Levi: 16 Months

What a month, what a month! We have been hit with sickness after sickness all month long. First Levi brought us a nasty cold (turned sinus infection, for me) and then a stomach bug. Then he moved on to a bad vaccine reaction and molar related clinginess and crankiness. Oh, joy! Luckily, he is back to his normal happy-go-lucky self and he is definitely making up for the previous weeks. Here is a recap of his 15th month:

EATING
Milk drinking has stayed the same. I no longer warm his milk--he drinks it straight from the fridge.

This month, foods he tried for the first time:
Grapefruit (oddly, he loved it)
Italian Wedding Soup
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
Smoothies (these have become a breakfast staple and they really help soothe his gums)
Thai Chicken Soup with Rice Noodles
Campbell's Chicken and Stars Soup (this was just about the only thing he would eat when he was sick!)
Still-Frozen Waffles (a friend gave me this tip for teething--works like a charm)
String Mozzarella Cheese
Instant oatmeal (instead of baby oatmeal)

For a month that Levi had a very low appetite because of his sickness, he sure did try a wide variety of new foods! Once his stomach bug had run it's course, he was back to wanting to eat for every meal, but he still was having trouble because his molars were paining him. Enter smoothies. Healthy, delicious, and who doesn't want to drink out of a fancy Starbucks cup every morning?

Levi is also doing really well with using a fork. He is getting more methodical about actually stabbing the piece of food he has his eyes on--instead of just chucking his fork all over his tray and hoping he ends up with something on it.

SLEEPING

The time change this month definitely threw us all off for a couple of days, but Levi bounced back rather quickly. He has been sleeping from 7 PM - 7:45 AM, sometimes even 8 AM. It has been awesome! His meal times have shifted a bit, since he is waking later. I'll note that below. 

2-3 nights a week or two ago, Levi had some trouble sleeping. It was the days just before I figured out he had some molars coming in. But once we figured that out, I made sure to give him some Motrin just before bed and he was back to his sleepy self.

The past few days, he has had some trouble napping and has wanted to play or talk in his crib longer than normal. I'm watching for signs of his readiness to drop his first nap of the day. I'm not ready for that--but he is getting there, I think.

WAKE TIME

Of course, books are still high on the list of things that Levi adores! Also, he has gotten super attached to his blanket this month, even wanting it outside of his crib, which is a change. When he was sick, that was the one thing that could keep him calm (and snuggly). But, we're trying to break him from that new formed habit and only let him have it during nighttime or nap time. 

Another of his favorite activities is to stand on the couch and look out of our living room window. We live on a busy road, so there are always cars flying by or people outside. He loves to observe it all!

Since we had a few warmer days this month, we also were able to head to the park or play in our backyard. Levi has always loved to be outside. As a tiny baby, a walk outside was the cure to any screaming fit we couldn't find the solution to. And it has been so fun to watch him outside now that he is more mobile and curious! He loves to play with sticks, dirt, trucks and balls outside--typical boy.

MOTOR SKILLS

We've been practicing with him more, but still no walking from Mr. Levi! Our prediction that he would be walking by 15 months is long gone. He is a bit more fond of walking when we help him now (which is big improvement), so we are at least happy about that.

COMMUNICATION

Levi  learned how to say "more" this month and he has perfected his pronunciation of "daddy". He says daddy so well and often, yet he still refuses to work on "mama". I'm not bitter or anything ;)

One thing that has majorly changed this month is his non-verbal communication, a.k.a. screaming and yelling. Oh boy! This seemed to really begin and coincide with the weeks he was sick--he would wake up feeling cruddy (or with puke all over him) and just make these frantic high-pitched screams until I went to get him (understandably so). But then, this trend continued even after his sickness had ended. It was like he realized his capability of shrill screaming and didn't see a reason to stop. So now, instead of talking in his crib when he wakes from a nap or expressing his disapproval in a more subdued way, he resolves to screaming. 

When he does that, we've been trying to make him look at us and sternly tell him no or we will give him a gentle pop on the hand, but nothing seems to be breaking him of the screaming. I don't want to resort to excusing it because he is a toddler, but I think that has a lot to do with it. He certainly has strong opinions on things now (boy, he's just like his daddy!), but he isn't to the point yet where he can communicate with words. So, it's just a phase we're all going to have to work through together!

Another form of communication that Levi has mastered is kissing! He gives kisses on demand now (or just on his own), which is pretty much the best thing ever. He'll even pucker his little lips. We've also taught him how to (gently) head-butt when we say "noggin"--he's such a cool kid.

DIAPERING

Welp, my plan for nighttime diapering that I mentioned in my previous post worked for several weeks. But now, for some reason Levi went back to being wet most mornings. Even in a disposable diaper! A friend recently recommended hemp inserts to me, so I bought a few of those. He wore one last night for the first time and woke up completely dry--so I think we have finally found a solution!

TEETHING

Levi got two molars in this month, both of which have slightly broken through his gums. Total teeth count: 10.

SCHEDULE

I mentioned above that our schedule has recently changed a bit. Here's a rough view of most days:

7:45 AM- Wake up, milk, breakfast

8:30 AM- Levi watches cartoons or plays while I get to work

9:00 AM- Nap (most days)

10:30 AM- Wake up, bath every other day, play

11:45 AM- Milk, lunch

12:30 PM- Nap

2:30 PM- Wake up, run errands or get together with friends

3:30 PM- Milk, snack

5:00 PM- Levi plays while I get dinner started (sometimes he will still want a 20-30 min nap during this time)

6:00 PM- Milk, dinner

6:30 PM- PJ's and read a book

7:00 PM- Bedtime

OUTINGS/EVENTS

Levi had his 15th month well check this past month! He weighed 21 lbs (15th %) and was 31.5 inches long (55th %), so he is still pretty tall and lean for his age. Brian has been joking with me for a while that he couldn't wait for the day that Levi was half of my height--well the day came when he was 15 months old. Levi got two shots at that appointment, one of which was his first MMR shot. About a week afterwards, he started running a 103* fever and developed a bad measles-like rash in reaction to it. Apparently, that only happens with 1 in 20 people, so our little guy is quite unique!

With some nice weather this month, we took our first family walk in 2014 across the Louisville pedestrian bridge. It was so great to enjoy the weather and the beautiful scenery again! This was the best picture we could get of our excursion:

We also celebrated Levi's buddy, Seth, this month as he turned 1 year old! Cherish and I took the boys to the zoo recently and they seemed to have a nice time. Both of them are still a bit clueless about the animals, but they do love the time outside. We're hoping those two stay buds for a while! 

Lastly, I went out of town for 2 days towards the end of this month, to run a marathon booth in Lexington. That was the first time in a while that I have left Levi with anyone during the day, but he did really well! He played at the Fisher's house the first day and at the Tweito's the second day. Both said he was a happy guy, but he did have some trouble napping. I was really proud of him though!

If you made it this far down, you are a true friend! Thanks for reading about our little guy.