I haven't done a "month" post in awhile, and in fact I was just going to leave it at the last one, since 18 months seemed like a good cutoff point. But they've been doing and changing so much lately that I couldn't resist a little update...a 20.5 month update, if you will.
Eat. Three meals a day (7:30 am, 11:00 am, 5 pm) and 1-2 snacks (9:30 am and/or 3 pm). They finally transitioned in the past few weeks to eating lunch before nap, which makes our morning schedule a bit easier, and our afternoon one as well. They've been pretty good eaters, too-Brooklyn willingly ate broccoli (!!!) last week, which I think is the first green vegetable she has willingly touched since she turned one. Actually Brooklyn has probably been a better eater than Caden lately, easily downing three bowls of cereal/oatmeal in the morning, and even three generous helpings of spaghetti the other night. Maybe she's going through a growth spurt? Caden has been more interested in throwing his food and utensils lately, which is driving me crazy. He eats pretty well, but then is more interested in throwing things (which he finds hilarious) and getting back to playing.
Sleep. Bedtime at 7/7:30 pm, sleep for 11-12 hours. Nap at noon for 2-2 1/2 hours. So as mentioned above, the biggest transition as of late has been to what I think of as a more "normal" toddler schedule, eating lunch before they nap and napping more in the middle of the day. The best part has been that their naps have been consistently 2-2 1/2 hours each day! They've never napped this well before. One day they were suddenly crazy hard to put down for a nap-playing and laughing for well over an hour-and the pattern repeated itself the next few days in a row. Once I shifted to eating lunch and napping an hour later, I've had no problems with putting them down for a nap. I tried it once before, but they got tired too early in the day. I'm not sure what caused this sudden transition, but I'll take it! Caden has had some rough nights over the past week, or at least some rough early mornings, which I think was due to teething (eye teeth). He's ended up in bed with me except for the past two nights, and I hope and pray that pattern continues. Otherwise they've been sleeping pretty well and transitioned just fine to the environment of their new room.
Play. They are running and exploring everywhere in this new house! They love to have the space to run around in, and it's also great to have a playset in the backyard and park just down the street. I'm also loving that they have their own playroom, and while toys do migrate, the bulk of the mess stays contained.
Caden has been kind of difficult lately, though nothing too out of the norm for a little toddler boy. He just gets so upset when he doesn't get his way, and is always testing limits of what he can do, both physically and pushing the boundaries of rules. I can tell him not to do something three times in a row, and he will look at me and do it anyway. Though it is adorable when he doesn't think I'm looking, and then catches me watching him...he gets all serious and says, "oh no" in this little sad voice. I think part of his behavior comes from Tyson still being gone (I'm the only authority figure consistently around), and part of it has been his poor sleep/teething, two things that I know contribute to a worse mood/behavior from him. Physically he has no fear, and he wants to jump off everything, slide down the tallest slides, and climb whatever he can, whenever he can. He is all boy.
Brooklyn continues to be in her general happy mood. She loves to dance any time there is the smallest amount of music, something other people-even strangers-have been commenting on. She's also loving coloring and does very well keeping herself occupied. She is so smart and patient with puzzles and picks up on things so quickly it surprises me. Last week we were at the library where there is a magnetized alphabet puzzle that she loves. She easily matched several of the letters to the right spots...and this is a toy geared to someone twice her age! The only strange thing is that she has an absolute aversion to baths. It started before we left Madison but has gotten worse. She wants nothing to do with the tub besides watching and laughing as Caden splashes. I've tried new toys, bubble bath, sponging her off in the sink...she hates it. I have no idea what caused her fear, but hopefully she will get over it soon.
At first I was struggling to find activities to do with them here, but now I think we are getting some sort of routine. We attended an Early Childhood playgroup this morning that they really enjoyed, and there is a story time at the library that we've been attending on Thursday mornings. There are other Early Childhood classes that they will be able to sign up for next session (February), but unfortunately they are all full right now, or only have one opening...which doesn't work so well for us. We even met a friend at story time last week and set up a playdate! We (I) can't wait for Tyson to be back permanently, but picking up more of a routine in the meantime is nice for us all.
Bonus selfie:
Three things can be gleaned from this picture:
- Though you can't see her teeth, you can tell that Brooklyn is "cheese"-ing her heart out by the crinkled up nose and eyes.
- As she's my mini-me, you can basically just cut the picture in half and put Brooklyns eyes/nose on top of my nose/mouth and have a full portrait of either one of us.
- My arms are too short.