Sleeping: Arlo has always been a great nighttime sleeper (with the exception of when he is teething) and that hasn't changed. We usually start the bath & bottle bedtime routine between 7 and 7:30pm, and he is in bed and asleep by 8pm, sometimes a bit earlier. He wakes up in the morning anywhere between 6:30-7:15am, but most mornings I hear him call for me at 6:45am. Most mornings you could almost set an alarm to this kid. For the past couple of months Arlo has been pretty much doing one nap per day. The only exception is if he falls asleep in the car while we are out running errands, and in that case he might get his usual 1 1/2 hr nap plus an extra 15 or 20 minute car nap here and there.
The biggest change we have had since the last update is in the nap department, and it is definitely a change for the better. Up until a few weeks ago, I was still having to rock Arlo to sleep for his naps, and sometimes still resorting to wearing him in the Ergo until he fell asleep. Don't get me wrong - this worked really well for a long time, and with future babies I would do it again without question. Erik and I have always been a house divided on the whole "crying it out" method of getting Arlo to sleep. Erik has wanted to try it since Arlo was maybe 9 or 10 months old, but I just couldn't do it. A few weeks ago, I decided it was time to try a modified cry it out. I knew Arlo was sleepy, and put him in his crib. Of course, he jumped up and started crying immediately. It was hard, but I let him cry for a few minutes, and then went back in, told him everything was okay, and made him lay back down. I had to do this a few more times, but in 15 minutes or so, he was fast asleep. I kept doing it the next few days, and soon it was only taking him 3-4 minutes to fall asleep. Within a week (maybe less) there was no crying at all! Now at nap-time (around noon) I change his diaper, lay him in his crib, tell him it's time for a nap, give him the blanket he likes to hug and chew on, and leave the room. And he goes right. to. sleep. It's the most amazing thing, and I never would have believed we would have gotten here so easily. I also think that keeping him on a pretty tight schedule each day has helped his body know exactly when it is time for his nap. I started to follow the school's schedule right when he started attending, so he eats and naps at the same time each day, seven days a week.
I hadn't really been in any hurry to get Arlo weaned off the bottle, but when he started school last month and I learned about their no bottle rule, I decided it would be best if we tried to do the same at home. When he started school, he had been taking three bottles per day, mid-morning, mid-afternoon, and before bed. I started by eliminating the mid-day bottle and replacing it with a smoothie in a straw cup. He did really well with that, so I started giving him his morning milk in a sippy cup as well. He didn't seem to miss the bottle too much, but wouldn't drink nearly as much in the cup which resulted in significantly less milk throughout the day. So now I offer milk at meals in a sippy or straw cup, but also offer him a bottle mid morning. I have a cup of water available at all times that he sips on throughout the day. We haven't even attempted to stop the evening bottle, and I have no intentions on doing so anytime soon. When you weigh out the pediatricians "recommendation" that he should be weaning off the bottle at this age, with the fact that doing so decreased his liquid intake significantly, its pretty obvious which is going to win in order of importance. As he gets more accustomed to taking in more milk through the straw and sippy cup, I am confident that him going without the bottle shouldn't be much of an issue.
Shortly after his first birthday, we stopped buying goats milk and transitioned him to a fully plant-based diet. After a lot of research on toddler nutritional needs, and comparing the various non-dairy milks on the market, we decided to start him on a mix of hemp, oat, flax, and soy milk. The combination of these four milks provide similar amounts of calcium, fat, and protein that cows milk does. And yes, it's a little weird to buy six different kinds of milk each week (Erik likes almond milk and I drink a different kind of soy milk) but it works for us. I mix up Arlo's four milks in a big glass pitcher every few days so when I need to make a sippy cup or smoothie, it's all ready to go. Easy peasy.
Weight and Length: Pretty much following the same growth curve he has been on all along. He gained about a pound since his last visit, bringing his weight up to 21 lbs 6 ounces, which lands him in the 27th percentile. Length is up 1.5 inches, and he now measures in at 30.5 inches tall, putting him in the 76th percentile for height. And finally, that big head of his continues to measure as large as ever - 49.5 cm, keeping him in the 98th percentile for head circumference.
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| the size of this hat you ask? 4-5T. ha! |
Wearing: I recently packed up the last of the 12 month size clothes, as Arlo is pretty solidly in 18 month stuff at this point. The only exception is pants, he is in this weird in-between size where 18 months is still a tiny bit too long, and 12 month is starting to get snug. Fortunately, children's clothing manufactures have solved this problem by creating a size "12-18 month" pants, and this is what he has been rocking lately.
Current shoe size is 5 wide (the only place this skinny little guy has any fat on him is his chubby little feet) and Stride Rites are wear it's at. They were the only brand of shoe I could wear as a kid since I had extra narrow feet, and since realizing they are really the best shoes out there, they are all I have been buying for him. Thanks to e-bay, craigslist, and the thrift shop, we have quite the selection of boys Stride Rites in various sizes, and only paid $2-10 per pair, instead of the usual $50. Go me.
Likes and dislikes:
Likes: Being outside. Oh boy, there is nothing this kid likes more. We play outside everyday that the weather allows, and the only bad part is when we need to come in and he melts down because of it. We have an awesome playground just a few minutes drive from the house, and I am pretty sure it's his favorite place. They have a toddler-sized play structure and he has already learned how to climb up and go down the slide by himself, and recently he did the climbing wall (with mama as backup) for the first time. He also loves this broom we have been keeping near the front porch (for this very reason) and he grabs it every chance he gets. Arlo also loves waving to anyone and everyone. He even waves to cars and people walking in the opposite direction who can't even see him. It's the cutest thing ever and makes me smile every time. He loves to load the washing machine and take things out of the dryer. Sometimes if we are upstairs and he notices the washer door is open, he will grab any random piece of clothing or towel that he can get his hands on, and put it in the washer. He even puts clean cloth diapers in there. And oh, how did I forget to mention this one until now - this kid loves food. He is thin as a rail but would eat a meal every two hours if I offered it to him. Surely he gets this from Erik! Other likes include putting on Erik's hats, carrying around shoes (I think because he knows we put on shoes to go outside) and playing with all things kitchen (colanders, spatulas, bowls, etc.) Future chef maybe?
Dislikes: Molars. Molars. Molars. Oh, and getting his face and hands washed. That still hasn't changed! He also hates Zarak, our Roomba vacuum. He has pretty much overcome his fear of the regular vacuum, but runs and screams the second that Zarak is turned on. The ironic part, is that we are never the ones to turn it on, he is. It happens every few days now that he reaches under the armchair in the living room, presses the button to turn it on, and then runs to me screaming when it comes zooming out from under the chair. I hate to see him upset, but the whole thing is entirely comical.
New milestones and developments: Prepare yourself, this is gonna be long. I feel that he is learning something new nearly everyday, and at this age I am pretty sure he really is. When I wrote my last update, he was in the early stages of starting to walk. He took a few independent steps around 11.5 months, but it wasn't until shortly after his first birthday that he really started to toddle around. And once he figured it out, there was no stopping him. Within no time he was walking all around the house, and now at 15 months he can move at an impressive pace. I wouldn't call it a full-out run that you see the bigger kids on the playground do, but it's pretty much the toddler equivalent. Once he mastered the whole walking skill, he moved onto climbing. At 13 months he figured out how to scale the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs. He can climb onto the couch, into his child-sized rocking chair that he loves to sit in, and attempts to climb everything he can at the playground. Earlier this week he figured out how to pull out the kitchen table chairs and easily climbs right up. This morning I turned around for two seconds and then found him sitting in the middle of the kitchen table, gah! He goes up and down the stairs with no problem, but prefers to do so holding the banister instead of crawling on all fours. Last week, he figured out how to empty his laundry basket, carry it to where he wants to climb, turns it upside down, and uses it as a stepstool. So far he has done this to try and get into his crib, onto our very tall bed, and have better access to the washer and dryer controls.
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| laundry basket stepstool climber and pizza stealer. |
Arlo understands so much of what we tell him now. If we say "close that drawer" he knows what we mean and providing he isn't feeling rebellious at that moment, will do what we tell him. If I tell him it's time to go upstairs and change his diaper, he heads to the bottom of the stairs and will stand by the gate. If I hand him something and say "give this to daddy" or "give this to Lucy" he knows what we mean and will usually follow the directions. The other day I found one of his socks in my laundry basket and handed it to him telling him to put it in his laundry basket, and he walked right over and dropped it in. The list goes on, and he probably understands a whole bunch of stuff that I don't think he does. Reminder to self - it's time to stop saying things like "shit balls" and licking the pancake syrup off my plate after breakfast. Just kidding. I don't do those things. Gulp. Moving on....
One of my favorite things he started doing lately is if we are sitting on the floor, he will walk up so he is within a foot or so of us, turn around, and walk backwards until he gets to us, and then sit down on our lap. Sometimes he brings a book when he does this, and then we will read it together. He can point to so many things in his books, although he needs to be in the right mood to comply. When asked, he can point to his hair, nose, ears, and belly button - although a lot of the time he thinks his belly button is on his chest, ha.
He hasn't really started saying too much yet, well, in the English language anyway. He babbles in his own language quite often. He does say mama, no no no (when he is doing something he knows he shouldn't be), uh oh (when he drops something), and dee da (which we think might mean da da.) When asked what a snake says he will say "ssssss" and kitties say "ow" (his version of meow.) And I think he is also saying yes but it sounds like "esh" and he says a word often that sounds like doggie. A couple of weeks ago, after months of working with him on sign language, he finally started signing back! He does "all done" ALL the freaking time. After every meal, when he is done in the bath, and when I dropped him off at school last week I set him at the table as they were getting ready to paint, and he started to cry and sign "all done" like he was saying "all done with school ready to go home!" He shakes his head for "no" when he doesn't want something. He can also sign for "milk" but doesn't use that one nearly as often. We really haven't been very consistent with other signs but I definitely want to teach him more of them.
Recently Arlo started showing all the signs that he was teething again - drooling like a rabid animal, fussiness, chewing on everything, biting me (ouch!), and red, rosy cheeks. This went on for around two weeks and I kept checking for the next set of molars to pop through. Strangely enough, the teething signs stopped as abruptly as they started, and now I am so confused as to why they even happened. He has 16 teeth right now, the canines came through at around 13 months, and we really wouldn't expect any more teeth until 18-24 months. I have a feeling by the time I write the next update that we will see them starting to cut through, but for now I think we are on standby, thank goodness.
So this concludes yet another Arlo update. I can't wait to see how things have changed when I write the next update at 18 months. Toddler-hood is a wild ride but I sure wouldn't want to be on it with anyone else...
