John turned a year and a
half back in July, but since we don’t count months around here anymore “a year and a half” will be the title of this
post. That should work until I get to
start saying “he’s almost two.” Ah!
So little blog world,
how the hell are ya? We have been officially homeless since July 29th,
but thankfully my parents and Bud’s parents’ generosity knows no bounds and
we’ve been well taken care of since then. We’ve been mostly at the Garros, but
I left a crib at my parents’ house so that John can nap there when I need my
mom to watch him. It’s worked out great…we are so lucky to have both sets of
parents in town.
So, how’s my little
Johnny doing? Let’s do my typical little list:
Sleeping:
Great. I was worried that he’d have trouble sleeping
in a new room after we left our house, but he didn’t miss a beat. I think it’s
because we kept everything else exactly the same. It’s been the same routine since about 8
weeks old…between 7 and 7:30 Bud gives him a bath, then one of us (we alternate
nights) gives him a bottle while singing to him, and then into the bed. Unlike before, he goes into the crib wide
awake which is a good thing because he eventually puts himself to sleep. I used
to put him down when he was sound asleep which means I was screwed if he woke
up when I was tip-toeing out of the room. This works much better. It’s also cut
down bedtime from 1 hour to about 10-15 minutes. Muuuuch better.
Most days he’ll nap
from about 1:00 to 3:30. There are days when he won’t sleep, but he’ll stay in
his crib happily singing to himself for an hour or so. At least it’s a little
break.
He'll be sleeping in footy-pjs until he goes to college. I love them so much.
#can'tstopwon'tstop
Eating:
Ha…yea, definitely no
issues there. He eats things that even Bud and I won’t eat (green beans, ew!).
He eats 3 meals and two snacks a day (at 10:00 am and after nap). We try hard
to keep his meals and snacks balanced, but the kid also gets cookies, Nilas,
and teddy grahams occasionally. What’s life without cookies?
His standard go-to
meals are grilled cheese, mac n cheese, grilled chicken, cheese quesadilla (he
even likes guacamole), and a “baby bento box” which is lunch meat, cheese,
fruit, crackers. After typing all of
that out, I’m a little concerned about how many cheese-centered meals he has.
Whoops. He loves fruit, especially watermelon.
He’s a bit of a
breakfast diva and will ONLY eat French Toast Sticks with blueberries or
strawberries. My sweet father-in-law made him pancakes one morning and he spit
it out! Diva! At least it’s just a frozen thing that I have to put in a toaster
and he’s not insisting on fresh baked bread every morning.
We’ve been told by our
pediatrician that he needs to be done with the bottles by now, but he only gets
two per day (before nap and before bed). It’s not like he’s carrying them
around all day or going to bed with them. We know they have to go, but the kid
has had a lot of transition lately and I don’t want to take them away yet. Plus, he only started bottles regularly in
March when he stopped nursing so they are fairly new to him, right? Oh whatever…I’m probably doing irreversible
damage that he’ll need years of therapy for. Sorry, John!
Size:
John is still a big
boy, but definitely slowing down and thankfully lengthening out. He’s about 85th
percentile for weight and 50-65th percentile for height. No more
George Castanza percentages!
He mostly wears 18
month clothes and size 4 diapers, but can fit into a 24 month sometimes and
wears a Size 5 diaper to sleep in.
Talking:
John isn't much of a talker. We are confident that he understands us almost all the time, but he doesn't say many words compared to other kids his age. It's nothing to worry about and I'm sure he'll catch up. I know it's frustrating for him though. He clearly has plenty to say, but just can't do it yet.
I can say complicated things to him and he'll show me he understands. For example, he'll be doing something and I'll say "If you go find a book, I'll let you sit on my lap" and he'll go flying into the other room, grab a book and plop down into my lap. Another example, I'll say "Do you want a cookie? Go sit on the carpet and I'll bring it to you," and he'll run to the carpet and sit. Or I'll say "Do you want to do puzzles?" and he will run to the gate at the bottom of the stairs (the puzzles are upstairs).
His current words are:
Mama
Dada
Off (pronounced "oFFFFFF")
Up ("up, up, up, up")
Outside (pronounced "Outssss")
Grampa (pronounced "bAAAAAmba")
Nana...he says "Nana" very clearly every time he sees Bud's mom who is called "Mimi" which makes absolutely no sense. Stop trying to make "Nana" happen, John. You're the youngest cousin...you don't get to pick.
He used to say apple and dog, but I haven't heard either in a while.
Hair:
John's hair continues to be his best feature (besides the wrist-rolls). Every single time I'm out of the house someone will say something about his hair to me. It really is amazing. He's had 2 haircuts and is getting close to a third. His hair is so thick, dark, and has this adorable wave and sweet little curls in the back. His bedhead could win competitions.
Leaving Quincy Bay:
Although things are
better now, moving was pretty damn rough on us. John was just a nervous,
clingy, asshole for a few weeks. He was so scared about me leaving at any
minute that he wouldn’t let me put him down. Forget “he won’t let me out of his
sight.” This kid wouldn’t let me not be physically touching him at all times.
It was really tough. He LOVES his grandparents so that wasn’t an issue, but he
was just anxious, poor thing.
I miss Quincy Bay too, John.
On top of that, we
learned that John is prematurely acting like a two year old and tantrumming
like a crazy man. Our pediatrician phrased it like “He’s just getting ready to
be two. Don’t worry about the tantrums and try your hardest to ignore them.”
Sigh. That’s tough to do when he’s slamming his head into the floor. Thankfully
(seriously, THANK GOD) the tantrums have subsided for now. I don’t want them to
come back…ever!
Health Scare:
Last month John gave us
a little health scare, but is totally ok. He spiked a high fever out of nowhere
on Saturday, August 16th right around dinner time. He had several
febrile seizures in a two hour time frame that really scared the crap out of me
and Bud. Thankfully, Motrin brought the fever down and our pediatrician thought
it was better for us to keep him home rather than take him to an ER. The next
day was really bad, but he didn’t have any more seizures because we were able
to keep the fever controlled. However, by Monday when he was still running a
high fever, I wanted to bring him in. Our doctor told me to bring him to an ER
for blood work because they can’t do that in their office. In hindsight, I
should have just brought him to a Walk-in clinic. Bud had to work so my mom
came with me to bring him to Beaches Hospital. The nurses and doctor were
great, but it was horrible. John made sounds that I never want to hear
again…these guttural, growly noises and screams…so many screams. They had to
put a line in his arm to take blood and also did a catheter. Effing miserable,
I tell ya. All his blood work and urinalysis came back clear, but the ER doctor
prescribed an antibiotic because his ear was “a little pink.” All that for an
ear infection?!?!?! I guess so.
The dosage of
amoxicillin he was given was pretty high so he broke out into a nasty rash all
over his body for a couple days. Sigh. I’m exhausted just thinking of that
week. It was horrible.
So glad the hospital had Wifi so youtube was there to help.
We were all a little rough that week.
Likes and Dislikes:
Likes being outside ALL
OF THE TIME. He doesn’t seem to mind sweating and turning bright red because
it’s 95 out. This is not my favorite thing about him.
Lots of water up the nose, but he didn't seem to care because he was "outsssss"
Likes brushing his
teeth. It’s so funny/weird. I think he would brush his teeth 15 times a day if
it were up to him.
Likes being chased and
playing hide and seek. Not the best hider in the world, but that’s ok. He makes
up for it by squealing loudly when I can’t find him.
An example of his hiding spots.
Can't see me behind this watering can, right?
Dislikes diaper
changes. It’s so annoying. I’ve resorting to giving him teddy grahams on the
changing table just so he’ll stay still for 30 seconds. Or, I’ll just give him
his toothbrush…that also does the trick.
Likes Bud’s car. No, scratch that. LOVES Bud’s car. It’s
insane. He loves that car more than he’ll ever love me or Bud.
Likes Frozen. The
Disney indoctrination starts early.
Dislikes when he can’t
get puzzle pieces in correctly. I keep trying to explain to him that 1 year
olds aren't supposed to be able to do puzzles, but he keeps trying and then gets
MAD when the pieces don’t fit like he wants them to.
Likes coloring. This is
a new thing we’ve been doing and he LOVES it. I’ve got my first masterpieces to
frame for the new house.
Dislikes me being on
the phone. There have been some serious tears shed over me taking a 2 second
phone call.
Likes climbing in and
out of chairs. He started this a few weeks ago and it’s the new best thing in
the world. Honestly, I just love that he can now get off of chairs, couches,
and beds by himself because it gives me a little relief that he won’t hurt
himself if I close my eyes to sneeze.
Favorite picture lately:
Be still my heart.
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