Hellobee

Charlie turned 19 months old today! Let’s see what’s been going on in his little life the past month…

Walking on The Highline (an elevated park built atop old freight train tracks). If you ever visit New York, this is a must stop — it’s truly an urban oasis.  We got there bright and early at 8am when there were hardly any people around. It was so relaxing and peaceful.

Sleep – Month 18 was a tough one because Charlie’s sleep was so bad. At bedtime he’d purposefully try to chat, play and stay awake. We finally re sleep trained and now he closes his eyes and gets into sleep mode during his bedtime bottle. We put him in his crib and he rolls over and goes to sleep.  It’s difficult to function when your child is not sleeping well because that means you’re not sleeping well either!

Charlie thinks he’s a dapper little man and now whenever he walks, he likes to stick his hand in his right pocket or both hands in both pockets.

Charlie is snacking on breakfast sausage and broccoli — two of the very few chunky foods he likes to eat… when he’s in the mood.

Eating – Charlie still hates eating but he’s been in the 50th percentile for weight, so perhaps I haven’t worried as much as I should have. We can get him to eat a decent amount of purees and soups, so he has an ok range of fruits, veggies, meats and grains in his diet. Still almost every single meal is a challenge because we kinda have to force or trick him to eat enough. Charlie just doesn’t show interest in eating and eats way less than any of this friends. At first I chalked it up to pickiness. Controlling what they will or will not eat is one of the few ways a child can assert their independence. But now I think he might have acid reflux or some sort of motor delay when it comes to chewing and swallowing because he has a very strong gag reflex, and he still throws up a couple times a week. An NYU swallowing specialist told me that it often starts out as developmental, but if left unaddressed, it can become a habit. Charlie is way too old to be eating predominantly purees and soups so it’s time to get serious about his issues with eating solids and just eating in general.

Talking – Charlie can now say around 50 words. His newest words include bathroom, pee pee, foot, umbrella, and Bee. Yes he calls me by my name!  He still calls me mama or mommy most of the time, but he’ll stand at the top of the stairs and yell, “Bee! Beee! Beeeeee!” I think it’s because he hears Mr. Bee say that all the time.

This modern art structure is actually a birdhouse!

Personality – Charlie gets funnier to us with each passing day with the things he does and says, but he’s definitely becoming much more opinionated. He’s started to throw tantrums when you don’t let him do things he wants to do, like push his push trike. He was pushing his trike today, fell and scraped the side of his face. After crying for a couple of seconds, he got right back up, wanted to push the trike again and threw a fit when we wouldn’t let him. His tantrums are usually short-lived and he’s pretty easy to distract for now, but I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like in his terrible twos! Our next door neighbor told us that the ages between 18-24 months were the most difficult because her daughters wanted to be so independent and were so mobile, but they didn’t have the common sense not to do things that would hurt them. Charlie gets hurt practically every day, usually from climbing things he’s not supposed to. Luckily he is one tough baby and rarely cries when he gets hurt.

Recently Charlie had been all about Mr. Bee, but lately he’s on Team Mama again. It goes back and forth depending on his mood. His love for us is so much more apparent the older he gets, which makes being a parent much more fun! He is still my affectionate little man that loves to give kisses, hugs, and sit in my lap. One day he’ll become too cool for his mom so I’m going to enjoy this while it lasts.