18 months

I can't believe my "baby" is a year and a half old!

At Kennywood Park

Neil has made some leaps and bounds with motor skills recently. He's starting to climb more, up on the couch, into the car at daycare, etc. But he still wants me to hold him over walking/climbing himself. I feel mean but sometimes I tell him he has legs and he can walk. He actually used to go up and down the stairs more than he does now (maybe the novelty wore off). 

Peek a boo! (At a Pirates game)

Neil is still eating really well. He has good days and bad but in general he still eats more than I do. If he doesn't eat as much one day, daycare keeps the extra. I check the fridge every day so I know if I should pack less for the following day (if he has leftovers).

In general, Neil's not biting as much BUT he bit a kid at daycare leaving marks. I'm mortified and apologized a bunch of times. It turns out he and the other kid (who is a year older and new to daycare) got into a little argument and according to the other kid's dad his kid hits a lot. So who knows what really happened there. I keep a close eye on Neil when other kids are around and if it looks like there's a chance he's going to bite I will step in. However, I haven't seen it myself around other kids.

Neil is also getting more assertive. I blame part of this on the other kids at daycare and seeing other behaviors but I know individual personality also comes into play so we'll see what happens as he continues to get older. He pushes people away if he doesn't want them close. He does seem to be okay with sharing toys, etc. from what I can see though.

Eating ice cream (mine)

Since this is 18 months I'll talk again about schedule although it's pretty settled at this point.

7:00am wakes up for the day- 7 days a week

• On the weekend nurses and then has yogurt for breakfast

• During the week goes to daycare and has yogurt/what I pumped for breakfast at daycare

11:00am lunch

• I try to send a protein, veggie, and fruit along with cow's milk

12:30pm nap

• Usually 2-3 hours

3:30pm snack

• At daycare this is almost always a banana. I send a banana almost daily to daycare. He gets milk or water whenever he wants it throughout the day.

5:45pm dinner

• Again I try to get protein, veggie, and fruit, and we often give him animal crackers. With cow's milk

7:00-7:30 start bedtime routine

• Bath  (not daily)

• Change diaper

• Put on pajamas (let him choose out of two)

• Choose book(s)

• Brush teeth

• Read book(s) with Daddy

• Nurse

Neil has started to pick out books that he really likes. He likes to talk along with the book and knows what's coming in a lot of the parts. His favorites right now are:

• The Little Engine That Could

• Hand, Hand, Fingers Thumb

• We All Go Traveling By

Neil still throws tantrums but it's getting more predictable. Knock on wood! Usually it's because he's not getting what he wants and of course it's worse when he's tired. One day I made him walk in from the car after we got home and he threw himself on the driveway. Since we're on a pretty dead street and I could hear him screaming, I ran in the house to drop some stuff off, keeping an eye on him. I could hear the screaming getting closer as he walked into the garage still throwing a tantrum. I guess he just wants attention!

We did a study at the University of Pittsburgh where he proved that he doesn't help or share. They told me this is normal for his age. They did things like drop something on the floor to see how he would react. He watched but did nothing- not when she reached out her hand for the item, and not even when she asked him to get the thing she dropped. It was hard to sit there and not tell him to go get the items or help. (I was in a chair filling out surveys.) He may not help other people but he does help us. He throws things in the garbage for us (we used this trick on my brother who is 16 years younger than me), helps me carry in the diaper bag from the car after daycare, and sometimes just comes up and pats me on the shoulder or back. It's interesting to see that he won't do any of that for someone he doesn't know.

Waiting patiently at the doctor's office

Neil is still talking like crazy. He repeats pretty much everything. He of course can't pronounce everything correctly, but he talks quite a bit, to us. He doesn't talk as much around other people until he gets comfortable. There are a lot of times that we can't understand what he's saying unless we can get some context but he definitely repeats the same syllables.

He looks forward to this at church now

This is too early, but potty training. Apparently at daycare they have gotten him to go to the bathroom on the toilet (both peeing and pooping). I think it's when they've moved him to the toilet before he actually goes- when he squats to start pooping. We did buy him a toilet seat for home but he hasn't gone at home yet, although he likes to sit on it and asks to sit on the potty sometimes. So we're going with it but not taking away diapers or anything. I'm not sure he's really ready, just very interested. He doesn't tell us when he has to go, yet. And so far when he's asked, he's just sat there and not actually gone to the bathroom.

Stats:
Clothing - 18 month tops and 12 month bottoms. He's also in 18 month pajamas. 

Diapers – size 3
Shoes - size 5

Weight - I will update this after the doctor appointment, which isn't for a few weeks. I actually did have him at the doctor's for something else and he weighed in at 25 pounds with clothes and shoes on.

Height -  I will update this after the doctor appointment, which isn't for a few weeks.

Weekly Pictures 7/20 - 7/26

Red Velvet ice cream

Now we need to be careful where we put boxes because he is using them to climb up on things

Traffic at a standstill outside the Squirrel Hill tunnel due to an accident

Ice cream for the 2nd time this week

Watching Land Before Tim

A new way to play ladderball?

Citrus Lane July 2014 with referral code

This is the 7th month we've gotten a box from Citrus Lane. We received a box for free and then bought a six month subscription, $126 total (no additional shipping cost) so each box is $21. My favorite box was the May box. This box might have been my least favorite so far but it wasn't as bad as the infant box that was shipped out, which had a mobile included even for a 10 month old. I'm not sure I'm going to renew this subscription. I'm still wavering. I just love grab bag ideas and Neil really likes opening these boxes and seeing what's inside. (Update: Between writing this and the post going live I found a coupon code that made 6 months $105 and I did sign up for the next 6 months. The next 6 boxes will be $17.50 each.)

Here's a breakdown of the items and how much they would cost on Amazon as of today:

My First Camera from Plan Toys 

This was the option with the sneak peek that I was allowed to pick. It was either this camera or a cell phone that was similar. I figure that Neil keeps taking our cell phones enough, there is no way he'll be happy with a "fake" one. Plus, when we get new phones we might leave the kids' applications on one of ours, make sure credit card/internet is disabled, and let him have ours.

This camera seems to be built well (although Dave says there is a lot of glue on part of it). Neil doesn't get what it is or how to use it, which is fun to watch in itself. It turns out the camera part is one of those kaleidoscope type things. Neil turns it upside down, looks in it backwards, etc. I feel old now.

Looking through the camera

$17.99 on Amazon but on sale for $13.52 and eligible for Amazon Prime. 

Aqueduck Faucet Extender from Peachy

I think this is a little early for Neil. We did just get him a stool and he likes me to hold him up to the sink so he can rinse his hands. But he barely reaches even this while standing on his stool. I'm sure this will come in handy in time though.

$9.99 on Amazon but on sale for $9.73 and eligible for Amazon Prime. 

Silicone Placement from Oogaa

I was kinda disappointed in this placemat. We have those disposable ones and Neil just rips them off the table at this point so we don't use them. Maybe we will get more use out of this as he gets older and isn't sitting in a high chair anymore. This is the whole point of a grab bag and things recommended by other moms, right? Anyway, I know that for the younger kids they sent spoons from Oogaa and honestly I would have rather had that than this placemat. When I first saw this package I thought we got the spoons and then realized it was the placemat.

$8.99 on Amazon and eligible for Amazon Prime. 

Mighty 4 Pouch from Plum Organics

We had the box for a few days before I let Neil open it. Luckily, this time, I peeked in the box myself (mostly because I was curious if we got a mobile too) so I pulled this out before Neil opened the box. Otherwise he would have been grabbing for this immediately, he loves these pouches. We still only use them when we're on the go but they definitely come in handy. I've had some of the other Mighty 4 pouches; this is a new flavor to try. It is supposed to be a healthy blend of all four food groups.

$1.50 in the store. I buy these all the time.

Pur~Protect SPF 30 from Pur~Lisse

I can always use sunscreen.  I haven't tried this out yet though so I can't comment more than that.

I couldn't find the price for this size bottle on Amazon. I found a price of $16.50 on this blog with a review of a 4 year old Citrus Lane box.

Plan Toys, Peachy, Oogaa, and Plum Organics included coupon codes as well.

Overall counting the "sale" prices on Amazon the value of the box was $50.24. I'm surprised at this (that it's this high), but the sunblock puts it over and I'm not sure that's a good price for that. The items we received this month are those that will take some time to see how much use we get out of them. We used to get a lot of books, and they haven't included any recently, so I hope they start getting back to that. Although as I said in the beginning, this is probably our last box.

I also need to keep in mind that this IS a grab bag. There are going to be things I do like and things I don't like and that's the whole point of these boxes. From what I've read they choose things recommended by moms (not sure who they poll to find out what to get) and I assume they also choose things that they get in a huge quantity.

There was also a special code for any referrals (similar to the one a few months ago). Click on this link to get 50% off your first box. If you do this I get $20 credit at Citrus Lane. Again, no pressure though. Just use it if you're interested and would like the discount on one box. Here is the link.

Another side note, they often have a "shop the box" on their site (Citrus Lane) where you can buy what was in the box. Most of the time the items we receive aren't on the page but this week 3 of them were. If I bought the items off Citrus Lane it would be $16.00 for the camera (compared to $13.52 sale price on Amazon), $8.95 for the placemat ($8.99 on Amazon), and $12.00 for the faucet extender ($9.73 sale price on Amazon). Just to be aware that the prices on Citrus Lane aren't necessarily as good as those on someplace like Amazon.

Weekly Pictures 7/13 to 7/19

The very first time he actually RODE his bike.
(Every other time he has pushed it.)

He has decided that he likes to sit in the rocking chair in his room.
Watching a video or something on Dad's phone.

Sneaking up the stairs to scare Daddy.

Dinner at one of our favorite local restaurants, Chalkboard Cafe

Chick-fil-a is so yummy we had to try to stuff a piece of chicken
into our mouth in addition to a huge waffle fry.

Maybe a step stool wasn't such a good idea...

Wordless Wednesday

Weekly pictures 7/6 - 7/12

He climbed up on the end of the couch to read a book while I was laying there.

He's decided he loves getting into his dad's wallet...

...and my work laptop

I helped put the bib on (at his request) but this was all Neil. 

Eating at Steak N Shake. He loves stickers.

Would you like a fry, Mommy?

We went to a local carnival. Neil seemed to like this more than he liked Kennywood. Go figure. Even though he's under 2 we had to pay for him to ride the rides but he could ride a good number of the rides (one of us had to go on as well though and pay for both us and Neil). The attendants at the games were really annoying- wouldn't leave you alone as you walked by. I felt bad but after a few minutes I acted like I didn't even hear them.

We had a playdate on Saturday with a good friend of mine and her daughter who is almost a year older than Neil.

Dave and I went on date night! Our first REAL date in a loooong time. We've had a babysitter in but usually for things like a beer dinner with some friends, etc. This was just us. And a late night, which doesn't happen for me anymore, especially with how early I get up for work and the fact that Neil gets up the same time every morning.

The desserts were amazing. Although I couldn't finish this, it was so rich.

Yeah I look like a dork.