March 8, 2013
These young boys are becoming more and more wild and crazy these days, making me a little crazier myself! Blake is 15 months old now, and boy, is he growing up and changing but as cute as ever! He is 34.2 inches tall, putting him in "over the 95th percentile" in height and weighs 26 lbs and 6 ounces, placing him in the 75th percentile in weight. He wears 24 month/2T shirts, 18 month pants, 2T pajamas, size 5 diapers, and size 5 shoes. He's a massive kid!
In the last month and a half, he has figured out the whole climbing DOWN the stairs thing now, meaning he wants to practice it.all.of.the.time. I'm extremely thankful that he figured out how to climb down but the stair obsession I could do without. Climbing is his new "thing." Whether it's up the stairs (and down and then back up again) or climbing into our master bath or into the boys' toy chest in order to climb into the fireplace (of course), the kid loves to climb. I know Dominic was a climber too, so who knows if it's a boy thing or just a kid thing. One big problem is that Blake is tall, so not only can he climb, but he uses his height and long arms to reach things he really shouldn't be getting a hold of. Never a dull moment.
The best news is that Blake's eating has finally "clicked" right at 13 and a half months old as I had read would happen. We're not sure if it was just a developmental thing or the fact that Blake was well enough to finally start eating fingers foods effectively after so much sickness during the last couple of months, but he is eating all sorts of things now on his own and not gagging and throwing them up! Thank God! After countless incidents of him vomiting everywhere and even having to throw out our oriental rug after too many of these incidents, I had spoken to a feeding therapist because I was so worried about Blake's eating. We were spending an insane amount of money on baby food, but thankfully now Blake has quickly begun eating 100% real foods and is no longer eating pureed vegetables or baby foods, which has helped our bank account balance. I do still spoon-feed him yogurt and applesauce, but it's like a whole new world only having to feed a small 4 oz container of one of those at a meal instead of 4 jars of baby food at one meal!
 |
| Pizza!! |
 |
| Drinking his milk (and spilling it too obviously) |
 |
| Messy Boy |
An Italian to the core, Blake's favorite meals include pizza, spaghetti, and fettucini alfredo! But his favorite food is...peas! Yes, peas. I'm not sure if this child is related to me (or to Dominic either) by that fact alone, but seriously Blake cannot eat enough peas. Blake is also eating steamed corn and carrots as well as turkey and cheese wraps, grilled cheese and spinach sandwiches with whole wheat flat bread, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. He has also made huge strides in drinking cow's milk and water from a straw cup! Thank God for that because I was a nervous wreck about that.
My baby is looking like a handsome, grownup, little boy these days with his first haircut (February 7th, 2013). After trying to take him on a weekend so Brian could witness this momentous event but it being way too crowded, I just took Blake on a weekday when Dominic was in school, which ended up being way easier. We went to the same children's haircut salon where we had taken Dominic almost 2 years ago to the day. Blake even coincidentally sat in the same policeman chair for the haircut. After Dominic's tear-filled 1st haircut, I fully expected a similar experience with Blake. However, I was given yet another reminder about how different these 2 boys' personalities really are. Blake didn't shed a tear (and I didn't either) and just sat there completely and totally indifferent to the experience occasionally smiling even. I think it helped that Blake's favorite TV show, "Super Why," was playing on multiple TVs in front of him. The haircut was just a trim because his curls were way too long and scraggly especially when they were wet, but now he looks so neat, handsome, and way too grown up. It's a little sad.
In addition to his food leaps and bounds, Blake has started using his height and climbing interest/abilities to get into anything and everything. If he's not climbing on the couch or into the toy chest, he's pulling things off of the counters as if he's a magician pulling the table cloth of the table full of dishes, only with far less success (at least as far as I'm concerned but he may disagree). We brought back inside the little slide that Dominic used to love to climb on around this age and so far Blake loves it too (and Dominic has renewed his love for the slide as well). This works well inside since it's been too chili to spend a lot of time playing outside lately.
Blake is also exerting his independence at times. He doesn't want to be carried because he wants to walk or climb. I feel like I'm living with a teenager especially since between exersions of his independence, Blake has developed mommy separation anxiety so seriously up and down extremes. Up until about a month ago, Brian was Blake's favorite parent by far. These days Blake will at times only want his mommy (kind of nice considering the times when he absolutely doesn't want anything to do with Brian or me), but I remember this stage from when Dominic was around this age. When they learn how to walk, they realize that they can walk away from mommy...but mommy can walk away from them just as easily (actually more easily especially when they're whining). Thankfully, Dominic has entered a daddy phase, so that helps prevent me from being pulled in 2 different directions.
Although Dominic and Blake get along very well most of the time, the conflicts are becoming more frequent as Dominic can often become too rough with his hugs/wrestling matches, and Blake often comes up and takes toys that Dominic is playing with. There have even been a couple of times where while Dominic is hugging Blake too roughly, Blake actually ended up biting Dominic. These were bad bites that have broken Dominic's skin. On the one hand, I hate that my older baby is hurt, but on the other hand, I can't entirely blame Blake for defending himself. We're really working on trying to get Dominic to be less rough, but it's a huge challenge. Blake isn't entirely innocent either when he takes Dominic's toys. Dominic is usually surprisingly generous with his toys and if Blake is upset, Dominic will quickly give up whatever toy he's playing with - even his favorite ones - to make his little brother feel better.
Dominic is turning into such a little boy! I can't believe he's turning 3! Potty training continues to be going well although we continue to struggle some with #2 in the pull-up at nap time. Dominic has the pee potty train down though! There were some accidents when Dominic was sick, but that was to be expected (or so I'm told). We are struggling with Dominic's whining lately. Ugh...it's painful to even think about. Throughout his 3 years of life, Dominic has had waves up whininess and we're definitely in the midst of one of those (unfun) waves.
Dominic has been making huge leaps in his reading skills recently. He's up to reading 27 words by sight and has begun sounding words out phonetically with me. I'm working with Dominic on reading words in a sentence, but it's harder for him to distinguish words - even though he knows them in isolation - when they're within a sentence. Maybe it's because I'm a teacher at heart, but being able to experience and actually teach my child to read is very important to me and just overall amazing so far.
In the last couple of months, the boys and I returned to the pool to resume our swimming after taking the fall off. It was a big mistake taking that much time off from swimming to begin with because Dominic had lost his feeling of comfort in the water from early September to late December. He was very excited when I told him we were going swimming and especially when he saw the pool, but as soon as he started to get in, he was scared to get of the water and refused to do much more than be held by me. I was heartbroken by his reaction. This happened 3 times and then on the 4th visit to the pool, I was thrilled when suddenly he remembered how much he loved swimming and was back to putting his head under the water, kicking his legs, pulling with his arms, and smiling with a huge ear to ear grin in the water. :)
These days Dominic has become quite the gentleman, opening doors and baby gates for me, telling me that he's a gentleman when he does it. :) I guess that's a perk of living with all males...I should never have to open a door again! Push toys like the boys' lawn mower, Melissa and Doug grocery cart (which has proven a little dangerous for rough, little boys at times), and his giant Mater are strung throughout the house as these are both Blake and Dominic's favorites toys at the moment.
As far as my world, between Blake now eating real food, fewer diapers to change with Dominic being mostly potty trained and Blake producing dramatically fewer dirty diapers, my stress level has decreased dramatically. Honestly, I had been very overwhelmed recently especially with Blake's eating. This is such a relief and being able to give him a cracker instead of having to sit and spoon feed him numerous jars of baby food while trying to also manage his active older brother makes my life so much easier. Not pumping anymore adds to that ease too. Looking back, the last few months have been pretty challenging for me. Luckily, these 2 wile and crazy kids are adorable and entertaining, which balances things out during such crazy times. :)
My baby is looking like a handsome, grownup, little boy these days with his first haircut (February 7th, 2013). After trying to take him on a weekend so Brian could witness this momentous event but it being way too crowded, I just took Blake on a weekday when Dominic was in school, which ended up being way easier. We went to the same children's haircut salon where we had taken Dominic almost 2 years ago to the day. Blake even coincidentally sat in the same policeman chair for the haircut. After Dominic's tear-filled 1st haircut, I fully expected a similar experience with Blake. However, I was given yet another reminder about how different these 2 boys' personalities really are. Blake didn't shed a tear (and I didn't either) and just sat there completely and totally indifferent to the experience occasionally smiling even. I think it helped that Blake's favorite TV show, "Super Why," was playing on multiple TVs in front of him. The haircut was just a trim because his curls were way too long and scraggly especially when they were wet, but now he looks so neat, handsome, and way too grown up. It's a little sad.
 |
| Trouble! |
Blake is also exerting his independence at times. He doesn't want to be carried because he wants to walk or climb. I feel like I'm living with a teenager especially since between exersions of his independence, Blake has developed mommy separation anxiety so seriously up and down extremes. Up until about a month ago, Brian was Blake's favorite parent by far. These days Blake will at times only want his mommy (kind of nice considering the times when he absolutely doesn't want anything to do with Brian or me), but I remember this stage from when Dominic was around this age. When they learn how to walk, they realize that they can walk away from mommy...but mommy can walk away from them just as easily (actually more easily especially when they're whining). Thankfully, Dominic has entered a daddy phase, so that helps prevent me from being pulled in 2 different directions.
Although Dominic and Blake get along very well most of the time, the conflicts are becoming more frequent as Dominic can often become too rough with his hugs/wrestling matches, and Blake often comes up and takes toys that Dominic is playing with. There have even been a couple of times where while Dominic is hugging Blake too roughly, Blake actually ended up biting Dominic. These were bad bites that have broken Dominic's skin. On the one hand, I hate that my older baby is hurt, but on the other hand, I can't entirely blame Blake for defending himself. We're really working on trying to get Dominic to be less rough, but it's a huge challenge. Blake isn't entirely innocent either when he takes Dominic's toys. Dominic is usually surprisingly generous with his toys and if Blake is upset, Dominic will quickly give up whatever toy he's playing with - even his favorite ones - to make his little brother feel better.
Dominic is turning into such a little boy! I can't believe he's turning 3! Potty training continues to be going well although we continue to struggle some with #2 in the pull-up at nap time. Dominic has the pee potty train down though! There were some accidents when Dominic was sick, but that was to be expected (or so I'm told). We are struggling with Dominic's whining lately. Ugh...it's painful to even think about. Throughout his 3 years of life, Dominic has had waves up whininess and we're definitely in the midst of one of those (unfun) waves.
 |
| The night before his 3rd birthday. My baby is growing up too fast! |
Dominic has been making huge leaps in his reading skills recently. He's up to reading 27 words by sight and has begun sounding words out phonetically with me. I'm working with Dominic on reading words in a sentence, but it's harder for him to distinguish words - even though he knows them in isolation - when they're within a sentence. Maybe it's because I'm a teacher at heart, but being able to experience and actually teach my child to read is very important to me and just overall amazing so far.
In the last couple of months, the boys and I returned to the pool to resume our swimming after taking the fall off. It was a big mistake taking that much time off from swimming to begin with because Dominic had lost his feeling of comfort in the water from early September to late December. He was very excited when I told him we were going swimming and especially when he saw the pool, but as soon as he started to get in, he was scared to get of the water and refused to do much more than be held by me. I was heartbroken by his reaction. This happened 3 times and then on the 4th visit to the pool, I was thrilled when suddenly he remembered how much he loved swimming and was back to putting his head under the water, kicking his legs, pulling with his arms, and smiling with a huge ear to ear grin in the water. :)
As far as my world, between Blake now eating real food, fewer diapers to change with Dominic being mostly potty trained and Blake producing dramatically fewer dirty diapers, my stress level has decreased dramatically. Honestly, I had been very overwhelmed recently especially with Blake's eating. This is such a relief and being able to give him a cracker instead of having to sit and spoon feed him numerous jars of baby food while trying to also manage his active older brother makes my life so much easier. Not pumping anymore adds to that ease too. Looking back, the last few months have been pretty challenging for me. Luckily, these 2 wile and crazy kids are adorable and entertaining, which balances things out during such crazy times. :)
 |
| My 2 angels |
No comments:
Post a Comment