Toby: 14 Months!

Someone has become a big boy this past month…no more bottles in this house!  I started by offering him a sippy (the  cheap Take and Toss kind) of milk at lunch and after a few days he realized I wasn’t going to give him water so he ended up drinking the milk.  So the mid-morning bottle after his first nap turned into 3-4 oz of milk with lunch instead.  Then I worked on getting him to drink a sippy in the afternoon after his second nap.  That was tough the first few days since he refused to drink when he was sitting in my lap.  I finally just left the cup on the ottoman and waited for him to get it himself.  Success!  He would roam around, drink for a minute or two, play, then keep drinking and playing until he finished.  Of course the Take and Toss cups are not exactly leak-proof, so I follow him around with a burp cloth to clean up little milk puddles wherever he drops the cup, but hey, I’ll take it.  Then we followed the same process for the morning bottle and replaced that, and a few days later we offered a sippy at night and he took it with no complaints.  I’m fine with keeping the night sippy for now since we brush his teeth afterwards and books are read after that point.  I’m not sure how it would affect the night-time routine if we omitted it completely.  Overall, it wasn’t too hard to wean from the bottle once I went about the method of offering at lunch first.  We’re lucky he likes drinking from the cheap sippys – much easier to clean (I HATE STRAW CUPS WITH A PASSION) and I won’t feel bad if we forget one somewhere or if it’s gets too gross and we need to actually toss it.

Other milestones this month…he has learned how to climb down a few stairs at a time on his own.  This was pretty exciting to watch him do in Gymboree.  And just yesterday he practiced going up and down the two stairs to get into the finished part of the basement.  Something else that’s new is he will bring a book over to you and if you’re sitting on the floor, he will back up until he plops down in your lap.  He also does this randomly when he’s just playing.  Probably the other thing I’ve noticed more recently is how much he enjoys music now.  He is loving Old McDonald’s Farm lately, along with Itsy Bitsy Spider and BINGO.  He enjoys watching the Nursery Rhyme version of a Baby Genius DVD we have and smiles so much when he sees the farm animals or dogs running around while the songs play. 

Speaking of TV, I’ve also noticed he’s stopping to watch more while playing, so I try not to keep it on for background noise unless we’re listening to one of the music channels.  We do still watch the Today show in the AM’s for an hour or so, because frankly, I need to watch some kind of news to feel connected to the outside world.  But for shows for him, we really only let him watch Daniel Tiger’s neighborhood and then a couple other shows on the weekends.  He won’t sit down for an entire episode, though, he really only watches the introduction song and the first five minutes.  He will sit down for the entire Baby Genius DVD, which is a good break when I need to get dinner ready (AKA open the oven without a tiny person running around) and before Daddy gets home.  The 4pm-5:30pm timeframe has been the toughest…I just run out of things to do by that point!

Weight: Probably getting closer to 24 pounds?  Really have no idea, especially because his 12 month shorts and some pants still fit!  Wish I had a little waist problem…

Height: Assuming just over 30 inches.

Medical Issues: Nothing new…dry patches on the undersides of his elbows and knees.  Ha, and he had two black eyes in less than 3 weeks. 

Sleep: Oh two naps a day, I MISS YOU!  He started fighting afternoon naps again, then a few days after that he refused his AM nap two days in a row, which he never ever does.  Then it went back to fighting afternoon naps.  Some days I would try to just let him have quiet time for 45-60 minutes but in the afternoon he got really cranky with that.  So for the past week he has been doing one nap a day, but unfortunately he hasn’t started sleeping in much later or taking a longer nap yet.  He did sleep in til 6:45 today, so here’s hoping that his sleep patterns re-adjust soon.  Current schedule: Wake-up between 6-6:30 (some mornings I hear him up at 5:45am), nap from 11am-12:30ish, upstairs by 7pm at the latest, in the crib by 7:15 or 7:30 depending if it’s bath night.  I’m hoping I can stretch him until 11:30 or noon over the next week so he has more of a lunch before (right now I give him yogurt before putting him down as a mid-morning snack). 

Clothes/Diapers: No changes – still in 12 month shorts or pants, 12-18 month onesies, jumpers/rompers, and t-shirts. 4’s for shoes, though I did buy him 5’s in some Crocs a couple days ago, but they’re roomy.  Still in 4’s for day and overnight diapers.

Diet: No major changes, has gotten a little pickier with veggies but for the most part is a good eater.  Typical eating schedule now: Half a sippy of milk in the AM when he wakes up, has some puffs or a rice cake.  Breakfast at 8am (usually splits a bagel thin with cream cheese with me, then he has some fruit or oatmeal and water to drink).  Mid-morning snack at 10:30am of yogurt.  Lunch when he wakes up from a nap, usually no later than 1pm (cheese, deli meat, peas, hummus/pita, veggie sticks or leftovers with half a sippy of milk and more water if he wants).  Afternoon snack around 3 or 4 – usually a fruit or veggie pouch and some more puffs if he’s really whiny.  Sometimes he gets half a sippy of milk, sometimes just water.  Dinner by 6pm – usually eating whatever we have and then has some veggies out of a jar since he thinks it’s cooler to eat them that way than on his own in actual form. Last sippy of milk before bed.

Baby Gear Love: Red Flyer Wagon. Cozy Coupe. Used the Ergo last week at the fair and it still works great.  He was fine with me carrying him around and I barely felt his weight on my back.

Milestones: Not saying too many new words, at least ones that I can understand.  I think he tries to repeat “done” sometimes but it’s not consistent.  Other major thing I’ve noticed is him climbing down a few stairs on his own.  Oh, and first hair cut!  Daddy and Auntie were saying he was looking a little shaggy and that he had a mullet in the back, so I trimmed the fronts, around his ears, and in the back a little.  At least he has curly hair so you can’t tell if it’s uneven.  Next time we’ll have to take him somewhere to get it cut professionally.

Likes: Catching bubbles at Gymboree. Chasing us and being chased around downstairs.  Hiding behind the living room curtains.  Picking up the kitty food kibbles, dropping them in one by one into their dishes, and then dumping them back out to start the process over again (at least he doesn’t seem to eat them anymore).  Watching the weather report.  Pushing his Cozy Coupe around outside in the front. 

Dislikes: Always excited to go outside until he realizes we’re going to the car instead of letting him play with his Cozy Couple (MELTDOWN).  Being told no after opening drawers in the kitchen (we really need to put locks on some).  Being shut out of the bathroom.  Getting lotion applied to his arms.  Holding hands when we walk.

Things I don’t want to forget: How my heart melts every time he backs up to plop down in my lap.  How he reaches to grab my glasses when I’m not paying attention.  How he hides under the kitchen table.  How he thinks it’s hilarious when I peer in the window at him before I open the door to get him out of his car seat.  How he throws toys at us if he’s mad about being put in the car seat.  Freshie fresh.  How he will sit on my lap so we can row our boat and sing and then grab my hands when he wants to do it again.  How hard he laughs sometimes.  How he loves helping me push the central vac and gets so mad when I don’t let him help.  Listening to the pit patter of tiny feet running all over the house every single day.