I've fallen off the wagon with the Liam growth updates, so here are three months in one. Bonus, right?! I'm also going to change up the way I write about his growth & development, to more reflect how I think about the changes. (Or more accurately, how I think about everything these days: in bullet points).
The inner workings of my mind looks a lot like this:
- Wake-up
- Shower
- Make breakfast
- Make our meal plan this week
- Answer emails
- Liam started running today
- Prep dinner for tonight while listening to my favorite NPR show
- If it's a Monday, Tuesday, or Thursday - Work
- Liam discovered what a dog sounds like, and now barks on cue (Arf!)
- Call back a friend
- Etc.
We've taken a lot of photos, so half the battle was uploading them all and picking out my favorites. This was a bullet point in my mental to do list. Another bullet point has been to write this blog. I've been thinking a lot about what contributes to my energy lately, and what depletes it. And then trying to organize my activities around what gives me energy. It's hard. Especially hard when I'm used to saying "yes" - enthusiastically - to everything. And then kicking myself later when I feel overwhelmed and stressed.
It's been a snowy and cold winter here, and much of our January and February have been spent inside. Which, probably, has been good for both me and Liam. I like always having something to do or someplace to go. But, the past few months I've had to learn to get creative with indoor activities for a 14 month old. We play a lot of hide-and-seek. We look out the window a lot, and say hello to the squirrels in the tree. (and then sometimes, we get confused about the sound that a squirrel makes, and we bark at the squirrel). We climb a lot on the furniture (always supervised, of course).
The other day, during our latest snow storm, I decided on a whim to make homemade finger paints (mix equal parts flour and water, mix in food coloring, and BAM. Finger paints!) That activity lasted 10 minutes. But clean up lasted over an hour. So, that gave us something to do for a while.
Liam, your growth and development has really taken off, and it's been fun to witness. I don't know how much you weigh or how tall you are right now. But, I do know that a few weeks ago, you fit really well under our table and it was an awesome place to play fort and hide-and-seek. Fast forward just a week, and you're bumping your head on the table trying to run underneath it.
You have 8 teeth, with your 1 year molars slowly (too slowly!) inching your way to the surface.
You successfully:
- climb on our couch
- climb on the rocking chair in your room
- climb on the toilet seat (?!?!?!)
- open doors
- reach on top of our bathroom counters and grab random things
Words you currently say:
- Touch (first word!)
- That
- This
- Switch
- Hot
- Hat
- All done (while giving the all done sign language sign)
- High chair
- Dada
- Bye-Bye
- (You also understand quite a few words: vacuum, bubbles, magazine, book)
Words you currently sign:
- Eat
- Water
- All done
- Milk
- Mama (Mama and milk go together, a lot!)
- Dada
- Sleep/bed
- Light
- Diaper
Things you eat:
- All breakfast food. It seems to be your favorite meal.
- Still obsessed with blueberries & bananas & apple sauce
- Recently discovered a love for grapefruit
- Eggs
- Cheese
- Bread
- Snack packs
- Some meat - especially pork, turkey bacon, and sometimes ground beef
- You'll occasionally eat beans
- (Side Note: I'm nervous you're not eating enough. We offer you food all day long (3 meals and 2 snacks), but you don't always take it. Even if it's really good! I know I need to trust that you know when you need to eat. But, it still makes me nervous!)
Sleeping:
- We had a rough go there for a while in January. I won't speak about it. It was traumatic. You were teething, we had just gotten back from a week long trip on the West Coast. You were probably in a sleep regression. We also were sort of transitioning you from two naps a day to one. I cried a lot.
- Now, we're in a good space, so your Daddy and I are enjoying this new sleeping phase. You're officially solid on one nap per day, usually around noon. That nap is anywhere from 1.5-3 hours.
- Depending on how your nap went that day, you'll go to bed between 7:30 and 8:30pm.
- You'll usually sleep until 6 or 6:30. Sometimes 7:30.
- I feel like I've won the sleep lottery this week.
Favorites:
- Your shape sorter toys
- A set of artfully done flash cards, where you ask me to name the objects on each card
- Running all over the place; Climbing on everything; hiding things in our boots & shoes
- Playing in the bath
- Pointing to a book, and then picking it up, bringing it over to me, and sitting down on my lap, settling in to read.
My favorites:
- Hearing your reaction when you make new discoveries. You go "ohhh!", with wide eyes.
- Watching you dance to music
- Spying on you when you play with your toys (you play remarkably well by yourself for a while).
- Looking out the window with you, saying hello to the squirrels, birds, and dogs.
- Playing hide-and-seek with you
