Tuesday, June 20, 2017

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

Sunday, June 18, 2017

Fathers' Day

Happy Fathers' Day to Bret! We love you to pieces and are so glad you round out our little family of three. Your schedule doesn't always allow for the easiest family time, but we do what we can to have fun together. You make William laugh like no one else and you are the first person he asks for each morning. He always wants to know where you are and loves to help wake you up in the afternoons so he can play with you. There's no one quite like you and we are lucky to have you in our lives!





Happy Fathers' Day to William's two grandpas as well: Papa, & Pop Pop!
  

Saturday, June 17, 2017

Summer Outings: June 13-17

June 13: Will did not find this funny, but I was cracking up! He was trying to climb on the couch, using the basket of toys as a help. Well, he got all turned around and ended up getting stuck in the basket. Instead of helping, I thought taking a picture would be better ;) He did get himself out and then up onto the couch, so happy ending for him!

Shoutout: Happy Birthday to Pop Pop (Grandpa Brown)

June 14: It's summer & it's hot! Get the pool out!! Last summer, we had a small pool for Will and this year we got one with a mini-slide attached. William had so much fun splashing and jumping around in the water.


June 15: Open Gym time! Again, it was toasty outside so we chose an inside activity at Debbie Howard's gym. The last time we went was a couple months ago and now William was able to do so much more on his own. He didn't need my help climbing up to get to the slides or pushing anything around. He even ran across their trampoline floor, but was not so keen on jumping into the foam pit (but was okay when I put him in it). He, of course, found his beloved vacuum toy and played with it more than any of the other toys.
 



interesting outfit choice...

June 16: We checked out a splash pad today. There is only one in all of Johnson County and it's about 20-25 minutes away from us. It was PERFECT for William. We haven't gone to the pool yet this summer and he's only been in his small home pool so far (besides swim lessons at the Y). He ran around like crazy and wanted to catch all the water and get splashed by the jets. Our friends came with us and they have a to-be 1st grader (Audrey) who wanted to play with William the whole time. She was amazing with him and it was like having a babysitter for Bret and me!


WORE OUT! He didn't make it 5 minutes in the car before passing out!
 Pointing out his Jayhawks & playing with his new broom!

June 17: Olathe had a Touch A Truck event (free!) today and William loves to watch any and all trucks and tractors we see on the road or little ones he has to play with. He walked the whole time, holding my hand, and looked at everything. He did a great job!





Friday, June 9, 2017

Summer Outings: June 3-8

June 3: New Century Airport (near Gardner) has a Commemorative Air Force wing. Once a month, they open it up to the public to see their planes and enjoy the history of the Air Force. We toured the hangar and William played with some toys they had out. They had a mock/wooden plane for Will to sit and an rock around. We even got to ride in a WWII jeep around the airport with the cutest old man ;)
That romper! :)





June 6: Today was park day! Slather on the sunscreen for this ginger baby and let's get outside! Will was able to explore and play on his own. I am still so nervous to let him climb around on his own, but I'm trying to get better about it.


June 7: Lazy day at home today. Some of these days are getting toasty to be outside so we have to entertain ourselves indoors all day. Today, we read books, played in our police car tent, and played with Snapchat filters.

Shoutout: Happy Birthday to Papa Fish!


June 8: I pride myself on finding free things to do to get us out of the house. Just because we don't want cabin fever doesn't mean we need to go broke! This evening, we went to Mahaffie Farmstead for one of their Free Family Nights. The theme this evening was Kansas Cowboys! William was able to pet a real, live horse and sit in a saddle. There were cows and chickens at the farmstead as well, so we practiced our animal noises. We toured the farmhouse and watched them shoot off guns from the 1800s (note: William didn't get scared of the noise at all, Bret was proud!).