Naps: We’ve been fluctuating between one and two naps this month. For the majority of the month, Henry was taking just one nap after lunch, but then those naps started to creep towards being just one hour long, and his general mood started to get more and more sour. We switched back to a long nap in the late morning and a short catnap just before dinner towards the end of the month.

Feeding: Henry weaned himself off of breastfeeding this month. Up until this month, I had been breastfeeding him in mornings right after he got up, and then he got breast milk in a sippy cup for the rest of the day. There were a few mornings in a row where Henry was not interested at all in feeding and pushed away from me. After three mornings like that, we called it quits.

Leading up to this point, I wasn’t quite sure how I would feel once we finally reached the point where Henry was no longer breastfeeding. I knew I would really miss that special bonding time that we had, but I never expected that Henry would just stop so suddenly. I do miss starting our day snuggled close together, but I don’t miss all of those teeth!

Clothing: 18 month

Bedtime: 7:15-7:30pm

Eating: Henry started getting a little picky with food textures this month. Many of his old favorites, like mushrooms, potatoes, and even rice, he will avoid or try and then take out of his mouth. He’s still eats a wide variety of food–and a lot of it at that–but it’s very different from what we’ve had up to this point.

We introduced meat into Henry’s diet at the beginning of this month. Henry is pretty hit-or-miss with it, sometimes he likes it and eats everything on his plate, and other times you can’t even trick him into eating it.

We learned that Henry has outgrown his dairy allergy. Right now we’re only giving him a few items with dairy cooked in them (no raw dairy) to see how he responds. So far things seem to be going well, but he’s been having some type of very mild reaction several days later. We’re not sure if it’s related to the dairy, or something else completely.

Sleeping: This month was a little more difficult in the sleep department. Henry generally has no problems falling asleep on his own. There were a handful of days this month where he was feeling exceptionally lonely and wanted us there while he was falling asleep.

There also were a handful of days where Henry would wake up in the middle of the night feeling really, really sad. I know this is an age where nightmares can start to emerge, and it kind of seems like that’s what we were dealing with. There wasn’t much that comforted Henry beyond snuggling and lots of touch.

We really struggled with having Henry wake up too early. There was a stretch through the middle of this month that Henry would wake up a half-hour to hour early in the morning. We would try to have Henry fall back asleep in his crib. Most mornings he would, but it would only be for another 20 minutes. If we let him snuggle in bed with us, he would sometimes fall back to sleep and sleep for at least another 45 minutes. Other times he would just roll around and coo.

Development: Henry took his first steps this month. We were at our favorite bookstore and he saw a dog puppet on top of a table that he really wanted to look at. He reached and reached for it, and before any of us knew it, he had taken three steps closer to the table. This was a milestone that Adam got to witness too which made it extra-special. Henry is still getting comfortable with walking; it’s not his preferred way of getting around quite yet. He is getting a lot faster at cruising around furniture. Occasionally he will challenge himself and walk across a gap to another piece of furniture to hold onto.

Likes and Dislikes: Henry loves his stuffed kitty and soft baby. He likes to crawl around while holding onto them, and snuggle and hug them. There was even one day that he wanted to snuggle his baby in his crib while he was falling asleep for a nap.

There was a phase this month where Henry got really frustrated when he couldn’t reach the food on our plates during meals. He almost always has the exact same thing on his plate as we do, but he wanted to eat our food and use our utensils.

Henry still loves going outside. There were several times this month where Henry would search through his toy box to try to find the sidewalk chalk, and then beg to go outside once he found it. It seems as if Henry knows the way to park as there were a couple of times this month when we were on a walk and started heading in the direction of the park. Henry got fussy when he noticed that the park wasn’t where we were headed.

Henry does not enjoy being in his stroller for longer periods of time, especially when we are at events or out shopping. When we are on a walk around the neighborhood, it doesn’t seem to bother him. He grabs the buckles to show he wants out, and will arch his back in order to slide out if he’s not ready to go back in his stroller.

There are a few chores that Henry really enjoys doing so I’ve got quite the helper around the house. His top favorites are making the bed and helping to load the dryer. He laughs and giggles when I toss the blankets up and helps to fluff up the pillows. When I empty the washer, I put the laundry on the open door of the dryer for Henry to toss in for me.

This kid is obsessed with steering wheels. His grandpa likes to treat him to “driving” his truck whenever we visit. Now whenever Henry finds a wheel that he can turn, whether it be in the car, at the playground or somewhere else, you can be sure that he will gravitate towards it and spend most of his time “driving”.

New This Month: I’ve noticed that Henry seems to be aware of other kids his age, and it almost looks like he experiences a bit of peer pressure to be like them. There were several days this month when we were at the park or storytime at the library where almost all of the other kids were walking around. Henry would act like he had forgotten how to crawl and would insist that he hold my hand to walk around with all of the others.

Other Notes: We took another trip to New York for World Maker Faire. This was Henry’s second time in New York and third large Maker Faire. The flights to and from New York went relatively smoothly. On the way there, I was on my own with Henry since we all couldn’t get seats together. We had a delay leaving the gate in Minneapolis, which meant that Henry was bored of a lot of the novel things on an airplane before we even took off. He had a slightly difficult time taking a nap, but as soon as we found his blankie, he was better. I had packed and wrapped several new toys for Henry to help keep him entertained on the plane, and they helped quite a bit.

Henry seems to have reached the point where he no longer naps when we are out and about. He will fall asleep in the car if he’s really tired, but it’s a struggle if he’s in his stroller. Before he had no problem napping for an hour or more while we pushed his stroller around at an event. When we were at Maker Faire and walking around NYC, he only slept for 35-45 minutes.

As part of finding out that Henry was no longer allergic to dairy, he had to have a blood test completed. That was one of the most difficult doctor’s appointments for all of us. Henry had to have blood drawn from his arm but they had a lot of difficulty finding a vein and getting enough blood. I was really surprised when we took him back to the doctor’s office about a week later that he didn’t have a meltdown based on just how traumatic it was to drawn his blood.

Mama and Papa Update: Toddlerhood is quite the adventure for us. It’s exciting to see how much Henry is capable of, and to watch how quickly he changes from one day to the next. It’s also exhausting when Henry doesn’t understand his emotions and wants to hit or throw things. Distraction truly is the key to avoid meltdowns and tantrums, but it’s also difficult to squash his desires to try new things or do what we do.