What a big boy I have now! He's grown up SO much in the last few months. It's definitely been a gradual shift, but when I think back to how he was around 12-15 months and how he is now it's crazy. He's so independent about things. He has an opinion about whether he wants to be picked up or put down, where he wants to go, what toys he wants to play with, what he wants to watch on TV, what he wants to eat... He can actually communicate (some words, lots of pointing and grunting) to let me know what he wants. For example, when he's ready to eat dinner at night he goes over to the bread drawer and pulls out the bread (we usually start dinner with banana or zucchini bread) and brings it to me. He shakes his head "no" or says "no no" if he doesn't want to do something or eat something. He's definitely becoming his own little person now.
We're still having a lot of issues on the eating front. He refused to eat most things while we were in St. Lucia so I was forced to buy baby food down there just so he would eat something other than PB&J sandwiches. Fruit is even hit or miss now, and that used to be a fail safe fall back. He sporadically eats bananas. I used to be able to give him canned mandarin oranges or pears if I didn't have any good fresh fruit in the house, but now he turns his nose up at those. And it's not just that he doesn't eat it. Oh no. It's not even allowed to be on his high chair tray. He looks me dead in the eye and drops it off the side onto the floor. He won't try anything unless it's a cookie or cracker. How does he even know the difference?? And if I force food into his mouth that he doesn't want to eat he just spits it out and/or rakes it out with his fingers. It's a constant battle. And in a complete twist of irony, he refused to eat chicken nuggets when we were in St. Lucia (meanwhile, Claudia's gulping the things down like she hasn't eaten in weeks), but when we got home they became his favorite thing in the world (other than cookies, of course). So I'm still giving him baby food fruits and vegetables at each meal. I don't have a problem getting him to eat table food breads. And I can usually sneak some protein in (peanut butter on his toast, turkey on his grilled cheese sandwich, chicken nuggets, etc), but the only way I'm getting fruits and vegetables in is if they're pureed.
The Elmo obsession has reached a whole new level and is a new area of concern for me. All the child wants to do is watch Elmo on TV. When we were in St. Lucia he made us watch it like 5 times a day, no exaggeration. I think Beth and Eric were ready to throw the DVD into the ocean after awhile. At home it's not as bad and I really try to occupy him with other things or get him out of the house, but it's hard, especially when it's so cold and snowy outside. He just goes into the family room, stands in front of the TV, and yells, "ELMO! ELMO!" over and over and over... I'm really trying to implement a rule where we only watch it once a day in the evenings (which is usually his fussiest time). It's hard, though, especially when I have things to do around the house and can't sit there and occupy him for hours on end.
New words lately:
Claudia (sounds a lot more like "Yadia", though)
Baby - whenever he sees pictures of babies (including pics of himself when he was only a few months younger than he is now) or sees them on TV he gets excited and says it
Kitty (usually followed by meowing)
Oatmeal
Down - He has finally started to grasp the opposite of up, although I do still get plenty of "up"s when I'm holding him and he wants to get down.
Choo choo (as in train)
He's repeating A LOT lately. I'll say things and he'll say it right back to me. I don't think he always understands what the words mean, though, and doesn't use them on his own later. He also doesn't string two or more words together yet. I'm guessing it won't be long, though.
He's really into taking things out of containers and putting them back in right now. He has a tub of blocks that he likes to dump out and put back in the tub. There's no actual building going on yet. He also likes doing puzzles. We keep a jungle animal puzzle in his room. He used to just play with the animal pieces (bang them together, carry them around, etc.) He's now able to actually identify where each piece goes and work it around so that it fits into its spot. He still likes to hide the pieces in his hamper and garbage can, unfortunately. One of these days a wooden rhino is going to end up going out to the curb or into the washing machine. One of his favorite things to do lately is play with his ball. He loves throwing it and chasing it around the house. He learned to kick it the other day and thinks that is hilarious.
One thing he still isn't doing (which I am fine with, believe me) is climbing. He still hasn't figured out that he can get himself up on chairs or the couch. This was definitely one of the biggest contrasts I saw to Claudia when we were on our trip. So I'm trying to savor the fact that I don't have to worry about him pulling chairs to climb on and getting into the knife drawer yet.
Daycare is going well. He doesn't cry when I leave him in the morning. He's still happy to see me when I get him in the afternoon, but in less of a relieved way then it used to be. And he still carries his lovey around all day at school so I can tell he's not totally comfortable yet. And he still doesn't eat much. Applesauce and waffles are generally all he'll touch when he's there.
Overall, things are going well. He's a happy little guy. He's pretty stubborn and we do run into some fit-throwing when he doesn't get his way. But what do you expect with Tim and me as his parents?
few more rows until I start doing the decreases to shape it on the sides. I'm nervous about this part, though, because I'm going to have to play it by ear a little, given that I'm so tall. I'm making myself the small size because I'm so petite up top (that's the euphemism for small shoulders and no boobs, by the way), but I'm generally longer in the torso than someone who is that small width-wise so I'm going to have to use my best judgement to lengthen it. I'm also getting nervous that it's going to be too small. It's kind of bunched up on the needles so it's really hard to get a gauge for how big it really is. It just looks small, though... eek! It's going to absolutely break my heart if I can't wear this thing. I'm already starting to try to think of tiny people I know who I could give it to.
few more rows until I start doing the decreases to shape it on the sides. I'm nervous about this part, though, because I'm going to have to play it by ear a little, given that I'm so tall. I'm making myself the small size because I'm so petite up top (that's the euphemism for small shoulders and no boobs, by the way), but I'm generally longer in the torso than someone who is that small width-wise so I'm going to have to use my best judgement to lengthen it. I'm also getting nervous that it's going to be too small. It's kind of bunched up on the needles so it's really hard to get a gauge for how big it really is. It just looks small, though... eek! It's going to absolutely break my heart if I can't wear this thing. I'm already starting to try to think of tiny people I know who I could give it to.
