Hellobee

Colin is really finding his stride as a toddler.  Months 17 and 18 have been exciting ones, as his babble becomes full blown chatter, and his preferences and opinions become more and more clear.  In my last monthly update post, he was finding his little walking feet, just finding a steady pace on his feet.  By his half birthday, his favorite pastime was “munning” – running – and he yells about it as he jogs in circles around our apartment, throwing balls and chasing our dog around.  Here is the latest scoop on Little Mr. C:

Family trip to the Shedd Aquarium – checking out the beautiful views

First, he has GROWN!  Colin is a big boy, weighing in at 25 lbs. 5 oz. (60th %ile) and measuring at 33.25 inches (74th %ile).  Of course, visiting the pediatrician has been far from fun – my child is just not a fan of the doctor’s office.  Earlier in the month, when we had a lovely string of viruses that gave us quite the scare, he affirmed his staunch stance against all things medical by screaming like a man under attack during all of the attempts to draw his blood, and that just continued at his most recent visit for shots.

Sleep has been hit and miss over the course of the past couple months, partially because of the viruses, and partially because of what I am calling the 18 month sleep regression.  When things were great, he was sleeping a solid 11-11.5 hours at night and taking one long 2.5-3 hour nap from 11 – 2ish.  When things were bad, he was having at least one long night waking, then rising early around 5:15-5:30 a.m. and napping for only an hour or two at best.  I’m hoping that this will all magically resolve itself sooner rather than later.

Our little man was one tired fireman for Halloween

Around 16.5 months, I gave up recording and counting Colin’s words, because he is learning several new words every few days, and I just could not keep up.  The latest feats are counting to ten (skipping 4 – apparently he doesn’t like that number), singing bits and pieces of the alphabet, reciting and chanting all sorts of football terms (offense! touchdown! blocker!), saying the names of his friends, grandparents and caregivers, and generally acting like a little echo, repeating everything we say (so we have had to say bye-bye to the swear words in our house).  He says please, thank you and you’re welcome with a bit of reminding, he calls me “Mommy” instead of “Mama” now (**tear**), and he regularly asks for hugs, kisses and nuzzles (tickles with the nose).

Colin ate about 10,000 apples when we went picking

Food is becoming more and more of a stress as Colin digs into some frustrating picky habits. I continue to offer him the foods that Mr. C and I eat, but after enough is ignored, tossed or fed to the dog, I have been to open to giving in with a back-up kid-friendly food, because I don’t like the idea of putting him to bed hungry (even though I know that if he were truly hungry and did not expect an alternative, he would eat. I know the solution — I am just not tough enough for this battle….yet.  It will come).

It’s probably because I am a sucker for “kid food” myself:  our “fall-back” foods include PB&J, tortellini, bagels with cream cheese, turkey hot dogs, pizza, etc. – thankfully, he is at least eating the healthiest possible versions of these foods (whole wheat, loaded with hidden veggies, etc.). He will still eat fruit by the handful, he loves most dairy – yogurt, cottage cheese, milk – and he would eat a pickle at breakfast, lunch and dinner if I let him (I do not).  I find he is much more open to eating new things if I call them “snacks.”  Hopefully I’ll have a better food update at 20 months.

When I wrote in my last update that C had begun to throw tantrums, I had no idea what was coming.  Those were small potatoes compared to what we have now.  They are almost exclusively when he is tired or when I am trying to rush him through transitions, and once they start, they are almost impossible to stop.  He is incredibly difficult to distract, and will just wail and wail until he gets what he wants or until we just completely move on and pretend as though he has been distracted (while he keeps whining).

Always active, whether chasing the puppy or climbing at the playground

Whether it is yet another request at an inopportune time for “hoppy hoppy” – Colin’s name for “What Does the Fox Say” – or a meltdown over wanting to wear shorts in 25 degree weather, these hysterics are growing old quickly, and I am hoping that this advanced case of the terrible two’s will lead to some easy three’s (right?!?!?).