leaning too far over and toppled. If it wasn't for his leaning too far over while attempting to walk, he would master this quicker. I am not rushing this, though.


Language - MT is not really saying words. He is still very vocal through sounds, raspberries, and laughter. Every now and again, we hear Da da da. Mu mmum uumm is in his cries now. We think he is trying to say Kitty. He makes a certain word sound that sort of sounds like Kitty when he sees one of ours. We also told him the Easter Bunny was a Big Kitty. I am pretty sure that is what made him not afraid! He was petting the Easter Bunny's arm like he tries to do to our cats. His favorite noise is still Boooh boooob, booop, booouuugh. Anything Bah related. He makes this very deep noises too. We think he said "Hi" again to my Mother tonight.


Comprehension - The boy has finally learned NO. This.Is. a very big deal. He actually stops whatever he is doing at the time I say no. Mostly. Not 100%. I don't think it's ever 100% so I will take what I can get for now. Atleast, I know he understands. He also understands the words Go, Bye bye, hungry, and bottle. He has been waving for weeks now, just never at the appropriate time. This weekend's development, When someone says bye bye to him or we ask him to wave bye bye, He waves. Makes my heart swoon. Yesterday - He just got the sippy cup. It's like a light bulb went off and it just clicked. He downed a whole sippy of water with lunch today. Que the Hallelujah praise chorus. I will admit, I was stressing over this. I know it's petty, but It's liquid intake. I am beaming! Needless to say - this weekend has been THE weekend for huge developments.


Independence - MT has decided that he is all grown up and no longer requires assistance while eating. He has decided it's time for him to hold his own bottle. YAH! Sometimes, he does like if I lift on the bottom. Other times, He wants my hand no where near the bottle. Another thing that we are going through, He is wanting to feed himself. With.His.Fingers. This makes mealtimes somewhat stressful and extremely messy. Stressful because if you do not have enough finger foods for him to do it by himself, he will not eat. He locks his jaws tighter than Fort Knox if he doesn't get to do it. If you put the food in his mouth, he will spit it out, pick it up and do it himself! So we have added new foods. I made black beans from dried beans the other day, peeled Chick peas, butter beans, blueberries, cheese, banana, apples, grapes, crackers. Anything he can pick up and cram in. Needless to say, his aim isn't perfected. He also likes to use his hair/head has a napkin . Fantastic ...... What other finger foods are you feeding lil ones?


Surprising Changes - He is rearranging his nap/sleep schedule again. Which means we are changing bottle times also. This started a week ago. He did this around 6 months too. While this happens, It takes a few weeks to get things flowing smoothly again. Because not every day resembles a pattern until we figure out what works best. Some days he now wants to continue with his current sleeping routine of taking 2-3 20-30 min naps, mid morning, mid afternoon, and mid evening nap. (on a good day) But Now, He seems to be trying to move towards wanting to stay awake longer in the morning and having his first nap after lunch. Somewhere in the ball park of 12:30- 1:30ish. This nap has been running about 40 mins -1 hr (more so 45 mins). Then an afternoon nap around 5 ish. Bedtime has moved up to 7:30-8:00pm. Waking up anywhere after 7:30-8:30 am. The only thing that seems to be consistent lately is being ready for bed around 7:30-8pm. We are working through this new nap development to determine what works best for everyone.