21 Months Old

1. We are in the tantrum phase of toddlerhood. He always voices his displeasure when he does not get his way!

2. His vocabulary has grown by leaps and bounds the past 3 months. I'd estimate he has said at least 100 different words as my list has over 80, and I'm sure I've missed a few along the way. His pronunciation is also getting better and better as the days go by. When Karen (OT) came a few days ago, she said that Christine (speech) had told her that Ian was now talking up a storm. That was music to my ears!

3. He loves to point and say the name of body parts, such as eye and belly button. Elbow is one of his favorite ones to say. Thus far I haven't been able to convince him that knees aren't elbows. I'll keep working on that! :-)

4. He's taking one nap a day in his crib (15-25 minutes long) and sometimes takes a second nap in the stroller or car seat. We're trying to get him to at least have one hour of "quiet time," but thus far it's more like scream your head off time. Today he suprirsed me by taking a LONG nap (40 minutes). It's the first time since we were in Florida that this happened. Oh how I would love it if this became the norm! Yesterday he took a 30 minute nap in the nursery in someone's arms, but I don't let him sleep in my arms at home any more.

5. He totally has the sleeping through the night thing down pat! WOOHOO! He almost always sleeps at least 11 hours, and sometimes he sleeps as long as 12 hours straight. Way to go, Ian!!!

6. As long as he can see me, he plays very well by himself. He'll even play in the living room or dining room by himself if he knows I'm in the family room.

7. He still LOVES vehicles of all sorts.

8. He loves to lick finger foods. Unfortunately he goes through them MUCH faster than before, which makes me feel like we're wasting an awful lot of food since none of it goes down his throat. The finger foods I give him the most frequently are pretzels, saltine crackers, and Wheat Thins (because they don't contain milk or soy).

9. He will drink any version of warm milk. During the last month we transitioned from EleCare to vanilla flavored almond milk. He doesn't seem to care as long as it's warm and served in the right sippy cup.

10. He has eight teeth - all canines.

11. He weighs 24.25 lbs which puts him at the 16th percentile, which represents a slight drop. I knew he was going to probably lose a little weight with the new rule of only getting a bite of food if he isn't crying. I'll keep monitoring his weight closely to make sure he doesn't lose TOO much weight. He hasn't seen a nutritionist in a few months, Regina.

12. He can count to five!

13. He makes the cutest sounds for a car (vroom, vroom), train (choo choo), and fire engine (woowoo). I have got to get these recorded on video!

14. He loves to run. This makes things like eating at a sit down restaurant a big challenge. Basically one parent eats and sits with Nadia while the other chases Ian, and then we trade places. It also makes gymanstics and library time a challenge. I admit as much as I don't want to rush their growth, I am looking forward to the day when Ian can sit still for longer periods of time.

15. He loves to play the drums. Anything can be a drum for Ian. This boy loves to drum, drum, drum.

16. Ian is a Mommy's boy. It's gotten a bit ridiculous in that he cries even when I hand him off to Paul for a few minutes. Daddy's feelings have been hurt. :-(

17. Ian enjoys the joint compressions, and he has no objections to me moving a toothbrush around anywhere in his mouth. He's still not crazy about the scalp massages or having his hair cut. He's getting better about having his face washed, and it's no longer a big deal at all to clip his fingernails.

18. Eggs have been reintroduced into Ian's diet for the first time in almost 7 months. He also went off Prevacid and Pulmicort in the last month. He's not throwing up At All. YAHOO! When Ian was first diagnosed with EE, I admit I did very little research other than to make sure that the protocol his Allergist was recommending wasn't as "foreign" as the CHOP GI doctors made it seem. Once I saw that yes other doctors used this treatment, I stopped reading about EE. Just in the last week I have been reading more online about EE because I was looking for more guidance regarding reintroducing foods. Now that he's handling the pineapple cake (with 3 eggs in it), does this mean I can serve him a scrambled egg? In trying to answer that question, I read a lot more about EE. Let me tell you I've been stunned. EE is a disease. I am not sure why I didn't realize that the past 3 months, but it's true. When you get a clear scope (like he did on August 29th), the disease is considered to be in remission. Reading blogs of other moms who have dealt with EE for years has been a bit scary to put it mildly. Some children are doing fine for years and then bang it all starts up again. It seems quite common for these children to have undergone more than 30 endoscopies within a few years. Somehow the words "disease" and "remission" have made EE seem a lot more serious of a condition than I realized. I hope that Ian's remission lasts for many, many years (or decades!). At least if it doesn't it won't be as shocking to me now that I have a little better picture of what EE can be like.

19. The other 3 members of our family walk around the house barefoot. Not Ian! He is obsessed with shoes, and he gets frustrated when I won't let him wear two pairs of his sandals at the same time, lol!

20. He gets frightened easily if he doesn't feel like he's standing on a familiar surface. For example he wants NO part of the trampoline. He even feels frightened if I put him in a standing position at the top of the slide (on the wood). Those are just two examples. It happens in many different situations. He's not exactly a daredevil. Nadia was definitely braver at his age. He's a bit of a scardey cat at times.

21. He loves to play Ring around the Rosy. He thinks it's hysterical!!