April 2011 DDC

[mamapigeon]

We have toddlers!!!! 

[minkajane]

I can't believe it! So who's got walkers? Abby's not walking yet. She can stand on her own for a second (until she realizes it's happening and gets freaked out!) and is getting really good at walking while holding hands. She does cruise like crazy and climbs like a monkey. As mobile as she is now, I'm nervous about when she walks!

She's talking up a storm now. Just about any word we stay pointedly to her, she'll try to repeat. Like if we say, "Abby, can you say Tay-lor?" She'll say, "Day-da?" And Taylor gets all excited, dancing around and yelling that she said his name. It's so stinking cute!

[justrose13]

Mandy, that's soooo cute! wow, she's doing good with talking!! Silas says quite a few words: mama, miw (milk), ca-cah(cracker), pa (diaper), ba (ball), boh (book), beh (bear), te-th (teeth)... and lots more that are less understandable but in context I feel like I can guess. he DOES NOT repeat, tho. lol Silas started walking about a week or so after standing on his own like you describe Abby doing. it won't be long!!

so, how's nursing/solids going for everyone?

[pattimomma]

Hi Everyone!

Abbey still hasn't doubled her birth weight (9lbs). She only weighs 16.8lbs, not even on the chart but for height she is 50% and she looks healthy. She takes about 5-7 steps at a time and then sits down. Talking, talking, talking  all the time. Abbey is completely weaned. I have to travel for work and it's just too hard to keep up the nursing. I am gone for up to a week at a time so she just isn't interested anymore.

[mamapigeon]

Wow, it sounds like everyone is doing really well!

Wyatt is walking, running, and climbing some. He likes to scramble up on to the couch, which can be scary for me because he likes to do it when I'm cooking. He's able to climb up stairs, but is unable to get down them on his own.

He's also talking quite a bit and knows some really weird words like clock, sun, and squirrel. I love when he talks! I have only heard him string together words a few times, but his vocabulary is large enough that I think sentences will come shortly.

He is obsessed with bugs, especially butterflies, so we have books, puzzles, and stuffed bugs everywhere. He is also learning to recognize letters and seems to understand that they form words.

Nursing is still going well for us, but Wyatt seems way less interested. I feel like he's down to around 3 times during the day, plus as he falls asleep for naps. He nurses maybe 3 times during the night, too. Solids are going well, he eats basically everything that we eat. His current favorite is yogurt.

This is on Mother's day. We had a picnic at a local park and Wyatt had a great time running around in a huge field.

This is when Wyatt saw a tiger at the zoo!

[IdentityCrisisMama]

Hi, everybody. I'm back on MDC a bit...now that the toddler stage has begun! Happy to see this thread. I'm going to attache some pictures too but have a quick question. What's going on with your LOs with naps. We need major nap help!

LL is walking - she started taking steps a few months ago and was the slowest first steps-true walker. It was funny how different she took to it from my first. LL doesn't really talk yet. She over uses a few words like "Aya" (the name of her sister), which she uses for all children. She also makes some sounds for animals but no real talking. She got a jump start on separation anxiety when I took her to a crazy music festival a couple of weeks ago. Sigh. I think I broker her. J/K. 

LL still nurses all.the.time. I need to be better about solids. Do you all feed solids on a good schedule? We're a family of grazers so there's no good schedule for LL. I'm usually so hungry by the time I get some food for myself that it's hard for me to take good time and attention to feed LL. Not good. I'd love to hear what's been working well for you. LL's still night nursing all night long...just like her big sister did. I'm a disaster at night weaning though I'd love to nurse a little less at night. 

We started vaccinating with Dtap at 1 year, have been sicker this 1st year of LLs life than ever before. Poor thing has had like 5 colds already. Life with a school age kids and neighbors, I guess. LL is around 18 lbs so I guess she doubled her birth weight not too long ago (she was 8.3). Her sister was a peanut so I'm not one to worry about weight. What else...oh! LL needed stitches after a fall. It was the worst thing ever. Poor thing wasn't even born in the hospital so I was all wigged out. I think I was in shock. It was really bad. But, I'm glad we got the stitches. The scar is pretty bad and I would have doubted myself forever if we hadn't. 

It's nice to reconnect!  

[minkajane]

It's been months since I've seen this thread and we can't let it die! How is everybody? We had an exciting day today - Abby started walking! She's taken a step or two between furniture before, but today she was off and running like crazy!
 

Here she is, running after a snack. This kid was dangerous enough when she crawled - we're really in trouble now. :-D

How has everyone been?

[pattimomma]

Minkajane- How much does Abby weigh now? In the picture she looks really good.

My Abbey started walking at almost 13 months. She has mastered the stairs now so we took the baby gates down. She is all over the place!

I finished my master of science degree this summer and have been traveling a bit for work.

How's everyone else?
 

[minkajane]

I don't know exactly how much she weighs now. I haven't weighed her since her one-year checkup, but she's wearing 9 months now, sometimes even 12. Definitely chunking up. Yay!

[mamapigeon]

Just wanted to pop in and say hello! How is everyone doing?

Wyatt is changing so much that I feel like he's a new person every week! He's picking up words quickly and seems to be having fun experimenting with 2 and 3 word sentences. I've been having a lot of fun reading longer books with him since he can appreciate stories now instead of simple books.

I'm noticing lots of signs that Wyatt is growing in to the helpful stage, trying to sweep with my broom, watching me do laundry, trying to help me load the dishwasher, etc. It's really nice! I found a little broom for him and he'll sweep crumbs around the kitchen for about half an hour before getting bored!

Wyatt dropped to one nap a day at around 13 months, which is really hard for me, but at the same time it allows us to do more interesting things during the day.

[IdentityCrisisMama]

Hey, everybody!! 

We're doing well. LL is so funny and cute at this age. If only she would sleep for a few hours at night. 

[mamapigeon]

Glad you're doing well!

We're having a bit of trouble too with night time sleeping... I think Wyatt *might* be working on his 2 year molars.

What have people been doing to fill the days?  We do a lot of reading, coloring, play with cars, and go for walks on nice days... Help, I need some more exciting ideas!

[pattimomma]

Abbey loves to help around the house too! I can count on her to put everything (and I mean everything) in the trash can LOL

We are always so busy with our older children, going to fall festivals, soccer games and other events that we don't have any problem filling up Abbey's day. I wish I had some suggestions for you.

She is also down to one nap and she still co-sleeps at night. We are trick or treating tonight so that should be cold and fun.

I am glad that this thread is still around :)
 

[minkajane]

Let's see those Halloween costumes! Abby dressed up as a spider, but I don't know how well the pictures turned out. She was so overwhelmed and confused by the whole process that it was tough to get her to sit still and take the picture.
 

[pattimomma]

My Abbey was a pumpkin. She is my 5th child to wear that costume. Since she has older brothers and sisters she had no problem figuring out exactly what to do. She said trick treat, instead of trick or treat, and she said thank you after getting to pick out candy and put it in her bag. She also wanted to walk for a good bit of the way even though we had the stroller with us. My big kids ended up with 4 pounds of candy each!
 

[mamapigeon]

Those costumes sound cute!

We didn't end up going out for Halloween, as we're sick right now. Next year, I guess.

[minkajane]

I wish I had some of the trick or treating on video. She started to figure out what we were doing after a couple of houses and toddled up and held out her little pumpkin and said, "Ti-teet!" (trick or treat) and then "na-noo!" (thank you).

How many of your kids have their own little language? She speaks very well and can say things just fine when prompted, but she's come up with her own little words for things, like na-noo. "Eshoo" is both "I love you" and "I'm sorry." She also tends to end most of her words with a T or an S for some random reason. Like she calls herself "Abbeet" or "Abbees."
 

[pattimomma]

My Abbey says "bwa" and does the more sign in sign language when she wants more of something. She calls her brother (Josh) a name that I can't even figure out how to spell :) Most of the other things she says are pretty clear. Hailey (her sis) sounds a bit like Hayee, no L.
 

[Blanca78]

HI Everyone! Glad to see this thread revived. We're good here--E is saying lots of words, though not that many that are readily understandable. She's very into animals--birds, dogs, cats, tigers ("dider"), bunnies, ducks, and most of all, "fish." She finally took steps around 15.5 months, but didn't start regularly walking everywhere for another few weeks. Now I haven't seen her crawl in ages.

The only bad thing going on right now is what I think is the 18-month sleep regression. After months of reliable sleeping through the night (with a few blips), for the past couple of weeks she's been crying when we put her down and waking up 1-3 times a night. It's been especially bad this past week, and I think she's gotten back into the habit of wanting to be nursed every time she wakes up. Hopefully it'll pass soon...

[minkajane]

My MIL got a good pic of the kids right before they went trick-or-treating so we got at least one this year.

You can tell by DD's face that she's not sure what's going on. She had a blast though!

We started having some trouble with sleep a couple of months ago, so we decided to see how she'd do with her own bed. It really helped a lot. We made a big deal out of her Big Girl Bed and got her nice and conked out before we laid her in it. She slept through the night that first night! It took a couple of weeks before she'd wake up without freaking out that she was somewhere unfamiliar and she still comes in with us when she doesn't feel good, but in general moving her to her own bed has ended the all-night marathon nursings and the multiple wakings every night.