Eat, sleep, poop
When Katherine was an infant, I felt like we were in a constant “eat, sleep, poop” cycle. Funny how 18 months later those things still seem to consume my time and energy of raising a toddler. We do get to add “play” and that is fun. Here are the funny updates.
Eat - Of course for us there are still two parts to the “eat” - nursing and solids. Yes, we are still nursing - A LOT. My plan had been to nurse for a year and see what happens after that. Well, I think that method is going to have to be modified at some point because Katherine LOVES to nurse and if left to her choice, I will have to go to college with her to nurse her. Seriously, I do really enjoy it and I know that even at 18 months it offers many benefits but you do start to feel a little self conscious when people realize you are still nursing and they act surprised. In the late spring and early summer we were working towards nursing less with weaning in the futureand it was going well, nursing only 2-3 times a day. But, later in the summer with traveling and some stresses and changes for Katherine it has gone backward. Currently if I let her, she would nurse at least 8 times a day.
There are some funny things that go along with nursing a toddler.
- She can lift up my shirt on her own.
- She knows sign language and is verbal so when she wants to nurse she squeezes her fist like she is milking a cow (ASL sign) and she says “moo” which is her attempt to say milk. Thanks Katherine, am I your milk cow or something?
- When I am changing clothes and she sees me without a shirt, she says and signs for milk.
- She has started to pretend to nurse her dolls and stuffed animals by lifting up her shirt.
- She is a wiggle worm. i am amazed at how much she can move around while still nursing and not hurting me at all.
- When she falls asleep nursing and I quit her nursing, she will actually start signing milk while still asleep.
As far as eating solids, I am happy to report that Katherine has been totally baby food free for about 2 weeks. I know it was late to give up baby food but she is so skinny and so picky that I just kept giving it to her. She is still skinny and picky but we are working on expanding her diet and her tastes. My new goal is to not only have her eating real people food but to have her eat what we eat. I am still making her meal separate from ours. Her current favorites are cream cheese and ranch dressing. If you have any healthy ideas for these food items, let me know. She likes to pick the cream cheese off the bagel and lick the ransh off of the veggies so I am a little frustrated.
Sleep - Not much has changed at night. She still wakes up earlier than I wish and about half of the nights she wakes up once in the middle of the night. Naps though have seen much improvement. All of a sudden she is consistently taking 2 hour naps almost every day. This is a HUGE change for Miss Katherine. Mommy is working really hard to make sure she is active and gets all her energy out so she is tired for a nap.
Poop-We are slowly working on potty training. Basically we have a toddler potty and when mom thinks about it I ask her if she wants to use it and we give it a try. I don’t have the desire to really push it right now. The good news is that over half of the time she does actually use it - both #1 and #2 which I hear is sometimes hard to get kids to do. Here is the funny part. When I take her to use her potty, we take off her pants. Otherwise, they might get dirty. Well, to take off her pants, we usually have to take off her shoes. Then she wants me to take off her socks. No big deal, I do. Last, she wants me to take off her shirt. So, basically, Katherine things that in order to go to the potty she has to be naked!
Play - This is the fun part. Katherine is really changing and developing. Her gross motor skills have improved to where she can go up and down stairs with little assistance. She is a champ at climbing the stairs on a playground to go down a slide. She runs which is so cute.
Her fine motor skills are improving so that she is able to use her fork and spoon very well as well as color using pens, markers, crayons, etc. Her favorite thing to color is her other hand. We are working on keeping the marks on the paper and not on the furniture and floor. Thank goodness the are all washable these days. She has really started to get into imaginative play which is fun to see. She likes to play with her dolls and with her kitchen set. Her vocabulary is exploding. I would say she has 100 words now. It is fun to see her communicate.
So, that is an update on Miss Katherine. I am having a blast with her.