New Addition to William's Crib: A Pillow

We decided to test out a pillow for William in his crib. He has been sleeping just fine without a pillow and we weren't/aren't completely sure at what age a pillow is usually introduced. So we just went for it! He seems to love it. Whenever I go to get him up in the morning, his head is laying on the pillow and he seems so comfy!

William: 18 Months

18 Month Stats

Weight: 25 lbs 10 oz (I was shocked at this, I thought he'd be closer to 30 lbs!) (70%)

Length: 33 in (71%)

Head Circumference: 18.75 in (57%)

Eating: William eats like a man, for the most part. He eats pretty much anything we put in front of him (still no green beans!). He will have his whole portion and ask for more. He is great about eating fruits, but we need to get him to eat more fresh veggies as well. We give him squeeze pouches that are veggies purees, so he's getting some but not the real deal. His favorite thing to eat is tortillas, we can give them to him with any meal and he will be happy. In fact, we usually have to delay giving him any tortilla so we are sure he eats the other food on his tray ;)

Bedtime: Bedtime hasn't wavered over the summer. He still goes down for bed by 7:45pm. He (knock on wood) has always been a great sleeper, as soon as we got him to sleep in long stretches. Because it's summer and we don't have to rush to daycare, I get him up in the morning between 7:30-8am. It goes back and forth, he is either up and ready to go or acts like he could sleep another twenty minutes.

Naps: Just one nap a day for Will. He starts getting a little grumpy around 11:45am, but then perks back up for lunch. He eats and then we have some quiet/calm play time before putting him down about 12:30/12:45pm. He sleeps for a solid two & a half hours, sometimes three! He is quiet when he wakes up, so sometimes we don't know that he's awake and go into his room to find him playing in his crib.

Diapers: Size 4s & overnights 4s 

Clothes: William is fully into his 18 month clothes. There are a couple 12 month shirts he can wear, but getting them over his head is difficult and they are a little short on him. 12 month shorts/pants are a no-go for sure! I'm sure we will be into the 24 month/2T soon enough.

Bret and I went through all of his clothes (we have some all the way through 5T) and got it all sorted and organized. This kid has a lot of clothing!

Favorites: Being on the go is definitely a favorite. When we were at his 18 month appt, the nurse said, "Man, he just doesn't stop!" Nope, Will is always moving! If there's something happening, he wants to be part of it and won't be happy until he is. That said, he has an amazing disposition and is a happy little guy. But he knows when it's naptime/bedtime and you better let him have it ;) He loves to eat as well. There's not too much he hasn't liked that he's tried (green beans, of course) and he loves his afternoon snack after his nap. He likes to watch and play with big kids at the park. He thinks he's big like them and wants to do all the fun stuff they can do.

Dislikes: William does not like not being able to do something on his own. He will try and try before whining and asking/yelling for help. Other times, he thinks he needs help to do something we know he can do. We tell him to try his best and usually he figures out a way to do it.

Development: William is working on coordination and speech development. He can get up stairs very easily now, crawling. Going down the stairs is a different story. He thinks he should be able to just step like we do, but that doesn't work out so well. He is learning to sit & scoot or hang on to an available railing. I make him walk as much as possible when we go places. He walks & holds my hand (which I love!!) in the parking lot from car to building and when we are inside of places that don't have carts. He hasn't started pulling away too much and I let him know he has two choices: hold a hand or be held; he usually chooses to hold a hand. He stacks his toys and throws a ball (working on promoting the left-handed throw!). He moves from standing to squatting to sitting and back very fluidly and doesn't have problems ducking under tables or moving around objects. He uses a fork and spoon when eating, though sometimes he just holds them and uses other hand to feed himself. He has started to prefer to have his food given to him in bowls or plates instead of just on his tray. I'm thinking he wants to be a big kid and that's how big kids eat!

Words he can say: dada, mama, shhhh (he does this when Bret is sleeping during the day), Nemo, ball, hat, truck, baseball, basketball, down, let's go!, snack, Pop Pop, Nana, Papa, nana (banana), night-night, bye-bye, belly, toes, doctor, a variety of animal sounds (woof, baa, neigh, eee-ahhh, moo, quack)
*He understands so much more than he can say. We can give him directions or as him questions and he will comply. He likes to get Bret's shoes for him when he's getting ready for work, he's gotten good at finding the matches.

Looking Forward To: I am excited for the rest of the summer and having fun together. I try to get out of the house with him at least once a day. It makes me feel better that we aren't being noisy for Bret to sleep and the change of scenery is good for both William & me.

Dr. Appt: Clean bill of health and development from Dr. Nash! He has his sensitive skin & a little excema so we are sure to lather him with sunscreen anytime we go out & have cream for any itches he gets. She said that he is right at average or above average for his measurements. She will be able to better predict his future height at his 2 year appt. No shots at this appt and he won't need any until December (besides the flu shot), then he's done until kindergarten!

According to our doctor, what we need to be working on between now & his next appointment (2 year appointment): 
-Continue to support coordination & gross/fine motor skills and his language skills
-Listen to music & sing to him
-Read book (check!)
-Keep discipline brief (quick time outs for tantrums) and be sure to give choices to avoid behavior
-Eat together for family time and to model utensil skills
-Allow for expression of feelings and recognize/name them ("I understand you are mad right now. What can we do to help?" "You are smiling so you must be happy!")
-Model, model, model- he's watching us all the time and mimicking everything we do

Paging Dr. Brown

William: 15 Months

15 Month Stats

Weight: 23lb & 10oz (64%)

Length: 32 inches (80%)

Head Size: 18.5 inches (56%)

Eating: Everything! But, for real, nothing is really off limits. William had a couple Doritos and loved them (although I wasn't crazy about him having it). Bret gives him SMALL bites of a donut on Sunday mornings (that's our donut day!). Will doesn't have a lot of sugar as we don't give him juice, cookies, or much desserts. At this time, blueberries, strawberries, and yogurt drops are his desserts. He drinks ultra-filtered whole milk and water throughout the day. We do need to get better at giving him a variety of vegetables. Hopefully, during the summer we can get to some farmers' markets and get some fresh food for him!

Bedtime: William is maintaining a good 7:40pm bedtime right now. We have a bedtime routine down of starting a sippy of milk and pjs about 7pm, playing with low lights in his room, saying bye to Bret if it's a work night, brushing teeth after he drinks his milk, one last diaper change, a story, and prayers. He cuddles with his blanket on our laps when he is read to. Then, it's into the crib with one blanket to cuddle and one to cover up with. He is doing great at night! I wake him about 7am on weekdays and let him sleep in on weekend (& spring break), but get him up by 7:40am. I think during the summer, I'll just let him wake whenever he wakes, not go in there to get him up. Especially with just taking one nap now.

Naps: We are currently in the middle of transitioning to one nap a day. He has been on this schedule at daycare almost from day on, but taken two naps here at home consistently. I guess we aren't as exciting as daycare, nothing to stay up and watch. It makes for a long morning, but Will goes to bed about 12:45/1:00 and sleeps between 2-3 hours. He even fell asleep on me which hasn't happened in a long time. I try to keep him busy in the morning to wear him out!

Diapers: Still rockin' size 3 & moved to overnight diapers for nighttime sleep

Clothes: Will wears 12mo shirts & pants (moving out of onesies for the most part), although the neck hole is getting a little tight over his head and the pants are getting a bit short. In sleepers, he has moved up to 18mo. I wanted to be sure they weren't too tight on him while he slept. I did get out all of his 10mo clothes and wash them so we are ready for them now! I love looking at the fun clothes he has so wear!

Favorites: I am so thankful for his Aden & Anais blankets (like these)! He loves them so much!! When he is upset about anything, they comfort him almost more than Bret or I can. He also knows they mean it's time to get cozy and go to sleep. He will get them from his crib and bring them to us, letting us know he is sleepy.

He also loves household items more than his toys. His current favorites are the broom & dustpan. He had a meltdown when I took them away from him so we could get him in the stroller and go for a walk. He likes to imitate Bret and I cleaning (Dr said this is great!). He also enjoys the silicone baking pans to be worn as hats and the old tried & true, the half-full water bottle.

One of our favorite thing he has started doing is stamping his feet when he gets excited! It's like he cannot contain his excitement and has to let it out somehow. He does a little dance next to us (if we are holding what he wants) or next to they object/toy that riles him up. Usually it has to do with food, William's great love.

Dislikes: Diaper changes are not a favorite of Will! I usually try to have something ready to distract him so get the deed done. When he doesn't get his way, sometimes he throws whatever is in his hands and/or has a mini-tantrum. We do our best to ignore him & say, "You're okay, buddy, that's just not a choice right now." Again, distraction works wonders for this!

Development: William is working on communication. He says: dada (most said word!), mama, nana (banana), na (snack/food), soe (shoe), ha (hat), oof oof (woof woof, when there is a dog), and signs 'more' and 'all done'. When it's time to eat, all we have so say is, "Let's eat, get to your chair" and he runs to his high chair and smacks it until we lift him into it. He understands most of what we say to him, asking him to do/not do things. We need to point out colors, the names of random things (environmental print), and count things as well.

He recognizes more and more people, in person and in pictures/videos. He loves to FaceTime with Mila & Nellie. When he hears the FaceTime ring, he runs over to my phone to watch the video of them pop up. They always make funny faces and silly noises to get him to smile. I love that they can see each other even with miles & miles between us!!

William is a rock star walker. Walking wasn't fast enough, so he wants to run everywhere he goes! His balance is great and he moves over uneven surfaces pretty well. Will is almost always carrying something in his hands/arms, but doesn't let that slow him down.

Looking Forward To: I am looking forward to summer break with William! I know it will be a lot of togetherness & I may even regret saying that. But he has awesome grandparents that {thankfully} love watching him and give me a break from the non-stop William Show.

According to our doctor, what we need to be working on between now & his next appointment (18 month appointment): 

-teaching him the names of body parts (he has nose and eyes pretty well; and belly!)

-independent play (which he will do, but he likes someone to be in the room with him)

-can introduce crayons, but encourage them to be used on paper as opposed to being eaten!

-consistent with rules

Upcoming milestones to watch for: 

-indicate what they want by pointing & grunting instead of crying

-waving "hi" and "bye" consistently

-continuing to imitate our actions (e.g., doing housework, cooking, laundry)

-understand what "no" means

-expanding vocabulary

*Dr. Nash gave William a clean bill of health and said he is doing great in all his development areas!

outtake :)

the table is now a chair, it gets flipped daily

a little tow nail clipping with your milk

Life is fun!

slides are beginning to be exciting, not scary

William: One Year Old!

Note: pics taken before first haircut, mullet alert!

12 Month Stats

Weight: ___ (dr appt Wed)

Length: ___ (dr appt Wed)

Eating: Schedule 7/11/3/7:30 milk/formula with 8:15/12:15/6 meal times

Will is eating what we eat full time now! He has had food with many spices and flavors. We do try to limit the amount of salt/sodium & sugar he eats, just with him being a little guy still. Most meals start with some puffs or veggie bites while we get his food ready. We dice up whatever our meal in and he feeds himself (usually in the messiest way possible!). He doesn't like us trying to help him, but sometimes it's necessary. We try to get in at least one fruit or veggie in each meal. We also give Will squeezy pouches of fruited & veggies. He's gotten good at squeezing them himself and/or sucking the puree out of the pouch. For dessert, yogurt drops!

I have moved Will to no bottles! He drinks his milk/formula from a 360 sippy cup and he's doing great. I hold him in the lap after his nap and give him his cup. I try to get him to drink about half while I am holding him so I'm sure he gets some nutrients down. But then, I let him take the cup with him and carry it around as he plays. He will stop & take a sip every little bit. Since he's transitioning to getting more nutrients from actual food instead of milk, I am okay with him not finishing every cup I give him. I also off him a sippy of water throughout the day so he becomes used to drinking from different types of cups.

Bedtime: still going down about 7:30-7:45 each night

Naps: At home, Will takes two naps (9:30-11 and 1:30-3:15). At daycare, he's far to busy for his morning nap, so he takes just his afternoon one. Many times, he falls asleep at daycare closer to 1pm and sleeps until 3/3:30. Hmmmmm, maybe because he's so exhausted?!?

Diapers: size 3

Clothes: 12mo clothing, but still wearing some 9mo pants (welcome to the world of being a short kid!)

Favorites: Being with mom! He likes me to be in the room with him & does not like when I leave, even if there are other adults in the room with him. He dives toward me when I walk by him, whether he's on the floor or in the arms of someone else. I love knowing he loves me so much. It makes up for the times he cries when I have to change his diaper or clean out his nose.

Food! He is excited for meals & lets you know if you are late in feeding him ;)

Dislikes: Being helped to do something he thinks he can do by himself. I think we've got an independent little man on our hands!

Development: Will is WALKING! He has gotten very good at walking and now prefers it to crawling. He can carry things as he walks and can stop, pick something up, and stand back up to continue walking. He is pretty big stuff! His walk looks a little like a cowboy getting off his horse after a few days' ride, but he love it. He smiles as he walks around, so proud of himself! It's as if he's always thinking/saying, "Look! Look at me! I'm doing this walking thing!"

William is getting better at playing on his own. Don't get me wrong here, he wants to have an adult in the room with him still! But he's getting better at entertaining himself and moving around to find something to play with on his own. And if we are in one room and he decides to leave us behind, no tears. I guess he likes to be the one making the decision on when he wants to be alone.

Looking Forward To: 

-Winter break for me to have time with William for two weeks! My goal is to conclude breastfeeding over winter break. I'm sure Will will be just fine with it, but the emotional toll it will take on me is another story.

-Christmas! I know it's technically William's second Christmas, but he pretty much slept through the whole thing last year as a newborn. He's much more aware of everything this year!

meals are messy!

William: 11 Months

11 Month Stats

Weight: 20-ish lbs

Length: 29in

Eating: Will nurses/bottles at 7/11/3/7:30 and gets solids at 8/12:15/6:00. We are done with purees! William is just eating table food now. He gets upset when we try to spoon feed him, he wants to do it all himself. Which only means that meal time is VERY MESSY ;) He starts his meals with toast or puffs so he can hold onto something while we try to feed him. 

Bedtime: Bedtime begins about 7:30pm and Will is usually out by 8:10pm. He is going down for about 11 hours at a time. 

Naps: When he is at home for the day on the weekends, Will takes two naps a day, about 1.5 hours each. He rarely takes a first nap at daycare, but his second nap is better (probably because he is exhausted). He hasn't been taking his catnap about 5pm either. He just powers through on weekdays without the catnap.

Diapers: size 3

Clothes: Will's 9mo clothes (especially sleepers) are getting pretty snug, but the 12mo are loose. We are in the inbetween stages of clothing. 

Favorites: Exploring everywhere is Will's favorite thing to do! He crawls quickly everywhere and climbs up on everything to figure out what he can see. We are constantly moving things further away from the edges of tables. He also loves to open cabinets and drawers (and slam them closed). He stretches himself to be as tall as possible to reach everything.

Dislikes: Will HATES being alone! He will play just fine on his own as long as someone is nearby & within eyesight. But he does not like when they leave him alone in the room to play.

Development: William is working on standing on his own for a long period of time. He has mastered the pull up on anything around him and now is letting go with both hands for 2-10 seconds. When he stands, he usually waves his hands around like, "wow! do you see this??" Then, he loses his balance and plops down on his booty. It's only a matter of time!

He has taken his first steps! One night when we were visiting Nana & Papa, he took 4 or 5 steps in a row. He is confident that he can walk, but then remembers that is isn't so great at it and goes back to crawling.

He has six teeth now, front two bottom & front four top. He is using them to bite and crunch his food.

Will now waves "bye-bye" when you say it to him. Usually it's delayed by about 5-10 seconds. He & I wave bye to Bret when he goes to work and Will usually starts waving when Bret is halfway down the street.

Looking Forward To:
-planning his first birthday party
-seeing extended family for Thanksgiving
-seeing Will walk more

William: 10 Months

Ten Month Stats

Weight: 20 lbs.

Length: 29 in.

Eating: Four feedings each day: 7/11/3/7:30 with solids & a slippy with water at 8:30am, 12:15pm, & 6pm; We give William snacks as well: puffs, crackers, rice cakes, & cookies

When I make Will's food, I am blending it less and less or he has to chew more. Now that he has teeth coming in, this is less of a problem! We also give Will little bites of whatever we are eating for dinner.

Foods Will has eaten so far:
Fruits--> apple, avocado, banana (loves!), peas, mango, peach, plums, prunes, blueberry, cantaloupe
Veggies--> sweet potato, acorn squash, green beans (still hates!), carrots, peas, yellow squash, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, tomatoes, beets, white potatoes, kale
Grains--> baby oatmeal, barley, rice, pasta, quinoa, multi-grain crackers, cheerios, toast, tortillas
Protein--> chicken, pork, beef, salmon, egg yolks, black beans, sausage
Dairy --> whole milk yogurt, colby jack cheese, cheddar cheese, cottage cheese

Bedtime: Bedtime begins about 7:30pm and Will is usually out by 8:10pm. He is going down for about 11 hours at a time. Working to stretch that even farther out. Never thought I'd sleep more than 4 hours in a stretch for a bit at the beginning of this year and now I get about 7-8 hours a night! Well-rested mama!

Naps: When he is at home for the day on the weekends, Will takes two naps a day, about 1.5 hours each. He rarely takes a first nap at daycare, but his second nap is better (probably because he is exhausted). We are trying to drop the catnap in the evening after daycare, but sometimes he's so cranky because he's so tired. 

Diapers: size 3 

Clothes: 9mo for clothing & sleepers

Favorites: William still loves his "expensive" toys (empty cups, a coloring book, and the packaging for actual toys). He loves to toss toys around and follow them wherever they land or roll. Any toys go directly into the mouth so he can see how much he can chew on them.

William likes to pull up on everything around him, he enjoys holding on with just one hand and looking around/back to see if anyone is watching. Like he's saying, "Hey look at me! See what I can do!"

Dislikes: William is getting better at independent play time in his room or while we are cooking dinner. Being contained is also something Will cannot stand. He doesn't like to be "stuck" in one place for too long (highchair, snuggles, any room, etc.)

Development: William has perfected his crawling ability and his now working on climbing stairs. He gets up them pretty well! He likes to open and close cabinets/drawers, slamming them is his favorite ;)

His understanding of our words exceeds what he can currently say, as it will be for a while. The letter sounds we have heard are: m, d, h, w, n, b (all with vowels following "baaaaaa")

When Will sees Bret or me come into the room, he rushes over and hugs or snuggles us quickly before moving back to his toys. It's pretty sweet :)

Looking Forward To: Seeing what he learns next! Planning his birthday party!

William: 8 Months

8 Month Stats

Weight: _____

Length: _____

Eating: Continuing the same schedule as last month-- Five nursings four hours apart a day (7/11/3/7:30/DF) with solids at noon and a formula sippy cup with dinner at 6pm. We are doing chunky purees for his solids. I have pushed his DF back far enough that it should be dropped within the week! (Update: dropped cold turkey on this 8mo birthday; so far, so good!)


Foods Will has tasted so far:
Fruits--> apple, avocado, banana, peas, mango, peach, plums, prunes, & blueberry
Veggies--> sweet potato, acorn squash, green beans, carrots, peas, yellow squash, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, & tomatoes
Grains--> baby oatmeal mixed in with bananas/blueberries/yellow squash
Protein--> chicken (need to try this again)
Dairy --> whole milk yogurt (but he gets flushed every time he has it; not sure why, it doesn't seem to bother him)

Bedtime: Bedtime starts about 7:30pm and Will is usually asleep by 8:15pm. With the dreamfeed where it is now (at 9:25pm), he is going without milk for about 9.5/10 hours. Trying to stretch that out.

Naps: Will still takes two solid naps at home on the weekends. They are usually about 1.5-1.75 hours. At childcare, his naps are shorter and he usually needs a snooze during the 5 o'clock hour. This is usually with Bret & he loves getting his William snuggles in for the day :)

Diapers: Will is squeezing into those size 2 just barely. He wears a size 3 at night so he doesn't leak and I'm thinking he is going to be fully in size 3 soon.

Clothes: He is wearing mostly 6mo & 6-9mo clothing. It's crazy how an outfit changed the way he looks. We can put him in just a onesie and he still looks baby-ish, but if he's wearing pants (especially jeans!) or a shirt and pants/shorts, he looks like a little boy. He's so grown up!

Favorites: Being with me. I am his favorite person right now. Whenever I am near him, he needs to be touching me. If I am sitting on the floor in his room, where all of his toys are, he wants to be climbing all over me and pulling at me and giving me raspberries. I tell myself that I will miss it all very soon ;)

His daddy. When Bret comes in the room, whether he's getting home from work/up for the day/just left for a moment, Will yells with delight to see him! It's so awesome to see the huge smile on his face when he sees his dad.

Ruby the dog :) Ruby is the little dog of Alisa, Will's childcare provider. I think Ruby is a Yorkie. But Will loves to watch her run around and just stares at her. When I drop him off in the morning, he looks around trying to find where she is in the room. I think it's because they are both redheads!

Right now his favorite toy is his rattle. We have to pry it out of his hand for outfit changes and when he goes in his carseat.

Dislikes: Will now understands that when we leave the room we have left him alone. Sometimes he is okay with this, but other times he lets us have it! If the door is open, he crawls after us. If it is closed, he sit right next to it and cries, cries, cries. And cries...

Development: William is working on moving faster and faster! His crawling ability is awesome and he can cross a room just as fast as we can. He also enjoys his police car even more now as his legs are stronger. The car is less about the buttons he can push and more about helping him move around better.

This month, we had to lower Will's crib twice because he was starting to pull up on it. He gets on his knees and extends his arms over the side. We thought lowering it just once was going to be good enough, nope! The crib is on it's lowest setting now. At childcare, he sleeps in a pack-n-play (sometimes at home, too).

We have just begun the pulling up on things stage. Will is constantly showing us what we need to put away or find a higher place for. He loves to play with things that are not his toys, even if the toys are surrounding him. He's into everything right now, little explorer!

He's also quite the noise-maker. Bret said this week that when he crawls, he has to shriek & that Will isn't going to sneak up on anyone any time soon! We think we have heard him say "mama" and are trying to get him to say "dada" now. 

Looking Forward To: I look forward to the weekends each week now, then he & I get two days together! He adjusts back to his home schedule pretty well and has even "slept in" instead of waking early which he seems to do during the week.

I think we are looking forward to hearing more "words" from Will. And it seems like every day he learns how to do something new!

Playing all day at childcare is exhausting!

"I'm comin' for you!!"

the reason for lowering the bed...twice this month!

First day of childcare & mom back to work

He's on the move, so baby gates go up!

 

new tricks!

  

sitting up is easy now!

peek-a-boo