20 Month Addendum!

So. . . there were two things that Baby Mamma and I realized that we wanted to add, which of course means a couple more photos (as if you were expecting anything else).

First, Baby Mamma mentioned that Justin has learned to recognize hockey. Part of that is because we took Justin to his first Waterloo Blackhawks game, his first live sporting event. We learned that Sunday afternoon games are good family events, and that air horns can be used as a tool to provoke cuddling ;).

Trying to learn as much as possible. As long as you don't mess with his fish.

Also, Justin had an ENT followup. While there, we learned one tube was still working, while the other was essentially hanging out, ready to fall out any time. A couple of pressure tests later, we found his ears were doing pretty well!

Captain Tank's Log - Stardate 57968.2. Trying out my new Captain's Chair. It appears it has some room to grow in to. . .

20 Months

Handsome - 20 months already? That is almost as crazy as both your hair and your face in this monthly picture. In just four months when people ask how old you are, you will be just '2', not 'x number of months'. That's cray cray . . . 

Yep, this crazy. Also, this is less than a month after haircut #2. JUST ONE MONTH!!

Sleep - Amazing again. You did not wake us up a single night. You start to get crabby around 8 pm and usually walk to your room when we ask "Is it bedtime", or "Time for your sippy?". You fall asleep easily, or are at least quiet if you do not fall asleep right away. The only downfall to this is your wake-up time. And by downfall, I mean Mama likes to sleep past 7 am and you no longer sleep past 7 am. Oh well, there are worse things I suppose . . . 

Food - Your eating habits have changed this month as your attitude has changed. You are expressing your opinion more, and let us know what you want and do not want to eat. You say "more more" and point to the fruit, and throw anything you do not want to eat over the side of your tray to Izzers. Your 'Man Belly' as it is affectionately referred to, is in no danger of shrinking. 

Sure, Mama - choose the picture of applesauce and homemade pancakes instead of the Pablo's burrito to make yourself look better . . . 

Temperament - Dude gots a 'tude. Mama and Daddy won't let the dude a) mess with the TV/laptops and b) play with the dvds. Dude wants to a) mess with the TV/laptops and b) play with the DVDS (specifically The Office seasons 1 and 2 - hey, at least he has good taste, right?). Last week, you sat by the dvds and looked at us. Mama said 'If you touch the dvds you will go in your pack n'play'. Without taking your eyes off us, you took one little finger and touched one dvd case. You did get transported to your pack n play, but we were stifling laughs the entire time. (Knuckles dude)

This is your 'faux-sad face'. It is accompanied by stomping your feet, similar to what Mama does when, after going through her entire closet, has NOTHING TO WEAR OMG. 

You have also begun to express your preferences. You have chosen your own pajamas (a set with firetrucks on them) AFTER Mama picked another set for you. 

Opinions or no opinions, we will still dress you in the apparel of our favorite teams. It's near the top of the 'joys of parenting' list. 

You refuse to ride in a normal cart at Hy-Vee. No matter how quickly we try to put you in a regular cart, you see the car carts and bee-line for them. If we carry you, you go limp or flop back to get out of our arms and run to the car, specifically the fire-car (noticing a pattern anyone?). 

Daycare/Mamacare - You have been spending two days a week at home with Mama, and your daycare hours have been cut from 45 hours/week to 18 hours/week due to Mama's job loss. At your bi-yearly conference last week, your teacher told us that you were doing very well, 'sing' along and dance during circle time, and try to be the center of attention (hmmm . . . wonder where you get that from . . . hint: not Mama). 

It's Raining . . . Cash? Hallelujiah it's raining Cash!! As funny as it is, seriously dude - don't throw that stuff. That stuff = cookoos

Speech - You started mimicing this month, though you thankfully have not picked up on any of our 'colorful' vocabulary yet. You have added deck, apple, button, bubble, mine, bark, thank you, and hockey, among others. You are further working on impressing the ladies by memorizing your assistant teacher's name. We are working on saying 'Hi' and 'Bye'.

'h-OCKEY' - Dude loves him some ice sport. I will remind you in the future that you have already promised Mama that you will wear a mouth guard at all times, and a full face mask if possible. We are paying for dental insurance so you will keep your teeth. 

Stud.Muffin.(top).

You love to watch videos of yourself on Mama's phone. You squirm your vain, adorable little tush into my lap and point at my phone saying 'Baby'. Again - your father's son. 

You mean this isn't what this white thing is used for? (blank stare)

Outside - Your adventures outside continued in your 20th month. This means anything from going on a wagon ride to walking around the lawn pointing at each plant to watching Daddy mow the lawn from the deck to playing at the park on equipment that you are much too small for. See the billion pictures below for evidence.

Guys, uh . . . guys . . . I can't quite move myself yet . . . but at least they put me on the right colored equipment this time ;)

Leave it to the ladies . . . 

Everyday I'm shovelin' . . . 

Strike a pose . . . 

Sometimes I feel like the butt of the joke . . . 

FREEEEEDDDOOOOMMMM!!!!!!!

This slide is too small, This slide is not big enough, This bigger slide that is meant for children 3-10 years older than me is just right. 

This is the right size.

 

Vrooooom . . . Vrooooooom . . . Vrooooooom . . . 

Thanks for reading. Now let's get back to Little Blue Truck. 

Beep Beep Beep!

Month 19

Tank - we have now gone past the 19 month mark. It seems like only yesterday we were bringing you home from the hospital. . . oh, I can see by your expression above that you do not want to wax poetic about the distant past ;). Fair enough. I'll try to keep it to about the last 30 days. . .

He would rather we save the tale for his circle time with his stuffed animals

Sleep - Mamma and Daddy are 99.9% sure you did not have any issues/incidents/anything at all that woke you up during the middle of the night. We're pretty sure this is the first month that this is the case, and we'll gladly take another, oh (what's 12x17. . .) 204 more months of that :).

The more often you are this asleep when you are asleep, the better.

Food - More of the same, and we do mean more. We haven't tried anything drastically new, and you seem to be eating it all the same as you have been. You don't tend to play with your food as much, nor do you feed Iz as much as you used to. The nickname Tank (although not as popular as The Dude in the Casa Us) still applies. At your 18 month doctor's appointment, you weighed in at the 90% for other kids your age. You've got a buddha belly which Mamma calls your 'Man Belly' because it hangs over your pants in the front.

Hey Daddy, maybe if your lost some of your 'man belly' you'd be able to pull this wagon a little faster.

Temperament - Month 19 had a noticeable uptick in how you expressed yourself. More pointing, more nodding in agreement when Mamma or Daddy guess right, and more giggling and general silliness. The head butting is still there, but not nearly as often as before. We seem to be developing friendships with other kids at daycare. You and one kid specifically like to squawk back and forth at each other, like you're trying to see who can echo the loudest. You both seem to think it's hilarious.

In Month 19, you started walking besides Mamma and Daddy when going from the car into the house, or into your room at daycare. You also recognize us as soon as we arrive to pick you up, and if we're lucky, you run to us and not away from us ;).

The last month has been uncharacteristically warm and dry for late winter, so you had plenty of opportunities to go outside.

Just sweepin off the deck. Also, I will never run out of Harley Davidson clothes. Grandpa will make sure of that.

They see me rollin. . . they hatin. . . tryin to catch me Radio Flyin'

Alright Dad, I'm awake, let's go outside. What? No I don't care that we were just outside. We went out and came in through the garage. This is totally different.

You also still lover watching one of two DVDs whenever possible: Fireman Sam - Hero Next Door (a collection of stop motion cartoon episodes of a Welsh Fireman), and Baby Genius's Nursery Rhymes. You throw tantrums if you do not get to watch your 'DeeDee.'

Shh, guys, this is when Fireman Sam actually shows emotion, and doesn't act like a Welsh [redacted]

You had two big trips/visits in Month 19.

First: cousin Annabelle stayed the weekend in her first sleepover at Casa Us. Things went very well until late Sunday morning. Then, let's just say Annabelle was ready to go home. . .

Please Note this is what 'Very Well' means in terms of house cleanliness

Going shopping for 'caackaas and cookoos'

Lazy morning. . .

Pillow Fort Awesomeness (Yes Annabelle is looking through a paperback trade of Ms. Marvel, and Justin has his man belly hanging out just a little bit.)

This is Justin's handiwork. It appears 'ball' and 'baby' are synonymous

Second, you got to go to Grandma and Grandpa H's, and help outside on the farm!

I need to get me one of these rigs to drive around at home, Grandpa

I could ride you like a pony.

You also got a chance to see baby calves, and wear your fancy poop kickers that Aunt Lala got you when we helped her move.

With that, the summary of Month 19 comes to a close, and we move on to the big 2-0. . .

Thanks For Reading!

Month 17 . . . and Month 18

Since I failed miserably at posting in the last months [totally not because I can't remember when some of this happened], I am combining months seventeen and eighteen into one post. Here we go.

Food

Justin still eats a lot, but he has gotten into a pattern of eating all.of.the.time. which I am trying to break. I would like him to wait for dinner instead of asking for food constantly upon getting home from daycare. He is not crazy about plain food - meats, fish, etc. Seasoned meat is perfectly fine with him. He still likes vegetables, and will walk over you to get to some fruit or unhealthy snack. He has begun throwing food [truly endearing/sarcasm], which results in his tray being taken away temporarily. While Izzers is very grateful for this, I am not a fan. 

Sleep

Hallelujiah!! After five months of horrible, horrible sleep, Justin started sleeping through the night at his 17 month birthday. It was as if a switch was flipped - that simple. Baby Daddy went on a five day trip to South Carolina, and I (terrified of getting no sleep) gave him a bath, read his book, sung him a song I sang when he was a few months old, and put him in his crib. That night he woke up one time, which I really thought to be a major improvement, took a drink of water and went right back to sleep. The next four nights, I did the same routine, he slept straight through the night, for 10 hours, and I had to wake him up to get ready for daycare. Since then, in an entire month, he has woken up only one night. I am beginning to see how people have more than one child - not that that is happening anytime soon at Casa Us. 

 What? Don't tell me you find rubbing a fleece on your nose relaxing too?

Quick, Papa, I need to read this book 12 more times before naptime. 

 

Naps make me so tired . . . I think I'll chill with Grandpa. 

Temperament 

We have a little troublemaker on our hands, which probably doesn't surprise any of J-Man's grandparents. To start with, he is a head-butter. He headbutts walls, floors, toys, chests, spines, appliances - anything he can. He headbutts hard sometimes - sometimes he cries. We are not sure why he does it. Apparently up to 20% of toddlers do it, with boys doing it more often than girls. Frustration triggers it sometimes, but other times it seems to come out of nowhere. Attention is a common reason, so I currently try to stay calm/ignore it (as long as he isn't hurting himself), and try to help him better cope with his frustrations by redirecting him to some other activity. 

I am not looking forward to the Terrible Twos with these two.

His play skills are a bit rough at this time. At our last play session with Annabanana, Justin pulled her hair more than once and tried to headbutt her. He also hits Izzers, and hardly ever pets nice, which we try to teach. Needless to say, Mama blames daycare. ;)

Speaking

Our little chatterbox is racking up a vocabulary. His list currently consists of:

More (mah')

Please (Cheese or simply 'eees' sometimes)

Mama

Dada

Papa

Gramma

Cracker (caackaa)

Car (cah')

Cookie (cookoo)

Love You (Luh Loo)

Yellow (lehlow)

Book 

Hello ('lo)

Ball

Bye Bye

Annabelle (Anaba) - Annabelle calls him JMAN

Handsome and his Mama (Awwwwwwww). He may be 90% his father, but he's all mine. 







His bear sounds are typically more fierce than his dinosaur sounds.

In addition, he can do the sounds for : cow, sheep, horse, pig, elephant (complete with trunk), cat, puppy, doggy (yes, they are different), duck [his favorite], chicken, monkey (complete with underarm tickling), bear, dinosaur, Little Blue Truck (beep beep), Dump Truck (HONK), toad, lion, cars (vrooom)

These were the best of the 217 photos I took of Justin in his first snow. What? I could have taken more. I only took 91 of the second time we went outside. 

Other Tidbits - 

• Like almost any toddler, he loves being outside. I love that it is good for him, and I can use it as a bribe :)
• Justin is good at identifying body parts and will readily identify eyes, ears, nose, mouth, toes, and belly*.
• He gets upset easily when we go downstairs without him, typically when one of us switches the laundry.
• He will go to the stairs and look out the windows by the front door when I mention 'Grandma and Grandpa'. 
• He still loves to read and has begun expressing his preference for certain books. He brings us "Little Blue Truck", "The Lorax", and "Curious George" most often. 

I want to turn the page! No, I want to the page! (repeat, repeat, repeat)

• He understands "Take a Drink" and "Hooka" (referring to breathing in his nebulizer mist). Only rednecks would be prouder for this.
• He tries to drive his cars on the walls [endearing/sarcasm].
• He loves to throw his crayons more than color with them.

How nice of you to get me a box for Christmas Mama! I LOVE IT!!

• He will climb on anything he can, which is typically what he can topple over - boxes, hampers, you name it, he'll scale it.

* Future Justin, I am sorry for spreading this, but it is too funny. When clothed, Justin will pull up his shirt and touch his tummy when asked where his belly is. When in the tub, asked the same thing, he will touch his balls. Must be a boy thing because Mama does not understand . . .