Rollin' on the river

We spent this afternoon down on the river with Steve's family and had a really nice time! Trey enjoyed the water just as much as last summer and kept wanting back in, even after we took him out with his teeth chattering. :-) Even after watching episodes of the show River Monsters on Netflix with Steve over the last few weeks, I managed to overcome my fear of man-eating piranhas, sharks, and other terrible toothy creatures to let Trey play around in the water for a while.

15 months

I haven't done a monthly post in so long!  Let's see what our little man is up to.

Mother's Day 2012

Sizes:

• I'm not sure how much he weighs right now, but I'm guessing around 23 or 24 pounds?
• Wearing 12-18 month clothes.  Still in 12 month shorts for the waist, but when I went to pull out a pair of pants for a cool morning last week, I realized all of his pants are waaaaay to short!  Good thing summer's on the way!
• Size 5 shoes.
• Size 4 diapers.

Giving his teddy bear a drink of milk.

Sleeping:
I am apparently blessed beyond measure with a good sleeper!

• Trey is usually asleep by 8 or 8:30 PM and sleeps until 7:30 AM.  The last time I was up with him in the middle of the night was back when he had the flu.
• He still takes two good naps - one from 10:00 - 11:30ish and another from 3:00 - 5:00ish. 
• I still rock him to sleep for his naps.  At bedtime, we rock for a few minutes, and then I put him in his crib.  He used to cry for a few minutes after I would put him down, but he doesn't even do that anymore.  I definitely don't regret all the nights I rocked him to sleep, but I think we both prefer it this way now. :-)
• Still has to have his blankie.

Eating:

Mommy's SO glad we bought the no-spill snack containers. :-)

Trey still eats very well. Teething seems to put him off his game a little (he's got 7 teeth, working on number 8 and some molars), but he's generally not picky at all. Meals we've had recently that he really enjoyed include tacos (taco meat, black beans, corn tortillas, cheese, veggies), beef stroganoff, beef stew, and spaghetti.  He loves vegetables (haven't had any yet that he won't eat), fruit, and has started eating meat pretty well over the last month or so.

A few weeks ago, he went several days with a decreased appetite but would never refuse grapes, strawberries, or cheese. Cheese is a big favorite lately! He also enjoys snacking on yogurt, pineapple (any fruit, really), goldfish crackers, and Veggie Straws.  He pretty much just drinks milk and water - between 16-24 ounces of milk/day and around 8 ounces of water.  Once in a while he gets diluted juice, but he likes fruit so much that I prefer to just have him get his fruit that way.

He still feeds himself lunch and dinner. He uses a fork and a spoon and actually gets food in his mouth once in a while, but is much quicker with his hands. :-) Instead of throwing food in the floor when he's finished, he has started pushing his plate away. I am really appreciating that!

Developmental:

• Trey can scribble with crayons.
• He is figuring out that the shapes in his hammer bench go in certain holes.
• Can climb onto the couch and our bed.
• Can climb off the couch and our bed.  (Definitely a good thing if he's able to get up there on his own!)
• Kicks his big red ball.
• Throws balls but doesn't get much distance yet. :-)
• Can get down the short step to the sidewalk without holding onto anything and turns around to get on his belly to back down the top two steps.
• Can climb into his stroller by himself.
• He gives LOTS of kisses, but typically just at bedtime.  Sometimes I can bribe him with something and say "first a kiss!" and he'll give me one.  Cracks me up!

Communication:

• da
• mama
• dai/daipuh - diaper
• bye bye
• bu - bubbles
• ba - bath
• beh - bear
• bu - blanket - it's all about context!
• pa (short a sound) - splash.  He says this while flapping his arms when he wants to play in the water.
• He's said Papa and Grandad a time or two, and I'm sure there are others I'm leaving out.
• Understands a LOT! He follows lots of easy directions like
• Put your cup in the cup holder.
• Do you want to help empty the dishwasher?  (He gets mad when he can't help!)
• Do you want to help vacuum? (He goes to the vacuum cleaner.)
• Bring me your cup.
• He jabbers all the time and is starting to get quite a bit of volume sometimes.  If there's an announcement over the intercom at Walmart, he'll start talking really loudly back.  I wish I knew what he was saying!
• Tries to repeat sounds/words.
• If he's trying to tell me something, and I ask the right thing, he gets really excited. :-)
• When he gets angry/frustrated, he'll start sniffing/snorting really loudly and start fussing.

 Activities:

• Trey still loves to read. His favorite book is First 100 Words. We read it multiple. times. every day.
• When we go outside, he goes straight for his water table and bubbles.
• He loves his new Little Tikes castle.
• When we're inside, he pretty much plays wherever I'm at.  If I'm working in the kitchen, he likes to dig around in the low cabinets.  He's entertained for quite a while with utensils and plastic containers.  In the living room, he likes playing with his hammer bench, remote controls, books, star stacker, and his push toy.  In his bedroom, we either read books, play with cars, or play with his Little People Farm.  Other than that, most of his toys were just dragged out to make a mess, so I put up/gave away a lot of stuff he wasn't playing with.  Makes clean up easier, and really, he is more happy with a spatula, whisk, and a Gladware container than most other things!

• His new thing this week is to try to use toys and other items to play his daddy's guitar.  He knows he's not supposed to though, so he'll come show me something and walk back over to the guitar and stand there looking at me.  Then we sit down and practice playing it with our hands, not the spatula. :-)

Funnies:

• Even when we're sitting still reading or if someone is holding him, he pinches his fingers together or pinches whoever is holding him.  He's not trying to be mean, he just has to be moving. :-)
• When he goes to sit in someone's lap, he turns around, takes a few steps backwards, and plops down.
• When he tries to go down the porch steps, he gets on his tummy about halfway across the porch and scoots the rest of the way on his tummy until he gets to the stairs.

A day in the life

It's been a while, so I thought I'd start back up by chronicling a normal day in our lives right now.

7:00
Trey wakes around 7:00. I'd like to say that I get up at 6:00 and have a wonderful breakfast ready for Steve and have all the housework done, but I usually stay in bed until Steve gets up for work. I'm trying to be more disciplined, but it's sure hard! I get Trey's milk and make him some fruit with oatmeal, and we sit on the couch and watch Sesame Street while he eats. Sometimes we do banana pancakes and scrambled eggs instead.

After Trey eats, he runs around playing while I grab some breakfast, empty the dishwasher, and get laundry started.

9:30 - 11:30
Trey goes down for his morning nap around 9:30 until 11:00 or 11:30. After I put him down, I grab a shower and get myself put together for the day. I also try to get other housework done that is tricky to do with Trey helping. :-)

11:30
When Trey wakes up, we eat lunch. He eats pretty much anything, so there's nothing in particular that we have regularly.  After lunch, we have been taking a walk, but with it getting so much hotter already, we'll have to start walking after breakfast.  We also run errands between lunch and his afternoon nap. If we don't have anywhere to go, we play outside, do chores, read, etc. He'll typically get a snack before his afternoon nap, too. 

3:00 - 5:00
Thankfully, Trey still takes two naps, so he gets his afternoon nap from 3:00 - 5:00. I usually need this time to catch up on stuff I want to get done before Steve gets home. I love that when Trey wakes up, he is always so happy.  If he wakes up fussy, it means he needs to lay back down. Give him a bit longer, and he wakes back up smiling and giggling. Lately, he has taken to doing a few laps around his crib when I go in to get him. :-)

5:00
After Trey wakes up, we start getting dinner ready. Things get pretty busy around this time, and unfortunately, Steve's not always home. That makes it more tricky! Dinner is usually a messy venture, but Trey definitely eats better if he's allowed to feed himself.  When he's finished, he'll start throwing food in the floor or smacking his hands on his plate, so I generally move the food out of the way quickly when that starts.  It's interesting to see him develop because when he tries to throw food in the floor, I'll tell him no, and more often than not, he'll look me right in the eye and do it anyway.  When Mom got me Shepherding a Child's Heart, I thought I had a few years to get it read.  Ha!

Anyway, if Steve is home, he takes Trey back to give him a bath while I clean up the kitchen, but if he isn't, I give things a quick wipe down and finish up after Trey's in bed.  Needless to say, I really like it when Steve is home for dinner!  Unfortunately that's only a night or so a week lately. :-(

7:00
Bath time!  Trey really enjoys bath time but gets out of the bath without a fight, so it's kind of the best of both worlds.  He doesn't really enjoy getting his hair rinsed after I wash it, but Steve discovered that he actually fusses less if you just dump the water over his head than if you try to lay him back to rinse out the soap.  Ok then! :-)  After his bath, he finishes his milk while we play in his room for a little while.  Then we get him into his pjs, brush his teeth, and read books.

8:00
By 8:00, Trey is ready for bed.  When I was nursing him, he would fall asleep nursing, but it's been interesting to see how things have changed.  I've still rocked him to sleep for the last several months, but the last month or so, we've switched over to putting him in his crib while he's still awake.  I don't regret the time that I've spent rocking him to sleep, but it was getting to where we'd rock for almost an hour, and he'd still be awake.  Plus, he was getting to where he would fidget so much that I would be all stressed from getting headbutted and hit by the time he was asleep.  He really seems to do well when I rock him for 10-15 minutes and then put him in his crib though.  Sometimes he cries a little, but usually he just talks to himself for a while until he falls asleep!