What a Difference a Year Makes: Blake's 2nd Year

If I blinked, I would have missed it. Blake turned  2 years old, and this 2nd year of his life flew by even faster than his first. Weren't we just celebrating his 1st birthday, watching him devour and mess his first bite of cake? As quickly as this year has flown by, so much has happened and Blake has grown and changed more than I can even put into words.

At Blake's 1st Birthday Party eating his cake and loving it!

 Body

When Blake turned a year old, he weighed in at 25 pounds 10 oz (the 80th percentile) and measured 32 1/4 inches tall/long (over the 95th percentile). At his 2 year checkup, he was an astounding 31 pounds 11 ounces (the 85th percentile in weight) and 37.1 inches tall (over the 95th percentile in height). Yep, he's still a big boy for his age. Everywhere we go people comment on the fact that he "looks like a linebacker" because he's tall and has broad shoulders (a trait he inherits from me with my "swimmer's shoulders"). Brian is the one that pointed out to me recently that those shoulders were exactly what made it hard to deliver Blake as sometime after the delivery he told me that Blake turned purple and the doctor was reaching for the forceps just before I finally was able to give birth to Blake (all while the epidural wasn't working, let me add). 

Blake's large toddler physique is also unique because he has a very long torso. This is something that we noticed when he was born, a trait that my dad has as well, and continues to be the case since Blake has to wear a larger sized shirt to ensure that they're long enough. As a result, Blake wears a 3T-4T shirt, 2T - 3T pants, 4T pajamas, and size 7 shoes. We always comment that he is just like his Papa (my dad) who has the same body type and large hands and feet. It's very funny. 

13 months old around Christmas time

Face

Blake's smile continues to light up any room he walks (or runs) into. The dimple on his left cheek continues to be my personal favorite part of his smile. A year ago he had 8 teeth with a molar making its way through. Today he has almost a full set of teeth which even include all 4 of his 2 year molars in addition to his 16 other teeth. Blake's face has slimmed down a lot and matured over the last 12 months, which I mostly notice when looking back in pictures. Something that Blake often displays on his face is his tongue. He loves sticking his long tongue out when he's being silly, thinking, or for whatever reason. The tongue is a Kittrell trait (which I just learned this year). My sister, brother, aunt, and I all have crazy, KISS-like long tongues as well and we can touch our tongues to our noses as I'm sure Blake will soon be able to do...yes, this is a true talent. Blake still is able to show so much emotion with just those big brown eyes which he continues to "smile with" as much as he does with his mouth. When he watches TV Blake often tilts his head up, which is something his Papa (my dad) does.

14 months old and as cheerful as ever.

 Hair

Over the course of the last year, Blake's hair has really established his personality for us. He has a very full head of extremely adorable and extremely curly hair. When he wakes up in the morning, I have to spray his hair with water to tame his wild locks (picture me chasing Blake around the house in the morning with a spray bottle in hand and Dominic racing around trying to get sprayed as well), but I think morning showers are in his future. Since turning 1, Blake has had 3 haircuts. The first one went well and was tear-free (for both of us), but he unfortunately did cry for the most recent one. It's a fine line between cutting too much off and no longer having his precious curls and not cutting off enough so his hair is way too long for a boy and ends up looking very messy. No matter where we go, people are always commenting on how adorable Blake's curls are though (even when they are messy). I know he may not appreciate them in a few years, but I think it fits his silly personalty almost perfectly. 

15 months old and loving slides

Sleep

Blake continues to be a marathon sleeper. 12 months ago, Blake was sleeping 12 hours a night and taking 2 naps a day, a 30 minute morning nap and a 2-3 hour afternoon nap. Not too much has changed a year later with Blake now sleeping 11 to 13 hours at night (usually around 11 and a half hours but it fluctuates some) and a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon (typically 2 and a half hours). The big difference is that he dropped his morning nap not long after his 1st birthday, which actually made things so much easier for me because otherwise I had to wait to leave the house in the morning till he woke up or I would have to wake him up. Blake has been in the same nursery for close to 2 years (since he was a month old) but will be moving to his new "big boy bedroom" (the old guest room) following his birthday over Christmas break.

After he turned a year old, Blake started sleeping with stuffed animals and blankets in the crib and that led him to today where he sleeps with a pillow pet as his pillow, his favorite stuffed animal Giant Winnie the Pooh, a smaller Pooh, a Pooh lovey, a monkey lovey, and 2 blankets. His crib is full these days with various items to cuddle with (obviously Pooh is popular) because Blake is a big cuddler, something that I love about him. Whatever works to make my little man sleep so well!

16 months and all smiles 

Eating

Blake's eating habits have been one of the greatest and most dramatic change we have seen in him this year by far. A year ago, Blake was eating solids/baby food and drinking breast milk. He ate 4 meals a day which consisted of breakfast solids and breast milk, then lunch solids and breast milk, after that dinner solids, and breast milk at bedtime. He loved vegetables especially sweet potatoes, squash, and carrots, so much so that the pediatrician noticed at his 1 year checkup that Blake's skin had turned orange from all of the betacaratine. We were spending hundreds of dollars on baby food because the kid was a huge eater, consuming at least 6 jars of baby food at each meal. After turning 1, we stepped up the "real foods," which led to several months of a huge struggle because Blake gagged on and threw up everything that wasn't runny. It was a horrible time for me. I was completely stressed out and even spoke with a feeding therapist because I was so concerned, but thankfully at 13 and a half months, Blake suddenly seemed to be able to eat thicker foods and table foods. After he finally got to this point, Blake ate anything and everything! Suddenly, peas became his favorite food. However, that didn't last long because suddenly Blake developed the typical 1 year old pickiness. 

These days Blake acts like a lunatic when he's hungry (just like his dad). It's amazing the difference in him when he's hungry versus when he's well-fed. It's night and day. Although he still is a big eater, he simply won't eat a large selection of foods. Peas quickly became one of his least favorite foods in the process. It's very frustrating that he doesn't veer far from his limited menu each day, but I know that Dominic went through a similar phase. Now Blake loves bananas more than anything else. His other favorite foods include peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, turkey dogs, grapes, apples, graham crackers, goldfish, raisins, crackers, cookies, Cheerios, Rice Chex, and anything unhealthy. His beverages are limited to whole milk and water, both of which he loves. He also really likes apple juice; however, I only let him drink that on special occasions like at birthday parties because of the sugar. Despite his pickiness with food, Blake continues to grow (and grow and grow), so I suppose he's doing okay with food.

17 months old in one of his favorite places, the sandbox

"Tricks"

Blake's "tricks" or "skills" is another area where there has been a dramatic transition over the past year. 12 months ago, Blake was still perfecting his walking but he also did a lot of crawling. These days, Blake doesn't just walk, he runs...all over the place...especially away from me these days! Blake has become quite the runner, taking off whenever he's given the least bit of freedom. As a result, we are limited to going to fenced-in playgrounds because chasing him down is just too difficult. If I look away for a second (something that I am forced to do when I'm juggling both boys out in public), Blake will be across the park from me. It's terrifying and exhausting at the same time.

Blake's "tricks" aren't all so scary. At a year old, he loved clapping, pointing, and waving. His current skills include so much more! He loves climbing and walking up and down stairs and ladders, he opens closed doors and loves that (however, I could do without that skill as he likes to take off and run once he opens doors). Blake loves singing songs especially "Old McDonald Had a Farm," Tom Petty's "Free Fallin," and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." He's great at singing the vowels especially the last word in each line. Blake also likes singing his ABCs as he's pretty obsessed with letters. He wants to know them all so badly and so far he knows a couple (like A and J). He counts from 1 to 12 (omitting 4). He's starting to learn his shapes and colors too. Blake LOVES animals and telling me their sounds like a cat says "meow" along with ducks, cows, sheep, and horses and their sounds. 

1 and a half years old and looking for trouble

Diapers

At a year old, Blake wore Size 4-5 diapers and a year later he continues to wear Size 5 diapers. He would have 3-4 dirty diapers a day, but that number actually increased to around 7 a day once he was eating regular foods. I eventually took him off of the Culturelle and that seemed to lower his number of dirty diapers to around 2 to 3 a day, a good improvement.

19 months and loving the beach

Language

Perhaps the greatest change we've witnessed in Blake is in his communication skills. Blake has made huge strides in the last year in his language. At a year old, we would hear him say, “Yeah, yeah, yeah," “Uh oh," “Ch” for Cheerios, “Hi!”, “Dada," and "I see you," as well as screaming and gesturing quite a bit. The screaming hasn't stopped (unfortunately). Any time he doesn't get what he wants or is confined, we'll hear a scream of objection from him. No disciplining seems to help. Although it can be difficult for others besides Brian and me to understand a lot of what he says at times, Blake's number of words have increased dramatically in the last year as he can now say well over a hundred words. This includes such favorites and frequent terms as shit (fish), potty, Cheerios, slide, outside, truck, train, rock, jump, bye bye, hi, love you, I see you, peek a boo, cheese, various animal names, "Daddy!" and "Dom Dom" (for Dominic), and questions like where are you? what's that? Blake understands most of what we say and is very good about following directions (most of the time). He has started putting words together ("I want down"). He also sings songs very well. As Blake communicates better and better, it becomes clearer and clearer to me just how grown up my baby is becoming. 

20 months old perfecting his spoon-feeding skills and loving it.

Schedule

In the last 12 months, Blake's schedule hasn't actually changed too much. A year ago his day looked like this: 

8:00am - Wake up

8:45am - Breakfast (milk and then solids)
9:30am - Nap (30 min)

12:30pm - Lunch (milk and then solids

1:30pm - Nap (2-3 hours)

6:00pm - Dinner (just solids)

7:30pm - Bath and Bedtime bottle

8:00pm - Bedtime

As Blake turned 2 his day remained pretty similar but with a few differences such as no longer taking a bottle or a morning nap. His schedule is pretty short and sweet these days:
  8:00am - Wake up
8:30am - Breakfast
12:00pm - Lunch
1:30pm - Nap
4:00pm - wake up
6:30pm - Dinner
8:00pm - Bedtime

In September Blake started going to "school." He goes two mornings a week to the Parents' Morning Out program at the preschool where Dominic goes to school. Blake adjusted pretty smoothly and now loves school. So Blake and I go to his playgroup on Monday mornings (while Dominic is at school) and then he goes to school on Tuesday and Thursday mornings as well as attending Dominic's playgroups too. Blake was in a gymnastics class briefly but he didn't like it at all (and let that be known), so we'll stick to just school and playgroup for now.:)

21 months of enthusiasm and fun

Personality

One of my favorite things about Blake is - and always has been - his personality. He's easy-going, social, happy, and has turned into quite the silly child. This year he has certainly become quite curious and adventurous as he loves to venture away from me whenever he can despite the fact that he has given me several heart attacks. We are actually in the process of fencing in the backyard because Blake has decided that running out of the yard is incredibly fun. Obviously, Blake's separation anxiety has lessened quite a bit as I think going to Mothers' Morning Out twice a week this school year has helped a lot with this. A year ago Blake wouldn't let me out of his sight and he even had some separation anxiety when Dominic would leave. Blake continues to love Dominic although the two have begun clashing especially over Blake wanting various toys and not understanding taking turns as well as when Dominic gets too rough with Blake. Often Blake will be hysterically laughing seconds before he starts hysterically screaming with Dominic. The two are each other's best friend and they absolutely love chasing each other around (now running instead of Blake crawling after Dominic like Blake did a year ago), wrestling, and just being silly with each other. It is truly one of my favorite things in the world watching them laugh and play together.

22 months old and fun-loving!

Hiding under blankets, dropping toys so other people would fetch them for him, listening to funny voices, being tickled, and playing peek-a-boo were among Blake's favorite activities when he turned a year old. These days he still loves being tickled and playing peek-a-boo but also loves playing with balls and the Little People series of toys. Blake is all boy, loving cars, trucks, and especially trains! Every time he hears a plane outside he gets excited and tells us. Blake is a natural basketball player as he automatically started putting balls in our basketball goal without any instruction. He enjoys climbing and running around, but Blake also is a big cuddler. He often grabs a blanket and just lays down on the floor. His favorite sleep partner is his giant 17 inch Pooh. He's on his 2nd one since the first one needed to be replaced after Blake wore him out sucking on Pooh's nose.

23 months with a happy smile 

With his love for animals especially farm animals, it's only appropriate that "Old McDonald Had a Farm" is one of his favorite songs. He's also pretty obsessed with Ring Around the Rosie and ends up crying at the end of the song every time because he doesn't want to stop. 

Our 2 year old looking like such a big boy!!

This year certainly made a difference in my littlest baby boy. As Blake spends his last few months as the baby of our family, I'm especially in disbelief of the fact that he is quickly growing and changing, too quickly for me. How could I be anything but completely in love with such a sweet, happy, laid-back, fun-loving 2 year old? He honestly makes each and every day I spend with him so much happier. I can't not smile when I see Blake's amazing smile. In the coming year, I look forward to seeing Blake go from the adorable youngest child of the family to the adoring big brother to his baby sister! I know that he and I will bond as middle children, and he will love his little sister as much as he loves his older brother. Happy 2nd Birthday to my littlest baby boy!!! I can't begin to tell you how much I love you, my sweet boy!!