I’ll try and make this a bumper edition since it’s a bigger landmark than a regular month and as this will be my last regular update for A.
As a disclaimer for forgetting stuff I want to point out now that this last month has been ridonculously hectic. I’ll write more in a separate post (hopefully) but we’ve had some major house renovations, coinciding with Mr.J being away in Hong Kong for almost a week and a job interview for me amongst other things. The house renovation/improvement continues and we’re hoping to get everything major done before Christmas – fingers crossed and I got the job too so all good stuff but just super super super busy!
Movement: I keep going on about how he still can’t jump and …. he still can’t! Certainly not from two feet together on the floor to two feet together in the air. But he is now stepping off things like the sofa and toilet with complete abandon instead. We’ve been there to catch him so I don’t know if he could have landed these tricks or not. We’ll find out soon enough I guess when one of us isn’t there to catch him. He’s developing his repertoire of dance moves too and I don’t know how but he is getting even faster when he runs.
Teeth: I’m pretty sure we’re still at 16 teeth as I can barely catch a glimpse of the 1st molars when I’m brushing his teeth so there could be some 2nd molars peeking through but I have no idea whatsoever! We’ve both got a dentist appointment in about a month so we’ll see if the dentist has any more luck than me.
Eating: I think his eating is his best example of the fickle nature of the toddler. Somedays he eats LOADS (4 bowls or cereal for breakfast, hungry again at 11am, platefuls of pasta for tea) and some days he doesn’t want to eat at all and would just rather play. He definitely goes through phases with foods he likes too. This month it’s been satsumas but he’s already gone off them again now. Chocolate will always be a winner though, as is evidenced by his ‘helping’ to make the practice run of the chocolate train he’s having at his party tomorrow….
Sleeping: No real change since last month’s post really. He wont nap on non-nursery days unless we go out in the car or pram but he is having shorter naps at nursery now of his own accord so bedtimes aren’t always 9pm on nursery days. He’s still waking and coming into our bed but sleeping pretty well once he’s in with us. The downsides of that are that we end up getting kicked, sharing with A, baby Dave, baby bear and toodle-hoo and then wriggling our way into random spaces in the bed to find space! A few nights ago he was almost asleep when he sat upright and wailed “Plaaaaay aaaaaaaaalph-bet jigsaaaaw”. He did eventually settle down but he woke again a few times that night and said exactly the same thing. And it was the first thing he said when he woke up! This is him post-bath, pre-bedtime looking really tired saying “do towel like Mummy”.
Play: He LOVES the aforementioned aaaaalph-bet jigsaw. It’s also a train so what’s not to love? He’s getting pretty good at it now too and can do the first 4 pieces for the engine and then the apple, bee, cat, duck and elephant before he needs more prompts. He has been having fun with the kitchen he got from his birthday “put everything in oven” and today we had to take the kettle out to the shops with us so he could “make cup (of) tea”. He’s moved up a room at nursery and has been having loads of fun there. He’s done lots of painting and he can play with a train set there whenever he likes! I was quite upset about him moving rooms as he also changed key worker but he has settled down fine and seems to love all the key workers there as much already. He had lots of fun dressing up with Aunty C though; he kept putting my work pass on and telling us he was going to work. He had a lovely time playing with his friend baby G and he’s starting to get more gentle when he interacts with Lyra.
He’s been doing really well on the potty at nursery. He comes home covered in stickers as he gets one every time he goes on the potty. They’ve said he can go in pants if he wants. We’ve tried lots of nappy free time at home and on the whole he’s done well but he still doesn’t anticipate any movements so we have had some accidents. When he first wet himself he obviously noticed the temperature as he said “I did a hot wee” and that phrase seems to have stuck now, as has “I did poo. Sausage poo”. He also managed to “do poo on rug” despite having jeans on…. I’m not convinced he really is ready for pants but we’ve bought him some anyway and cleaning the potty is a LOT easier than cleaning a poo-ey nappy so we’ll keep on going. He keeps trying to help sort the potty out though – taking out the insert and saying “I sort it”!!
Communication: I could write a book just on what he says now! Today we were in the bank and the lady behind us said how good his language and communication was. And then he said “I did a trump! Pardon me A…” loud enough for everyone in the bank to here…. lovely. At lunch today the waitress said how polite he was as he did say “Pssss have my milk?” when his milk arrived though so it’s not all bad! Aunty C (and me….) got him to copy us saying some classic phrases from Bo Selecta so he now sometimes just says “hee hee” and “Can I use your toilet?”. The most annoying phrase we’re getting right now is “I want my X….(back)” as it’s said a LOT, and is often accompanied by him stretching out a hand to try and reach for said item. He sings a lot more words to nursery rhymes now and can sing a few letters along with the alphabet song. He also surprised us when he sang along to “Let it go” as it’s not something we’ve listened to before!
Some birthday snaps: We’re having a teeny party tomorrow and will take some more pics then but these are the ones we took from his actual birthday. We had to open presents in our bedroom as the decorator was painting our living room but he had a fantastic day out at the National Railway Museum.
All things JenkinSunts! 