Henry,
You are a whole year and a half old now. Actually, you are 19 months old now but close enough. A year and a half old seems different. I feel like I have to admit that you are officially crossing over to the more toddler end of the spectrum even though much of you is still a bit babyish. A whole lot of you is toddler now, that is for sure. I haven't done an official update on you in a while because until your 18 month checkup, you had not been to the doctor since you turned a year old. You were due for a 15 month checkup right at the time we were moving from Alaska. I figured it would be good to meet your new pediatrician when we got here so I called to schedule, only to hear that they don't do a 15 month visit in Iowa. Luckily, you hadn't been sick in between so that meant no visit for 6 months. I had expected to hear a huge jump in stats since sometimes it honestly feels like you wake up in the morning a pound heavier than when I put you to bed the night before. You were 23 pounds at a year, and to my surprise, you are only 24 pounds now! You are 32 inches so you sprang up like a little beanstalk. You're a long and lean boy, which we always suspected you would be. We knew you'd have long legs since we first felt the space they took up inside my belly so many months ago. Still, I was almost a bit bummed to hear you had only grown a pound. In the moment I felt like you should have gained more, and I didn't know what else we could have done to help since you eat like a horse. Honestly, as much as your daddy and I do. It's constant. I make nutritious things for you, give you snacks whenever you ask for them, give you whole milk etc. Your pediatrician assured me that it was perfectly fine, and that your growth curve looked great. So you are in the 65% for height, and 20% for weight. I feel silly now about feeling disappointed at the visit when I heard the weight. It's evident that you're completely healthy and I should have just trusted that.
So on the topic of food,
you are crazy about it. All day long it's "sssss ssss ssss" which is how you say snack. You also sign for food by holding your thumb and first finger up to your mouth and making a loud smacky sound. A few of your favorites are:
*berries of all kinds ("ba-boo (blue berries), blackberries, etc.)
*carrots from our tofu curry dish
*brown rice with braggs on it
*"nanas" (banana)
*"PACK"! which are those little pouches of organic fruit/veggie mixtures.
*Yogurt with granola
*cheese
There are more of course. You love your food! In true toddler fashion though you're getting a bit more picky about vegetables. Broccoli cannot be hidden from you unless smooshed to a pulp. You will find it no matter how delicious the meal. You hate tomatoes, and most leafy greens, unless it's kale in crispy roasted chip form. Luckily we always have avocado, carrots, and packs to fall back on, because you have to be in the right mood to even give other veggies the time of day.
You're seeming older in a lot of ways but I think verbally you are making the biggest jumps recently. You have so, so many words, and you're like a little parrot repeating us all day. Your daddy has to remind me to watch my mouth sometimes, because apparently my vocabulary includes a few "choice words" here and there. Oops! DO NOT repeat me when I say them, please. I'll try harder. Some of my favorite things you say are:
*"One more!" with your tiny little pointer finger up in front of your face
*"Curl!" (squirrel)
*"Hi Mommy!"
*"No" and "Yeah"... I'm sure those won't be favorites some day, but for now I'm amazed at the way you use them... you've definitely got those meanings down!
*All your animal noises, your versions of your favorite foods, they all sound so cute coming out of your mouth.
*Oh, and you LOVE tractors, which you call "ba-bers"
You like to go pee in the potty when the mood strikes you, you love babies "day-dees", and your favorite thing is going for walks outside where you don't have to ride in the stroller. Some days I wish you'd sit in there so I could get a little exercise in, but I know the most exciting thing for you is when you get to walk too. I laughed on the phone with your Grandma the other day because we had left for a walk 25 minutes ago and had only made it three houses down on our street. But it's beautiful because you think that every tiny pebble, every stick, every walnut is worth stopping for. It's so fun to see that those things never get old for you. You remember all the houses that have pumpkins, where the dogs live, and you'll stand there waiting for them to rush to the door and bark at you. When we see squirrels or cats, we stop for an extra 5 minutes because it's just too hard to drag you away from that kind of fun.
I know you're starting to get more opinionated and things won't always be as easy (they never are in toddlerhood, right?), and that's okay! But right now I think your daddy and I would both agree that you are at the very best age ever. So full of energy, and excitement for all things big and small, still cuddly and as loving as can be. We cannot get enough of you, little one.
You are a whole year and a half old now. Actually, you are 19 months old now but close enough. A year and a half old seems different. I feel like I have to admit that you are officially crossing over to the more toddler end of the spectrum even though much of you is still a bit babyish. A whole lot of you is toddler now, that is for sure. I haven't done an official update on you in a while because until your 18 month checkup, you had not been to the doctor since you turned a year old. You were due for a 15 month checkup right at the time we were moving from Alaska. I figured it would be good to meet your new pediatrician when we got here so I called to schedule, only to hear that they don't do a 15 month visit in Iowa. Luckily, you hadn't been sick in between so that meant no visit for 6 months. I had expected to hear a huge jump in stats since sometimes it honestly feels like you wake up in the morning a pound heavier than when I put you to bed the night before. You were 23 pounds at a year, and to my surprise, you are only 24 pounds now! You are 32 inches so you sprang up like a little beanstalk. You're a long and lean boy, which we always suspected you would be. We knew you'd have long legs since we first felt the space they took up inside my belly so many months ago. Still, I was almost a bit bummed to hear you had only grown a pound. In the moment I felt like you should have gained more, and I didn't know what else we could have done to help since you eat like a horse. Honestly, as much as your daddy and I do. It's constant. I make nutritious things for you, give you snacks whenever you ask for them, give you whole milk etc. Your pediatrician assured me that it was perfectly fine, and that your growth curve looked great. So you are in the 65% for height, and 20% for weight. I feel silly now about feeling disappointed at the visit when I heard the weight. It's evident that you're completely healthy and I should have just trusted that.
So on the topic of food,
you are crazy about it. All day long it's "sssss ssss ssss" which is how you say snack. You also sign for food by holding your thumb and first finger up to your mouth and making a loud smacky sound. A few of your favorites are:
*berries of all kinds ("ba-boo (blue berries), blackberries, etc.)
*carrots from our tofu curry dish
*brown rice with braggs on it
*"nanas" (banana)
*"PACK"! which are those little pouches of organic fruit/veggie mixtures.
*Yogurt with granola
*cheese
There are more of course. You love your food! In true toddler fashion though you're getting a bit more picky about vegetables. Broccoli cannot be hidden from you unless smooshed to a pulp. You will find it no matter how delicious the meal. You hate tomatoes, and most leafy greens, unless it's kale in crispy roasted chip form. Luckily we always have avocado, carrots, and packs to fall back on, because you have to be in the right mood to even give other veggies the time of day.
You're seeming older in a lot of ways but I think verbally you are making the biggest jumps recently. You have so, so many words, and you're like a little parrot repeating us all day. Your daddy has to remind me to watch my mouth sometimes, because apparently my vocabulary includes a few "choice words" here and there. Oops! DO NOT repeat me when I say them, please. I'll try harder. Some of my favorite things you say are:
*"One more!" with your tiny little pointer finger up in front of your face
*"Curl!" (squirrel)
*"Hi Mommy!"
*"No" and "Yeah"... I'm sure those won't be favorites some day, but for now I'm amazed at the way you use them... you've definitely got those meanings down!
*All your animal noises, your versions of your favorite foods, they all sound so cute coming out of your mouth.
*Oh, and you LOVE tractors, which you call "ba-bers"
You like to go pee in the potty when the mood strikes you, you love babies "day-dees", and your favorite thing is going for walks outside where you don't have to ride in the stroller. Some days I wish you'd sit in there so I could get a little exercise in, but I know the most exciting thing for you is when you get to walk too. I laughed on the phone with your Grandma the other day because we had left for a walk 25 minutes ago and had only made it three houses down on our street. But it's beautiful because you think that every tiny pebble, every stick, every walnut is worth stopping for. It's so fun to see that those things never get old for you. You remember all the houses that have pumpkins, where the dogs live, and you'll stand there waiting for them to rush to the door and bark at you. When we see squirrels or cats, we stop for an extra 5 minutes because it's just too hard to drag you away from that kind of fun.
I know you're starting to get more opinionated and things won't always be as easy (they never are in toddlerhood, right?), and that's okay! But right now I think your daddy and I would both agree that you are at the very best age ever. So full of energy, and excitement for all things big and small, still cuddly and as loving as can be. We cannot get enough of you, little one.
 |
| This is Lovie, who you call "Ba" (aka love). He took over as your sleep comfort when you stopped nursing when we moved to Iowa. You love him! |
What a great post to look back on
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-Kerry