Arlo: 21 months old

The past three months have brought more changes with Arlo than I could have anticipated.  He has had quite the development in the speech and communications department, among other things.  Here is what he is up to at 1 3/4 years old!

Sleeping:  No big changes here.  Bedtime routine starts between 7:00-7:15pm, and he is down for the count by 7:30ish.  He is usually up between 6:30 and 7:00am, but just in the last week or so started sleeping in until 7:30 or later.  I am hoping that this is our new normal, ha.  Naps are still around 1.5 hours in length and typically happen from 1:00 to 2:30 pm.

Arlo is still sleeping in his crib, and we plan to keep him there for as long as it is safe for him to be in it.  I have caught him trying to climb out of it a couple of times in recent weeks, so I think by his second birthday we will probably have to upgrade to a real bed.  On our recent trip to NY, we wanted to avoid taking any unnecessary baby equipment as we traveled by plane and didn't want excess stuff to haul around.  So we opted not to take the pack-n-play, where Arlo has traditionally slept when we have traveled.  Surprisingly, Arlo did great sleeping on his own in a queen sized bed at the hotel.  I surrounded the edge of the bed with pillows so he couldn't roll off, and he pretty much stayed right in the middle anyway.  So, I am hopeful it will be a pretty easy transition when we do upgrade his bed.

Eating:  Not too many changes in this area either.  Arlo still eats pretty much the same foods as he did at 18 months old, which pretty much include everything that Erik and I eat.  I recently started giving him cereal with milk some mornings for breakfast, which he eats on his own with a spoon.  He does pretty well but he is definitely much more skilled with a fork.  That being said, I really haven't let him have much practice with a spoon up until very recently, because it was always more important to me for him to eat more food than learn to use a spoon.  He always ate a lot more when we would spoon feed him the foods that required it (oatmeal, lentils, soup, etc.) but now he is very determined to use it on his own.  He still drinks his plant-based milk mixture, and gets two servings daily unless he asks for more.  He averages around 18 oz of milk per day.

Favorite foods at 21 months:  clementines (we call them oranges because it's easier to say), nuts, hummus on crackers, raisins, and raw bell pepper strips.

One change we have seen in the eating department, is what I think is the start of the toddler food pickiness.  He used to eat pretty much anything we gave him, but is now becoming a bit more selective of what he wants to eat.  He will immediately remove things from his plate that he doesn't want to eat ("don't you know I am not eating cucumbers this week, mom!?")   It's kind of cute until he starts launching the unwanted items on the floor for Lucy to eat.  Still, he eats a well rounded diet and a good amount of food throughout the day. 

Weight and Length:  not sure, as the next pediatrician appointment is not until he turns two.  But I know he has grown, see below...

Wearing:   With cooler weather quickly approaching, I recently pulled out all of Arlo's 18-24 month pants, shirts, and jackets I had picked up here and there when I found a good deal.  And guess what?  Not a single pair of pants fit him!!  They are all way too big in the waist, even though the length fits just right.  I had to make a trip to the local consignment store last weekend to pick up a few pairs of smaller waisted pants.  The solution I have found, is the pants which have the adjustable elastic tabs inside the waist.  I can cinch them as small as they go, and then they fit.   So, current pant and shirt size is 18 month or 18-24 month size.  Pajama size is 18 month (although those are very snug fitting), 24 month, or 2T.  Shoe size is a 6, although his 5.5 sandals still fit as well. 

Likes and dislikes:  

Likes:  Balls (huge obsession here.)  We go for evening walks around the neighborhood and the nearby cul-de-sacs all have basketball hoops and random balls hanging around.  Erik helps Arlo "dunk" the ball which Arlo thinks is amazing.  Arlo is also really into cars, trucks, planes, and all things that go.  One of my very favorite things that he started doing is making truck noises when he plays with his toys.  He knows the firetruck makes a "wee-oooh-wee-oooh" sound,  the car says "beep beep," and other trucks make another sounds as well.  His very favorite thing is books, and he wakes up asking to read, and goes to bed asking to read.  Favorite books include: Bing Bedtime (I wish I could say I love this book but after reading it 1,000 times I am quite annoyed with it!), A Lighthouse Saves the Day, Tip Tip Dig Dig, Where is Little Mole, The ABCers, First Words picture books, his Highlights Hello magazines, and anything to do with the Pixar "Cars" Movie (he hasn't ever seen the movie but loves the books.)  He also still loves music and dances whenever a song he likes comes on.
 
He also loves to help me do things around the house.  He is a great laundry helper.  Earlier this week, he put an entire load of towels into the washer, carried the basket back to the hallway where I had it earlier, closed the washer door, then randomly started pushing buttons on the machine.  He knows which doors we typically keep closed in the house (closets, laundry room, etc.) and will close them immediately if he sees them open.  Oh, and he loves to knock on doors.  Sometimes he will leave the room we are in, close the door, stand on the other side and knock until I open it.  When I do he will smile and laugh so hard.  Sometimes I do it to him (close a door and knock) and he thinks its hilarious.

Dislikes:  When things don't go his way.  The cereal keeps falling off his spoon??  Well, THAT IS JUST AWFUL.  He gets somewhat easily frustrated and is not afraid to vocalize it.  He also dislikes coming inside if he is not yet finished playing in the yard.  He also dislikes it when he picks up one of Lucy's toys and she tries to grab it and play with him.  I think he knows that they belong to her, but he doesn't always like to share.  He is also starting to protest riding in his stroller during our morning walks with Lucy.  He will squirm and cry yelling "walk! walk!" when I put him in the stroller if he doesn't want to ride that day.  If we are not in any particular hurry, I will let him walk alongside the stroller, but it's a slow process.  He has to point out every truck, pick up leaves and sticks along the way, and smell all the flowers (which is actually adorable and a much needed reminder for me to slow down and do the same sometimes.)

New milestones and developments: 

So many things...  At my last update, Arlo still wasn't saying a whole lot.  He had a handful of words, but didn't seem to be in any hurry to expand upon his vocabulary.  However, at 19.5 months, we had something of a language explosion.  He started saying a whole bunch of new words, and then would say 1-3 new words every single day.  At this point, he has a pretty well-rounded vocabulary for his age.  There are many words that he can say spot on.  Mommy, Daddy, house, bubbles, ball, truck, boots, and boat to name just a few.  Others are his version of the actual word.  Those are my favorite!  Here are some "Arlo words:"

Cars are "daa-ee" which kind of sounds like "daddy" (we have no idea where this came from)
Says his name "Ar-o"
Play dough is "me-mo"
Remote is "mote"
Beetle is "bee-ble"
Teepee is "pee-pee"
More is "mo"
Spider is "pie"
Potty is "pa-ee"
Smoothie is "moo-ie"
Pumpkin is "mum-ee" haha!
Scott (as in Uncle Scott) is "cot"
Lighthouse is "house"
Sock is "dock"

I love his sweet voice and the words he comes up with on his own.  There are times as well, where he is clearly trying to have a conversation with you, but the words are certainly not English.  Those are the times when we say "oh yea?" or "ok!" and try not to laugh out loud at the cuteness.  Two words he has learned that have made our lives easier, are "more" and "help."  It's so much better than the whining and pointing he used to do (not to say he never does that, but it just happens a lot less frequently now.)  He is now always asking if things are "hot" before he eats them, and if something is so much as lukewarm he will tell me it's hot.  Sometimes cold things are "hot" too.  Silly kid.  We just started working on learning colors, and he will say white and yellow with some accuracy.   Other times he will call black things white, blue things yellow, and so on. 

In the teething department... They have ALL come in and I feel like in some ways, we have made it.  Teething was an absolute nightmare at times, and I am quite relieved we are done with it.  His bottom two-year molars came in when we were up in Michigan, Arlo was 18.5 months old.  The top molars came through in the following weeks, and they had all come in by 20 months.  While I wouldn't call it a walk in the park, these molars certainly didn't seem to bother him as much as the first set did.  We didn't need to use medicine of any kind, just distraction to help him through the worst of it.

Something else that is new - we are slowly, in a very laid back fashion, working on potty training!  Right about the time Arlo turned 19 months, I got out his potty chairs and the seat I bought that sits on top of the toilet in his bathroom.  I started by just having him sit on it before his bath, because he always pees right when his feet hit the bath water.  It took him a few times of sitting there for him to realize what I wanted him to do, but he eventually realized that he could make himself pee.  Then I put one of his potties in the downstairs bathroom, and he started sitting on it randomly.  Every time he does, I take off his diaper tell him to go "pee pee," and most of the time he will.  Sometimes it's a lot but most of the time he just tinkles.  If he is sitting on the toilet with toilet paper nearby, he wants to wipe.  I think it's because he has seen me do it?  (And no, there is no such thing as going to the bathroom by yourself when you have a toddler...)  He hasn't yet done a #2 on the potty.  I didn't have any expectations that we would work on potty training anytime before the age of 2, as I was under the impression that most boys don't toilet train until closer to 3.  But Arlo has surprised me with his willingness to go on his potty chair.  Oh, and he also requests a book every time he sits down to go, ha!  Like I said, right now we are taking a very laid back approach and letting him go randomly, but probably in a few months we will get a little more serious about it.  The good part is that he is getting used to going on the potty, and loves to do it.  So that's a pretty good start.

I can't believe that my next update will be when Arlo is two years old.  Two!  It wasn't long ago that I was all excited to be coming up on his first birthday.  It really seems that older he gets, the more fun we have together.  Arlo is my little sidekick, partner in crime, and best bud.  I wouldn't trade this kid for the world.

 

 The photos for this post were taken on the green-way near our house that we walk on everyday.  And yes, he insisted on wearing his boots!