A little about Isaiah:
For the most part, his sleeping is great. He takes a short catnap in the morning, and a long nap each afternoon. The morning nap will soon disappear, but I, for one, will be sad to see it go, so I will put him down for it as long as he is willing. He sleeps around 11 1/2 hrs each night, and for the past month has rarely woken up at all in the middle of the night. For a few months he would consistently wake up at some point, cry out a couple times, and put himself back to sleep. Since our house is tiny, we always woke up when he did, so it's been lovely to only be waking on my accord and not his. (I am 7 months pregnant after all....the days of me sleeping through the night are long gone. Ha!)
He is also developing his cuddle-bug side, something we haven't seen much of in his younger months. We LOVE this. There are few things as wonderful as a small child wrapping his arms around your neck, laying his head on your shoulder, and snuggling in for singing before nap and bedtime. He is also usually happy and eager to give hugs and big smacking kisses when asked, and if we are both there, if Daddy gets a kiss, then Mommy gets one too. He doesn't like to leave one of us out. :)
Isaiah is passionate about the great outdoors. This boy loves to be outside! I have to be careful about even mentioning the word 'outside' in casual conversation, because the next thing that usually happens if I do is Isaiah bringing me my shoes to put on, his shoes to put on, patting his head asking for his hat, and pointing for his sunglasses. All in about the span of 60 seconds. He also comes up the idea himself. We can be doing anything from playing with cars to doing laundry, and all of a sudden he will bring me shoes and set them in front of my feet, and then point to the door and pat his head for his hat. (We almost always put his sun hat and sunglasses on when we go outside in the sun, so he is always very excited to wear them...it means we're going outside!) He has never brought me Andrew's shoes - they are always mine. If I tell him I'm going to wear my sandals instead, he will go and get those for me. It's very cute!
He also loves to eat, and as of yet is not that picky. (Being outside and loving food...yup, sounds like a mix of me and Andrew!) He did great eating every kind of vegetable under the sun until I stopping making him purees a couple months ago. He hasn't quite overcome the change of texture in eating chunks of certain veggies, but we're working on it. Other than that, he is happy to eat pretty much whatever we're having. He seems to prefer beans over meat, but will eat both anyway, and enjoys food seasoned in a whole variety of ways, and even a bit spicy. No bland food here!
The amount of food he eats continues to be impressive. We've noticed in only the past two weeks that his intake is going down slightly, but still. He eats an adult-sized bowl of oatmeal each morning (aka, the same serving Andrew or I have, plus he has a bunch of fruit and milk mixed in), and then some. Maybe half a bagel with cream cheese, a whole piece of fruit, a piece of toast, etc. Basically the same amount of breakfast we have, if not more. Lunch can be a 1/2 cup of vegetables, a full burrito, a fruit, and a few bites of something else. The other day at dinner he ate 1/2 a sweet potato, a full chicken wrap, his fruit, a few bites of whatever else we had, and then an entire 1/2 of a PB&J sandwich that I made him because all the food was gone and he kept asking for more! Anyway, we don't worry that he is getting enough food, that is for sure.
In the past three or four weeks he has become very good at using his fork. He loves to feed himself. I need to let him use the spoon more, but I'm not great at letting him get messy, and things that need to be eaten with spoons are.....messy. He has had several people comment in the past week at how good he is with a fork. I've never been around 18 month olds before, so I don't know if it's unusual or not, or even when they typically master self-feeding. I just enjoy the pleasure and pride he takes in spearing that elusive blueberry, slippery noodle, or piece of meat. He even enjoys eating dry cheerios with a fork at snack time sometimes - who knew that a cheerio could be speared without breaking? (I didn't!) Let me tell you, spearing one cheerio on a fork at a time is a looong process, which I don't mind because he is so well entertained by it. :)
Isaiah is very obedient...in certain areas. If he is reaching out to grab or touch something (from a rock, piece of garbage, pen, or a very tempting electronic device), we can tell him "No, that's not for Isaiah" in a regular, pleasant voice, and 8/9 out of 10 times he will just leave it alone and walk away. Often times I am amazed how well he listens, responds, and isn't even phased by it. If he already has something he shouldn't in his hands, it is a bit trickier. Sometimes he will be fine to hand it over nicely. Recently he was around a couple times when some toddlers threw things in a fit when their parents asked them to give it back. And so, now he has done that a few times. I'm pretty sure he picked that up from them, because he never threw things before he saw these older kids doing it the past couple weeks.
It is interesting (and annoying on my end), to see how quickly he is starting to pick up behavior from other kids. Last week he and I saw a little girl hit her mother in a tantrum -- later than day he came up to me, frowned, and hit me on the leg...totally out of the blue. What?!?! It gives me a glimpse of some challenges that would come from having your child in daycare, when they are around other kids all day who may not get very good discipline at home, have lots of attitude problems, or whatever. Isaiah isn't around kids his own age very often, so I feel like up to this point most of his behavior has been influenced and directed by us, rather than by his peers. I know it's only the beginning!
Probably our biggest challenge right now is learning to "Come" when called. The past few months, an "Isaiah, come here please" means him running away laughing, like it's a game. The past couple of weeks he has stopped running away, but will only come straight away maybe 1/4 of the time. Needless to say, this is something we are working on alot now. Coming when called (on the first time!) is such an important thing to do and know--for safety reasons, and also for submission and obedience reasons. I have been trying to read up on some pointers online and in books, but do any mommies out there have some good suggestions?
Isaiah loves to people watch. He is not super outgoing, but it not necessarily shy either. He watches, observes, and then is usually interested enough to try and join in with what's going on. With a lot of strangers around, he moves quite carefully. When he knows a few familiar faces, he is comfortable walking around large areas and checking out the activities. Since we live at a Bible school/conference center, he has tons of opportunities to meet many new people, but also still has a large base staff and students who remain fairly constant in his life, and with whom he is very comfortable. He is definitely not a mom or dad clinger child. Just the other day I was sitting at the picnic tables near our house, and he was wandering around. A couple minutes later, I saw him walking waaaay across the large field to the sand volleyball court with one of the staff's kids -- hand-in-hand -- not a care about where his mommy was. I'm not sure yet if he would go that far alone, but....I know now to keep a close eye on where he is going!
He loves to laugh. My goodness, I really don't know if there is a sound more beautiful in the world to me than Isaiah's belly laugh. It is soo precious, and it's one of the things that I feel the most sad about being so far away from his grandparents and relatives--they don't get to hear him laugh. Where we live, there are lots of mosquitoes and black flies. (If you have never heard of a black fly, be thankful.) A couple days ago we were in Andrew's garden, and I swatted away a mosquito on his arm, going, "Aaaah, mosquito!" Well. Apparently, 'mosquito' is a hilarious word. He laughed so hard he almost fell over! On the whole way back home, just a quick word of 'mosquito!' sent him into hysterical fits of laughter. It was SO funny to watch! Tonight was a similar experience trying to squash bugs. Love, Love, Love. I can never hear his laugh too much.
Isaiah is passionate about the great outdoors. This boy loves to be outside! I have to be careful about even mentioning the word 'outside' in casual conversation, because the next thing that usually happens if I do is Isaiah bringing me my shoes to put on, his shoes to put on, patting his head asking for his hat, and pointing for his sunglasses. All in about the span of 60 seconds. He also comes up the idea himself. We can be doing anything from playing with cars to doing laundry, and all of a sudden he will bring me shoes and set them in front of my feet, and then point to the door and pat his head for his hat. (We almost always put his sun hat and sunglasses on when we go outside in the sun, so he is always very excited to wear them...it means we're going outside!) He has never brought me Andrew's shoes - they are always mine. If I tell him I'm going to wear my sandals instead, he will go and get those for me. It's very cute!
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| "Who am I? " "Ma-ma!" |
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| He loves to slide! It's like a roller coaster each time. :) |
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| Learning to catch a foot ball. |
The amount of food he eats continues to be impressive. We've noticed in only the past two weeks that his intake is going down slightly, but still. He eats an adult-sized bowl of oatmeal each morning (aka, the same serving Andrew or I have, plus he has a bunch of fruit and milk mixed in), and then some. Maybe half a bagel with cream cheese, a whole piece of fruit, a piece of toast, etc. Basically the same amount of breakfast we have, if not more. Lunch can be a 1/2 cup of vegetables, a full burrito, a fruit, and a few bites of something else. The other day at dinner he ate 1/2 a sweet potato, a full chicken wrap, his fruit, a few bites of whatever else we had, and then an entire 1/2 of a PB&J sandwich that I made him because all the food was gone and he kept asking for more! Anyway, we don't worry that he is getting enough food, that is for sure.
In the past three or four weeks he has become very good at using his fork. He loves to feed himself. I need to let him use the spoon more, but I'm not great at letting him get messy, and things that need to be eaten with spoons are.....messy. He has had several people comment in the past week at how good he is with a fork. I've never been around 18 month olds before, so I don't know if it's unusual or not, or even when they typically master self-feeding. I just enjoy the pleasure and pride he takes in spearing that elusive blueberry, slippery noodle, or piece of meat. He even enjoys eating dry cheerios with a fork at snack time sometimes - who knew that a cheerio could be speared without breaking? (I didn't!) Let me tell you, spearing one cheerio on a fork at a time is a looong process, which I don't mind because he is so well entertained by it. :)
Isaiah is very obedient...in certain areas. If he is reaching out to grab or touch something (from a rock, piece of garbage, pen, or a very tempting electronic device), we can tell him "No, that's not for Isaiah" in a regular, pleasant voice, and 8/9 out of 10 times he will just leave it alone and walk away. Often times I am amazed how well he listens, responds, and isn't even phased by it. If he already has something he shouldn't in his hands, it is a bit trickier. Sometimes he will be fine to hand it over nicely. Recently he was around a couple times when some toddlers threw things in a fit when their parents asked them to give it back. And so, now he has done that a few times. I'm pretty sure he picked that up from them, because he never threw things before he saw these older kids doing it the past couple weeks.
It is interesting (and annoying on my end), to see how quickly he is starting to pick up behavior from other kids. Last week he and I saw a little girl hit her mother in a tantrum -- later than day he came up to me, frowned, and hit me on the leg...totally out of the blue. What?!?! It gives me a glimpse of some challenges that would come from having your child in daycare, when they are around other kids all day who may not get very good discipline at home, have lots of attitude problems, or whatever. Isaiah isn't around kids his own age very often, so I feel like up to this point most of his behavior has been influenced and directed by us, rather than by his peers. I know it's only the beginning!
Probably our biggest challenge right now is learning to "Come" when called. The past few months, an "Isaiah, come here please" means him running away laughing, like it's a game. The past couple of weeks he has stopped running away, but will only come straight away maybe 1/4 of the time. Needless to say, this is something we are working on alot now. Coming when called (on the first time!) is such an important thing to do and know--for safety reasons, and also for submission and obedience reasons. I have been trying to read up on some pointers online and in books, but do any mommies out there have some good suggestions?
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| Snacking on cereal, sitting on Raffy the Giraffe, watching a veggie tales silly song. |
He loves to laugh. My goodness, I really don't know if there is a sound more beautiful in the world to me than Isaiah's belly laugh. It is soo precious, and it's one of the things that I feel the most sad about being so far away from his grandparents and relatives--they don't get to hear him laugh. Where we live, there are lots of mosquitoes and black flies. (If you have never heard of a black fly, be thankful.) A couple days ago we were in Andrew's garden, and I swatted away a mosquito on his arm, going, "Aaaah, mosquito!" Well. Apparently, 'mosquito' is a hilarious word. He laughed so hard he almost fell over! On the whole way back home, just a quick word of 'mosquito!' sent him into hysterical fits of laughter. It was SO funny to watch! Tonight was a similar experience trying to squash bugs. Love, Love, Love. I can never hear his laugh too much.
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| Happy about the picture he drew! |
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| Super excited to get in the pool for the first time! |
There are many more things I could talk about, but that is enough for now. This is such a fun age of discovery, learning, and fun. He is such a joy to be around, play with, and grow with.
He is truly our joy child!
