linden | nine months

Life is a blast with this little guy! Forget the days of catching a short break because these days are non-stop chasing after this busy boy. Also, look at this little chunk from last month!!

 

LAST MONTH: 

 

THIS MONTH:

EAT

Every time we sit down for supper, I am amazed at how well he eats.  I've noticed that we are no longer in that timeframe where he will eat anything you put on his tray though.  the 7-8 month stretch is when he had the most accepting palate.  He's a little pickier now and definitely prefers fruits over veggies.  Totally anticipated that, so we just keep offering veggies in the meantime.

 







 

SLEEP

Sleep has been the biggest struggle with this little boy, but we have finally found our groove and a bedtime routine that will get Linden to sleep through the night.  High fives all around!!  It was the smallest change to his bedtime routine but it worked like magic. His old routine went something like this: 7pm - change diaper, get into pajamas, nurse, bed, cry, cry, cry, sleep, cry, cry, cry.  The new routine is: 6:30pm - nurse, change diaper, get into pajamas, read a book, hold him while he buries his head in my neck for 30 seconds, put into crib and turn fan on.  The first few nights he cried for maybe 10 minutes, but the bigger celebration is that he put himself back to bed when he would wake up at 1:30am. Again, high fives all around!! It only took nine months, but we're doing so good now! 

 





PLAY

Linden boy will play with everything and anything which is now a problem in Conner's world.  And Linden hates sharing just as much as Conner, so there's that.  The only good thing is that when Conner takes a toy away, Linden will yell at him for a minute and totally move on to the next toy. 

 





 

Baby Misc:

Linden LOVES crawling up stairs all by himself.  He will get mad if you carry him up the stairs.

He figured out how to open cabinets and drawers but is sparing us from pulling everything out at this time.

He still only has his two bottom teeth, but he has been working on the top ones for for-e-ver.

We went through our first nursing strikes.  Totally unexpected on my part, but we got through them.

   

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toddler life | thirty four

toddler life | thirty four

Hello from my two week hiatus! There's been a lot of life happening here and a ton of distractions which means I've got some updating to do.  

First up... Conner!

He turned 34 months a couple weeks ago, so I am waaay behind.  He continues to change every month, but the changes seem so subtle that they almost go unnoticed.  We're coming to an end with his monthly updates which is so sad, but he's growing up, and I have to let go little by little. 

Toddler Talks

I think back to where Conner's vocab was last year, and where he is today with it, and I'm just amazed.  He was a late bloomer with speech, and that makes me even more proud of him now.  We hold conversations with him.  Like real conversations.  And he tells us stories of things that happened hours, days, and even weeks ago.  His favorite story to tell is when our dog Mia ran down a sand bluff toward the river at the bottom.  Such a simple story, but he loves telling it.

 

Toddler Play

With two boys at an interactive age, Conner has learned that he is not the only that likes to play with toys.  And sharing is H A R D.  If he sees Linden playing with a certain, he runs right over and inserts himself between Linden and said toy.  Sharing is definitely a learned trait.

This past month Joe salvaged some of his old toys from his dad's house and brought them home to Conner.  That means that Conner has more outside toys that he can plow through the yard with.  (Including Joe's Tonka truck from his childhood and you know how much Conner loves his Tonka!)  We now have a deck box dedicated for all the yard toys.

 

Toddler Eats

I still consider Conner a picky eater.  I had an epiphany this past month when comparing Conner's eating habit with Linden's eating habit.  Like with everything else, these boys have different eating habits. It's always been a bit of a struggle to push solid foods on Conner.  Even as a baby/early toddler he just wanted to drink milk and have a few bites of food. 

I realized that things truly haven't changed much over the years. Conner will consume about 200 calories from solid food and ask for milk the rest of the day.  We've always limited his milk intake after he turned one to help push him toward table food, but he'll just go the day without eating much.

The boy loves to drink his calories which I am not a fan of.  Because of this, I always love making or sharing a smoothie consisting of a plant based protein and blend of super greens for him.  This makes me feel better that he's getting proper nutrients while we continue to push him to eating a bigger variety.  Don't get me wrong, he still loves fruits and some veggies, but he just doesn't eat a whole lot in general.

 

 Toddler Sleep

This past month Conner has been very adamant about me putting him to bed at night.  Most nights I catch myself getting slightly annoyed because I have other things to do and I want some me time, but then I quickly remember that these days won't last forever.  And in the end I cherish the fact that he wants me to read to him, lay down with him and say nighttime prayers with him.  Also, hearing him say "amen" is about the sweetest thing you'll ever hear.

Disclaimer: If it isn't obvious yet, you can tell what shirt is Conner's absolute favorite. I promise he wears more than his blue shirt (on some days).

 

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