9.30.2009

tobo update: 18mths

So I'm sitting here having breakfast with my late sleeping toddler - he once again slept in to 9am [ed note: this is because he spent 4 to 5am talking to himself] - thinking it's been a while since I wrote. It's been a busy couple of weeks. We had our 18mth check up, a fever, first time with the sitter, first time in the walker room, new couch and saying goodbye to the rocker. Also apparently, this is becoming a monthly blog.

So, the 18mth visit went well. Tobo is 32.5" in height, which is 47% for his age; He weighs 21lbs 6oz, which is 6% (we gain a percentage point from last time); and his head isn't that much bigger. (18.5" or 25%). All of sudden we are no longer in the 10% range of everything. When you see him next to other toddlers, you can't really tell the difference.

His doc's visit went well, so he immediately turned around and picked up the local variety of ick-with-a-fever. It was a really strange cold, no other symptom but the fever. I thought it was just a reaction to his shots for the first day until he didn't cool down. It was still awful since there was very little we could do other than give him tylenol drops and wait it out. He eventually cooled down about 3 days later. What is sad is that probably next week we have to go back for flu shots. :/ In the middle of all this sickness, he's also still cutting teeth. What's scary is he can actually ask for tylenol now ("ty" *nod*) at night if asked. [ed note: Maybe we depend on that too much.]

He also has started throwing tantrums more. Yesterday he was in time out twice: once for banging on the table, and once for pinching. He doesn't really understand being sorry for his actions, but he does stay put for a minute, even if he doesn't like it. I think if we keep at it, it will work for discipline for him. We get a lot of screaming too, usually out of frustration, rarely to get a rise out of us. It's kind of funny because tobo doesn't have a lot of practice at it, so his screams are more like yells and really aren't that loud or annoying. On the other hand, he is likely to share and hand over toys to other kids when playing and is very caring of any stuffed animals or even animal statuette doorstops. He pets them and feeds them, makes sure they have something to drink every day. It's nice to have the kid who plays well with others, at least for now.

With the change in the weather, I'm giving up on trying to heat tobo's room. We have horribly leaky windows in his room (and in our front room). These were the windows that did eventually seal up when a layer of _ice_ formed on the inside to block the leak last year. Also, mister wiggly refuses to stay under a blanket. When he was crib-bound we used a space heater in his room. Since we are quickly approaching the age when he will attempt to get out himself, I'm not really comfortable with that for this winter. We'd rather not do plastic over the windows (this is colorado. we get hot days and cold days) so I'm looking now at finding some kind of temporary weather stripping. The big solution would be to switch rooms. It also means we could do things after he goes to bed, like watch TV or have people over without all the sound filtering into his room. It's just a lot of sorting of stuff. Stuff I'd rather just box up and ignore for a few more years apparently.

We also said good bye to the blue rocker - it had been borrowed and was overdue to go back by about a year. Tobo's getting too big to rock and it would be much easier with travel if he could do without rocking at night before bed. We also got rid of the beige couch in trade for a teal one. The new one is a lot less like a bucket seat and more like an actual couch.

One of Tobo's favorite things to do is to sit at the table in a white chair and play with his cars. He tells us about them, if they are up, down or puppy. We don't know what qualifies a car to be a puppy. The lady across the way as she was moving out gifted us with three big boxes of duplos and hot wheels. Tobo has been playing with them ever since.

The walker room at church has been great. They actually got tobo to scribble while there, which is more than I can do during our days at home. We also tried a sitter (she watches kids in her home) but I think we're going to wait before we go back. It might have been all the busyiness, but Tobo pretty much broke down for two days after he came back, which says to me that he and I aren't ready. Other than that we've been doing a lot of play dates and lots of story time.

I'm trying to pull together a clothing swap at our church, in conjunction with the preschool there, for late October. Everyone thinks its a great idea but nobody has any time to organize it. I'm thinking about maybe including an informational meeting on cloth diapers, especially since cotton babies just came out with a more economical way to do them.

2 comments:

Wendy said...

So many great tidbits, I hardly know what to say. I can just picture him growing up cute though. Thanks for the update.

Amy said...

My comments in order:
He's sprouting! Yay!

Roman had the fever-with-nothing. Lasted 2 days here. He also loves his children's Tylenol. No worries for using it lots, unless it's your first thought when trying to get him to sleep! :)

Charlie in timeouts 2-3 times a day, hitting is our problem.

Blankets won't work until he's big enough to be in a toddler bed. We just use really fluffy cotton or fleece sleepers (with feet!) and keep our heat at about 68. No troubles. We also have used those old-fashioned door dampers on the windows. And, he may never try to crawl out of the crib - Roman never did.

Yay for his sweetness and sharing! Love these updates.