As you may know, I didn't decide to start my blog until my son Myles was about 8 months old. And well... now he is 22 months old! I'm still trying to get caught up with the monthly updates and monthly favorites, so I can get, and hopefully stay, up to date.
September 15th- October 14th, 2013
Health
Totally unrelated to health, but a story I wanted to remember:
Myles had his first bully experience at the playground. He wanted to play with the water and this boy kept yelling at him saying "no" and "get away". I didn't think he would understand what was happening but he looked at me, starting crying, and ran to me. It seriously broke my heart. And I know this is just the beginning. I hope he is stronger than me.
Eating
I continued to be happy with Myles' progress in the eating department. Slow and steady as usual, but I definitely noticed some positive changes in variety and amount of food he was eating. When he first starting eating solids, he refused to eat baby purees. The only thing he would sometimes eat was yogurt, but eventually he got burned out on it. I pretty much forgot about it being an option for him to eat, until I started buying it for myself again. One day I thought I would give it a try. I gave him a spoon and let him at it. This is how it went down:
Still really liked pasta and rocking the classic spaghetti face:
I also let him try out whipped cream with his jello for a first day of Fall treat. Safe to say, it was a huge success!
He also found a new lifelong food mate in rice. I had never seen Myles eat so much at one sitting in my life. He was all about that rice, literally shoveling it down his throat. It was only Asian rice though and not anything I make either :)
And of course, he was still going strong on the breastfeeding. He was still nursing anywhere from 5-10 times a day. Morning, nap, and before bed were the times that he would drink a significant amount. The other times were short 5-10 minute sessions because he was upset, got hurt, was bored, etc. Some days he would want to nurse all day long. I'm not going to lie and say I was still enjoying it 100% of the time. I had my moments when I was ready to throw in the towel, mostly on the days he wouldn't let up on feeding. On the bad days, I felt like a slave to him, and completely hopeless that he would ever self wean. However even at my worst moments, I knew I didn't really want it to end. It's a very emotional thing, good and bad, so yeah I definitely had my freak out moments. But as always, I am so happy my determined little boy wouldn't allow me to quit. Now if he could just take it down a few sessions....
Sleeping
Still going well in the sleeping department. I certainly could not complain, considering where we were 7 months prior. Sleeping from 9pm-7am, then nursing in my bed for about 30-60 minutes. If we were home for the day (or most of the day), he would take one long nap around 12pm-2/3pm. We would lay in our guest bed and he would nurse to sleep and throughout his nap. If we were out and about during the day, he would usually end up taking 2 short naps (30 minutes each) in the car. At bedtime, he would nurse for about 10-15 minutes, then I would kiss him, and lay him down awake in his crib; no nightlight, but ocean sound machine running.
Saying
Absolutely nothing to report this month and that makes me one happy momma! Still on the thinner side and not quite fitting into the waist of 12 month bottoms. He definitely has a longer torso and shorter legs because even some 12 month shirts looked a little short on him, but 12 month pants were fine in length. He still had only 6 teeth (top middle four and bottom middle two). Also happy to say his brain is perfect, based on the fact that he was obsessed with his Packer's book!
Totally unrelated to health, but a story I wanted to remember:
Myles had his first bully experience at the playground. He wanted to play with the water and this boy kept yelling at him saying "no" and "get away". I didn't think he would understand what was happening but he looked at me, starting crying, and ran to me. It seriously broke my heart. And I know this is just the beginning. I hope he is stronger than me.
Eating
I continued to be happy with Myles' progress in the eating department. Slow and steady as usual, but I definitely noticed some positive changes in variety and amount of food he was eating. When he first starting eating solids, he refused to eat baby purees. The only thing he would sometimes eat was yogurt, but eventually he got burned out on it. I pretty much forgot about it being an option for him to eat, until I started buying it for myself again. One day I thought I would give it a try. I gave him a spoon and let him at it. This is how it went down:
Still really liked pasta and rocking the classic spaghetti face:
I also let him try out whipped cream with his jello for a first day of Fall treat. Safe to say, it was a huge success!
He also found a new lifelong food mate in rice. I had never seen Myles eat so much at one sitting in my life. He was all about that rice, literally shoveling it down his throat. It was only Asian rice though and not anything I make either :)
And of course, he was still going strong on the breastfeeding. He was still nursing anywhere from 5-10 times a day. Morning, nap, and before bed were the times that he would drink a significant amount. The other times were short 5-10 minute sessions because he was upset, got hurt, was bored, etc. Some days he would want to nurse all day long. I'm not going to lie and say I was still enjoying it 100% of the time. I had my moments when I was ready to throw in the towel, mostly on the days he wouldn't let up on feeding. On the bad days, I felt like a slave to him, and completely hopeless that he would ever self wean. However even at my worst moments, I knew I didn't really want it to end. It's a very emotional thing, good and bad, so yeah I definitely had my freak out moments. But as always, I am so happy my determined little boy wouldn't allow me to quit. Now if he could just take it down a few sessions....
Sleeping
Still going well in the sleeping department. I certainly could not complain, considering where we were 7 months prior. Sleeping from 9pm-7am, then nursing in my bed for about 30-60 minutes. If we were home for the day (or most of the day), he would take one long nap around 12pm-2/3pm. We would lay in our guest bed and he would nurse to sleep and throughout his nap. If we were out and about during the day, he would usually end up taking 2 short naps (30 minutes each) in the car. At bedtime, he would nurse for about 10-15 minutes, then I would kiss him, and lay him down awake in his crib; no nightlight, but ocean sound machine running.
Saying
New words this month:
- More, Bye
Outings
They also have a carousal, so of course I had to get Myles on a horse/zebra.
Just a little photo shoot with my man.
They have two huge play structures, tons of swings, a big sand area, and this spot with a lot of plants and some really cool art sculptures.
- Golden Gate Park: Anytime Mark has to go out of town for a couple days, we always get promised a family day when he returns. So this time, I chose the Golden Gate Park. It was on my list of places we needed to visit and thought Myles would have a blast. There was so much to do just at the Koret Children's Center that we didn't even get a chance to check out anything else before Myles needed his nap. The park also includes several gardens, a science museum, an equestrian stadium, a golf course, and more. It is definitely a must visit if you are traveling in the area. I so badly want to take Myles to the science museum, so hopefully we will be taking another trip there soon. The park also includes hippie hill and an entrance that is located off of Haight Street. Although I think Haight is also a must see, I do not recommend going into the park through that entrance. I was very uncomfortable pushing Myles in his stroller while strange men were asking if I needed any drugs :/
Concrete slide that you ride down on on pieces of cardboard. Mark took Myles up and then back down.
- Mark had his 30th birthday this month and we had a nice dinner at Skates on the Bay in Berkeley. His cousin lives there and suggested it to us. Stunning view of the Bay, good food, and great company made us all happy campers. Of course Myles wasn't into waiting so I took him outside to check out the rocks and waves. He thought it was the coolest thing ever. He was laughing and smiling every time a wave crashed into the rocks. A lover of the ocean just like his momma.
- Still going to the park regularly, usually at some point every day we would find ourselves at the park. I just couldn't get over the beautiful weather and since that was the main reason we moved to California, I wanted to take advantage of it as much as possible. I caught this little moment one time and just had to share. He always went for older girls to play with and they would always want to play with him too.
Milestones/Skills
- Climbing: I talked last month about his rapidly growing climbing skills and this month he continued with his give-my-momma-a-heart-attack ambitions. Couple that with his ever growing need to be doing what the big people were doing and we've got this:
- His ball skills were growing by the day as well. He was learning to kick, throw, and bounce the ball, however his most favorite was still just carrying it around all day everyday!
- Clapping: a little late to this game, but he learned how to clap. My mom sang "If You're Happy and You Know" to him a lot on Skype and one day he clapped with her! After that he would do it whenever you asked him to clap.
- Other new skills: wiping his face with a napkin, waving again (he did this when he was younger but stopped after a couple weeks), says bye with the wave (but only after people are gone), splash in the tub when you say "splash", and bring most any toy/book I ask for. However still no kissing!
Funnies
- This happened when I was putting together our Halloween Mantel. Of course Myles had to 'help' and so I wrapped him up in the fake spider webs.
- Ducky party in the bath tub. He had tons of other bath toys, but he always favored his ducks, so one day I got all of his ducks together and gave him a duck only bath.
- Hair: this kid had the most amazing bedhead! I am so jealous of how he pulled it off! I still hadn't given him a first hair cut. Although I sometimes felt like he needed one, I just couldn't bring myself to take scissors to it when he would wake up looking like this:
- Wheelies: this was his new favorite way to ride his bike. He would pull it back so that it was resting on the bucket and steering pole and then get in the seat and just hang out. Somehow he managed to stay in there even though he was at a 90 degree angle!
What are new skills your kid(s) are learning?
Come back to check out my favorites from months thirteen & fourteen!
I loved that video of him eating yogurt, haha! That's just how my 16 month old likes to eat his, gets it more on his hands than in his mouth. I hate bully moments! The first one is definitely heartbreaking, in fact I still feel so sad when my 3 year old's cousin is mean to him or something. I don't think I'll ever be able to handle it! And I feel you on the breastfeeding, I know he's older now so you might not be in that phase anymore but I'm still kind of there with my 16 month old. He's finally understanding that he can wait, thankfully.
ReplyDeleteSo cute, Julia! The picture on the ladder gave me a small panic attack too! Reminds me of my youngest right now who started climbing around that time too.
ReplyDeleteEating messy foods is like a catch 22 with me. I love that we gets to feel and experience the food and he is entertained, but then the clean up is a doozy! My heart breaks when I think of kids being mean to each other. I remember how it made me feel. I sure hope Myles doesn't get it bad when he is older, I might not be able to contain myself! Like in the movie "This is 40"! It's definitely tough when they are so attached and you know it's a comfort for them. I don't want him to always be relying on it, but I don't want to take it away either. He is better now but I still don't see how he will ever grow out of nursing to sleep. Have you been able to get them over that? Or was that not an issue for you guys?
ReplyDeleteAlways the things that are off-limits are the ones that they are most attracted to, right!? Whenever he sees an employee ladder at a store, he HAS to check it out. And that little chain they put across the steps... nope doesn't mean anything to him! Luckily he hasn't made it one before I stopped him, but he is on a mission! Even at the park he wants to try everything and then gets stuck half way up!
ReplyDeleteHey I just remembered your birthday is next week! How exciting...that bully pissed me off. I don't want to watch it happen :[ I know it's bound to eventually but UGH. Dylan is obsessed with rice too, I think Myles & him would make great friends. Rice parties for life!
ReplyDeleteWe moved too and had no internet so I am just getting to all of these! I love that he actually eats something, but rice is seriously the messiest! I don't mind cleaning it up at home, but at a restaurant it sucks. I feel weird cleaning it up off of the ground, but I also feel like a horrible person if I just leave it!
ReplyDelete