I honestly don't parent like I blog! I've neglected this site for over a month, I guess the focus has been a bit more on myself as I've been going through a bit of a tough time.
So now that things have calmed down, it's time to put the focus back on Mason! Little monkey is almost 21 months old. It's his champagne bday this month. 21 on the 21st. Maybe we'll celebrate with some juice.
The last stage of walking has come and gone and we are full blown into running. This stage 'talking' has been a blast as Mason not only understands simple phrases, 'Put this in the garbage' or 'Put your cup in the sink' but is pointing out things and chatting up a storm.
He 'speaks' in sentences however it's 'his' language. Parts of words mixed with babble. It almost sounds like a foreign language!
Mason’s words: mama, dada, baby, baba, down, up, no, hi, hello, mum, daddy, woof woof, kitty, moo, I (for Miss Ivy), big truck, firetruck, airplane, moon, raining, elephant, digger, ball, me, ya, bye bye, bun (not sure what that means), amo (for more).
He is starting to identify things he sees – truck, bus, moon, raining etc and that part is really cool! And the other cool thing is he automatically (95% of the time) says thank you after you give him something. It comes out as ‘tank koo’. I am so proud. We are working on please, but I am in the habit of saying ‘what do you say’ and he says ‘tank koo’ before I’ve given him something. I have to start saying ‘say please’. J
Aside from being chatty, he is still really busy and loves to ‘help’. He often drags my kitchen chairs to the sink so he can ‘wash’ the dishes. While he still plays very well on his own, he loves to be around people. He is very affectionate and will sit in my lap to watch cartoons. He actually watched 20 mins of Monsters Inc before he got bored and toddled off. He loves daycare and I have to attribute most of his learning to Miss Ivy and Miss Suki for their dedicated education of all the kids. I’m not sure what we are going to do when he turns 3 as that’s when he has to find a new dc. Miss Ivy only takes them to 36 months L
I’ve been lucky with Mason and his sleep routine, he gets this from his Mommy. I love to sleep and so does he. I put him down from 8-8:30 and he stays asleep until the AM. Usually 7ish, any later and we’d be late. The odd night he’ll wake up once but he’s now teething molars so I’ve had a few sleepless nights. It reminds me of being a new Mum for the first time. As soon as I heard him stir, I was begging the sleep Gods to make him go back to sleep. It was pretty rough. Unlike a newborn, milk did not settle him down and he screamed and kicked. I unfortunately did not have any infant Tylenol in the house as it went bad (wasn’t sure this could happen but there was black mould? Or something gross in the bottle so I tossed it.)
Ah the fun topic of eating. Mason isn’t really a big eater. He has his moods and sometimes he’ll eat a ton other times he’ll eat like a sparrow. Clayton assures me that Mason is gaining weight (I haven’t had the opportunity to weigh him since his 18 month shots) but says he gained 3lbs. His 18 month pants are way too big. Mason is still a vegetarian and has a very healthy diet. I was put on a restrictive diet due to my Yummy Mummy makeover and cut out all the processed food. Mason needs the fat so my new meal plan didn’t affect his but I think twice about giving him cookies or crackers. I won’t stop others from feeding them to him though (AKA Grammy who insists kids need this stuff…).
Mason’s eczema was okay for this summer, we didn’t have a lot of hot days but he still is itchy and gets rough patches. Clayton is using some herbal stuff (don’t recall the name) and I still use the prescription stuff, which works but I don’t use all that much because it’s hard on baby skin. The eczema is mostly spotty on his back and legs. He sometimes gets it on his face (around the mouth) but I’m convinced that is from food we give him (citrus?) but we haven’t been able to pinpoint which food causes it. I’ve read that most food allergies (the less extreme reactions) are food caused whereas Mason’s eczema on his body is heat caused. He is very sensitive to heat.
Mason is definitely takes on the masculine attitude as he’s really into earth movers (digger), big trucks, busses and fire truck. He squeals when I put them on YouTube. He’s also gotten really close to my Dad when we visit. Dad named himself Poppy but this last trip to the Island, Mason called him Papa (which is my Maternal Grandfathers name) but it stuck so my Dad is now Papa. Mason follows Papa everywhere and when Papa leaves the house Mason gets upset and when Papa returns Mason says ‘Papa!Papa!’. It’s really cute. Grammy (My Mom) is a bit left out as Mason hasn’t called her a grama name quite yet.
And Mason’s other Grandparents (Granny & Grampy) have been traveling for quite a few months so he only sees them on Skype and calls on the phone. He misses them terribly. They’ll be back in BC for late Spring.
We’ve had a few holidays come and go over the past few months. Mason and his Dad took a road trip to Alberta (Edmonton, Calgary & Edson) to visit family for Thanksgiving. Clayton, Mason and myself went Trick r’ treating for Hallowe’en. Mason was a panda! He didn’t know what to make of this going to peoples houses, holding out a bag and getting food he’s not allowed to eat! He got very shy and wouldn’t say a word. It was quite funny. There was also a man dressed up as something scary and Mason wouldn’t stop staring at him.
Well that’s all I can think of for this update. I’ve been a bit lazy on the photos on photobucket (mostly posting to FB & YouTube) but I’ll try to add more this weekend!