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How is it that my sweet baby boy is a year and a half old!!!! No!!!! Stop the clocks people! I am not ready for him to get any bigger....but bigger he gets! Will is handsome, funny, smart, determined and very very active!
We had Will's 18 month appointment on Monday and he did great! Praise Jesus, no shots at this one. The moment the doctor arrived he started talking up a storm. Pointing at everything and starting each sentence with "Oh!!....." Sentence is a lose term because the rest of what he said was only certain to him and certainly not English! But, none the less, the doctor was very impressed by how conversational he was. She said we may be in trouble if he truly has that much to say haha... the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I only wish I had videoed it! But getting back to business...
The Skinny on Will:
Weight: 27 lbs, 6.4 oz (79%) The nurse we had was in training and documented his weight wrong (26 lbs) so I think this percentile may be higher, but let's be honest he's big enough either way!
Height: 33.5 in (84%)
Head: 48 cm (67%)
Eating: Well...at our house this has become the most dreaded part of parenting. The battle of the wills that comes at mealtimes. But after a long discussion with the pediatrician about how Will is slinging food and refusing to try things I think we have a better game plan. Cut back on the amount of milk and cut out snacks. The doctor said that any time she sees a toddler slinging food it's usually because they aren't hungry enough at meal times. In the last day or so I have noticed a remarkable improvement by limited his milk intake to 18 oz per day and cutting out the snacks before lunch and dinner. Peas continue to be the vegetable of choice, he eats ALL fruits, loves chicken, fish sticks, hot dogs, pizza and pork, but is not a fan of the lunch meats. He refuses to eat cheese unless its in a dish or on pizza and in general his mood towards meal times is as unpredictable as the weather, but we press on! We still give him a sippy cup of milk at bedtime and he drains it every night. Not sure when we will give that up??? Unfortunately we were so traumatized by sleep deprivation in the early part of Will's life that if he didn't eat, he didn't sleep. But that's our issue not his. My goal for the next month is to make sure that meal times are pleasant and NOT child centered. We can no longer try offering him everything in the refrigerator just to get him to eat! Lord help me!
Sleeping: Can't complain in this area. Will goes to bed between 7:30 and 7:45 and has been consistently waking up around 7:30. I do think some developmental growth has made it difficult for him to fall asleep as most nights he talks for 30 minutes before falling asleep and that is definitely a new thing. Naps have been pretty straight forward. Will goes down at 1:00 pm and if he doesn't wake up on his own then I go in and wake him up by 4:00 pm. What a treasured time of my day!
Development: Honestly, I don't even know where to start. He is talking up a storm and his vocabulary seems to grow by a handful of new words every day. It truly is an amazing thing to watch. He loves loves loves to play outside, blow bubbles and dancing has become a nightly occurrence in our house. He loves for me to play music and his favorite show is Curious George. Some days, Curious George is the only way I am able to get a shower. He has an amazing attention span as he will sit through long books patiently enjoying the pictures and the story. He also loves to grab a stack of books, hop up into one of our living room chairs and read books to himself which I absolutely love to watch as he expressively describes what he is seeing. He also loves to play this game that Cee Cee and Pop taught him where he counts "One...Two...Three.. Go!" and runs to the other side of the room! I can't believe how soon he will be counting to 10!
Currently, we are hard at work on manners and sharing. He says "Thank you" every time he hands someone something or receives something and has started saying "Sorry" when he disobeys, doesn't share, or has attempted to hurt one of the cats by chasing them with his golf clubs. He recently started saying "I love you, Dada" or Mamma and blows kisses to everyone! He is a huge snuggler and loves for me to hold him at night and sing to him. That has definitely become a cherished time for me. I can already see what a helpful big brother he will be! He tells me when that cats have jumped on the counters or table and firmly scolds them "No, No Charee!" (No, No Charlie).
On the flip side we are also in the thick of discipline as we are hearing a lot of "Nooooo!!!" and several tantrums or trying to hit us out of frustration. I hope this child does not follow in my footsteps for the amount of spankings I got, but he certainly gets plenty of pops on the hand for either telling momma no or disobeying. We are trying to bathe every day in prayer. Prayer that I would be gracious towards my sweet little boy, but also to love him enough to "train him up in the way that he should go" (Proverbs 22: 6). Such a weighty task!
Definitely time to get the camera out and capture the many faces of Will! But that's all we've got for now!
