Oh, man, did this little boy get ripped off with blog posts. Around his birthday, I was finishing (also starting, if we’re being honest) his birthday book and then I was doing C’s, and more reflective projects were not what I wanted to spend my time on. But he’s a year and a half old and he’s so cute and cool, so here’s some stuff about my favorite one-year old.
Z at 18 months
He started walking right around the time he turned one, but was more efficient at crawling until almost 14 months. Now, he runs and climbs over whatever terrain. His little baby run is very silly and cute: belly-first and bouncy, with minimal upper body involvement.
He has slid down the stairs on his belly for his entire mobile life, until about two weeks ago. I expected him to sit down and turn around and slide, and instead he started walking down the stairs by himself out of absolutely nowhere. Which was successful, but horrifying. It goes better when he’s holding the railing or a hand, but he does very well balancing on his own, especially for having never practiced it. (For most of the time he’s been walking, he’s been pretty averse to hand-holding help, so there was never a good time to practice.)
Unlike his sister, who debuted her first spoken word right around 17 months, this boy loves to talk and has for a while. A neighbor heard him speak for the first time two weeks ago and asked me how many words he says. I kept track with C, and I totally haven’t for him. I settled for saying, “I don’t know. A lot.” Jack and I were talking about it later, and Jack said, “At least 30.” I said, “At least 50.” And then I sat down to brainstorm and easily got to over 100 before I stopped listing them. He surprises me with new words and phrases all the time, and he really doesn’t stop talking. If I say a new word, he probably will repeat it and then look really excited when I praise him for trying it out, and then he’ll say it every chance he gets.
Z loves Willis and Chip, dogs in general, animals in general, books, Tonies, his sister (and the rest of his family), babies (except when I’m holding them), running, playing peek, the creek, climbing, playgrounds, swings, playing in the sink/bath, making deals (no actual deals involved; he holds his hand out and says, “Deal!” and then you shake his hand), playing keepy-uppy, throwing balls, all sorts of food, Spiderman, the Hulk, Olaf, and Moana.
I always thought it was kind of a brag when moms told me their kid “just doesn’t really like TV.” But let me tell you, it is not. I don’t often throw the TV on and try to go get something done. I’m very pro-letting the kids do things with me. But it is nice to have the ability to use the TV as a tool of distraction. C has always been interested in TV. Whether she was a teeny baby happening to see TV while snuggling with me and Jack or a little older and seeing a kid show, she was into it. Z is unbelievably uninterested. It’s on, and he simply could not care less. He wants a book, or a toy, or the creek, or me. The exception is Moana. He is transfixed by the first 10-15 minutes of Moana and it’s so freaking cute. He mentions Moana all the time, listens to the Moana Tonie five times a day, and wants to listen to the Moana Disney Story on Spotify to fall asleep; he loves Moana. But he loses interest in the TV very, very quickly.
He adores being outside and really, really, really loves the creek and any chance to splash in any amount of water. For the first bit of cold/snow this winter, he was not a fan at all. But he warmed up to it, and then as soon as the weather warmed up, he kept pointing outside and asking insistently about ice. He’s also recently become a fan of playing in the dirt.
So, we have two dirt-loving feral creek kids, and I never would’ve guessed those would be my kids, but I LOVE IT.
Sleep
Z sleeps okay. I don’t know. He’s definitely going through a sleep regression of sorts right now, but he’s a fairly reliable sleeper overall. He is usually decently easy to put down for both naps and nighttime, but lately he’s been a little harder to set in his crib at naptime. Sometimes that means he skips the nap entirely. Right now, he pretty much either sleeps straight from 7:30-8pm to 7-8am or he’s up for 2 hours in the middle of the night. Usually, he naps for 1.5-2 hours sometime between 1-4pm. He only sleeps in his crib, unless my mom is around. Then, he falls asleep on her.
If he’s up in the middle of the night for an hour and goes back down, that’s great. If I stay with him for 2 hours, there seems to be no difference between me staying and rocking/nursing/snuggling him for 2 and 3+ hours. At that point, I put him down, he cries for (usually) under 10 minutes and passes out. I constantly wonder if I’m doing that right. If I thought staying and rocking him another length of time would help, I would do it. But lately, he’s so restless in my arms that I figure putting him down to cry for a little bit and then get another 3 or 4 hours of sleep is better than sleeping poorly in my arms for the rest of the night. He won’t sleep in my bed, and it doesn’t help if I lay next to his bed. But it’s a phase and it’s fine.
I think Z has all of his teeth except 2-year molars. He won’t let me look, so I’m pretty sure those are coming in now. I imagine that is part of his sleep disruption.
Food
This boy loves to eat. He calls almost all meat “chicken,” but he eats it. (I correct him for the sake of honesty, and then I let him continue to call it “chicken.”) Fruit is his favorite. I think he ate 3.5 eggs the other day. He’s not huge on bread. He eats vegetables other than tomatoes about once a month. Avocados are a no, but he adores guacamole.
Also, he loves ice cream.
Z still nurses to sleep, when he wakes up, if he’s up in the middle of the night, and if he gets really sad or hurt or something during the day. Otherwise, he pretty much just drinks water. He demands milk sometimes. I don’t think he really likes it outside of the context of cereal, though.
Sibling Things
Z and C are best friends. I love their relationship. They play so well and have cute little toddler conversations. Z idolizes C and wants to do the things she does. C loves to be his mentor, and has a very big-sister attitude when she checks in on him and soothes him.
They chase and wrestle and make each other laugh all the time. They want to give hugs and kisses and affectionate head-bonks. It is so freaking sweet.
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