Mason - 19 Months

I had planned on doing an 18 month post, but before I knew it another month had passed. We are really enjoying this age right now. Mason is in between getting his eye teeth and two year molars, so he's usually pretty happy. It has been a long time since he's had a break with the whole teething thing. The hardest part of his age is the growth spurt that has messed up his sleep. We seem to be steering back towards familiar nap times and bedtimes, which would make life a lot easier. His brain is just so busy. It is amazing how much he is learning!

Mason has a nice sized vocabulary and we usually can understand what he wants or needs, but certainly not 100% of the time. He has well over 100 words, so I won't give you a big list, but some of his most used words are: car, more, truck, trailer, tractor, up, poop, drink, kitty. Whenever he wants in the fridge he says "ah-bul-dah". Open that? He doesn't say two word phrases too often, but the other morning he was chasing after our cat and said, "Hi, kitty." That was pretty cute.

His artistic interested has grown in the past couple months. His favorite medium is probably bath crayons, and lucky for us, he only uses them on the tub. Sidewalk chalk usually doesn't hold Mason's interest for very long and we've only tried paint once. Playdough is fun, but only if there are tools to use with it. He doesn't like how it sticks to his fingers.

Mason self weaned during his 18th month. My milk dried up due to my pregnancy hormones, so he lost interest. However, it wasn't an easy transition. The week he weaned he also had roseola (high fever, followed by a rash), the nights were rough. I wish I still had milk and I know he misses it, too. Every once and a while he whines a little and pulls at my shirt. It was a little heartbreaking since neither of us were necessarily ready to be done, but not something I can change. The positive is that he's sleeping so much better now that he doesn't nurse throughout the night. The long stretches of sleep I thought I'd never experience again are plentiful (unless you count getting up to pee.. ugh..)

We've tried giving Mason almond (vanilla and regular), hemp, coconut, and whole cow's milk. He seems to like the whole milk best lately, but just like with every other kind he seems to lose interest. Perhaps we will just have to keep switching it up? I'd like to maybe try goat milk or raw cow's milk. We just need to make sure he is getting the fat and vitamins he needs from those drinks, which can certainly be a challenge.

Mason loves to snack. He eats the most at breakfast, wakes up with a big appetite. I made these muffins a while back, thought they turned out awful, but they are one of his favorite things to eat. My freezer stash has finally run out, so I'll have to attempt them again. Some of his other favorites are Annie's fruit snacks and cheddar bunnies, fruit leather, blueberries!, hamburger, ketchup, peaches, guacamole, spaghetti, pretty much any tomato-y substance, and cereal with milk. He really enjoys fruit, but seems to just chew on veggies for a while before spitting them back out.

We went to Mason's well check on Friday. {Did I ever mention we switched clinics? Well we did, and it was a good decision} He does not like the nurse at the clinic. Her voice is a little higher than anyone else's we know and I think that scares him. He pretty much cries anytime she gets near him. Luckily he is more of a fan of the PA than the nurse. She's pretty awesome. We learned he's perfect health wise, weighs 25.5 pounds (average), and is in the 10th percentile for height.

 

Mason is very affectionate and loves to share with us. Just the other day, we were at the zoo and he was chasing around a little girl twice his age trying to give her a big, open-mouthed kiss. So cute. He never got close enough, but had fun following her around. (Don't worry, she was having fun, too).

Excited to see what the next stage of development brings!