You are currently browsing the monthly archive for September 2015.
THIRTEENTH MONTH
AUGUST 21 – SEPTEMBER 21 (2015)
THIRTEENTH MONTH “FIRSTS”
- 1st birthday! (8/21)
- 1st time clapping hands together (8/26)
- 1st time saying “car” (8/26)
- 1st time stepping up a curb (legs only) (8/30)
- 1st time stepping down a curb (legs only) (9/2)
- 1st “play date” (9/8)
- 1st birthday party (9/13)
- 1st & 2nd full days with Eric while I worked (9/19 & 9/20)
WORDS
- car (sounds like “gah”)
- he says car for real cars, toy cars, cars in books and on TV
- ball (sounds like “bah”)
- he says ball for real balls, balls in books and on TV
OTHER SPEECH/LANGUAGE
- new sounds: “um bucka bucka”/”a buckum buckum”
- he makes a “nam” sound when it’s time to eat
- he directly addressed one of the kids (“Emil”) we’d just met at the park by name (8/30)
- he might have said his name (9/5)
- he might have said “I love you” (he said to both Eric & I separately)
- he knows what “pillow blanket” means and will look for it (same goes for balls)
FOLLOWING COMMANDS
- “clap your hands” (no gestural cues) (9/1)
- “stomp your feet” (9/2)
- “high five” (9/3)
- “brush my hair” (9/7)
- “take your bib off” (he also does on his own) (9/10)
- “skinny cat” (which means raise arms to help having shirt removed)
- “throw it” (either a ball or something “yucky” that he picks up outside)
- “down dog” (9/15)
- “where’s your ball/pillow blanket?” (he’ll go looking)
MISC MOTOR
- he walked backward repeatedly with his Little Tikes car (8/25)
- he stepped over the couch armrest (from the coffee table) using just his legs (8/31)
- he steps up & down curbs (with & without help)
- sitting on his Little Tikes car, he “drove” it forward with feet by leaning way forward (9/10)
- he climbed into a kitchen cupboard (9/16)
- possible right hand dominance (i.e. when eating)
- he started doing “down dog” yoga pose before I realized that’s what he was doing (he sees me doing it regularly)
- he doesn’t just walk, he runs!
- he trips less frequently
- he rarely hits his head when falling backward because his abdominal strength is so good
FUN TIMES AT HOME
- “dancing”
- making us laugh doing his funny “shaky thing”
- throwing/bouncing balls
- making “baskets” in the basketball hoop & Pack ‘n Play
- driving his little cars across the floor (or walls)
- turning pages of books
- he laughs hysterically while chasing & being chased, then falls into pillows
- I cut 1 panel out of a Pack ‘n Play to make him a “fort”
- putting blocks in container & trying to close lid (9/8)
- play date with Piper (9/8)
- watching Sesame Street, Mister Rogers
- he gets very interested in music documentaries (stops to listen and/or dance)
- 1st birthday party (9/13)
HE LOVES GOING OUTSIDE!
- outdoor “roaming” the yard
- running down the sidewalk (9/9)
- visiting & petting the neighbor’s dogs
- 1st mud puddle (9/17)
- rides in the stroller (walking, rollerblading)
- hot tub “swim”
- sitting on the skateboard for rides with Eric
GOING PLACES
- playing at Imagine Children’s Museum for his birthday (8/21)
- looking at the animals at Petco (9/2)
- hiking (with Ergo carrier) at the Pilchuck Tree Farm (9/5)
- dining at The Shire Cafe (9/5)
- “Touch A Truck” (9/12)
- we started Kindermusik (9/15)
- he loves shopping cart rides at stores
HEALTH
- he had a runny nose and sneezing that lasted ~2 days (8/24-25)
- 12 month pediatrician visit (8/25)
- Weight = 19 lbs at 12 months
- he got his MMR & Hep A vaccines, but I declined the chickenpox vaccine (9/2)
ORAL HAPPENINGS
- he kept handing his spoon back to me after taking bites (instead of resisting letting go like usual) (8/23)
- he started gnawing on crib rails (so I covered them!)
- he has a strong tendency for “chewing” (i.e. he’s destructive to board books)
- we try to brush his teeth daily but it can be almost impossible!
RANDOM STUFF
- he put his pillow blanket in the kitchen drawer, then closed the drawer (and repeated it) (9/1)
- he sometimes claps for himself (9/4)
- he tried to put the dish towel back on fridge, and tried to pull open fridge door (9/14)
- he tries to put rose petals back, after he pulls them off
BEING ONE
- he protests when he can’t have something
- increasingly distracted sitting in my glider chair in the morning and before naps
- he resists being picked up by raising arms and arching head and body waaaay back
FORMULA & BOTTLE WEANING
- started formula weaning (8/27)
- started using Green Sprouts Glass Sip ‘n Straw Cup instead of bottles (8/31)
- initially his organic soy formula was mixed with a little hemp milk (3:1 ratio)
- homemade cashew rice milk was added in (9/2)
- I started making cashew oat milk instead of cashew rice milk
- at month’s end he gets a blend of (equal parts): formula, hemp milk, cashew oat milk and soy milk
- at month’s end we’re half way through formula can #71
- he had ~2.5 cans of formula this month which is half as much as last month
SLEEP
- best sleep month to date!
- he woke up at night only twice (one was a “rough” night because he stayed awake/restless from 1:30 – 3:30 AM)
- 1x he woke up at 4:30 AM so I had him sleep in my bed with me for another hour before we got up
- fell asleep on floor 45 min before bed (9/9)
- shortest nap: 30 minutes
- longest nap: 2.75 hours
- average nap: 1.75 hours
- wears size 18 month sleepers
POTTY TALK
- more solid food = more poop!
- he poops about twice per day
- 33 poops were done on the toilet
- 32 poops were “misses”
- while sitting on the toilet, he reaches as far down into the toilet as he can
- increasingly resists staying on the toilet seat (twists to get off)
All for now!

Cashew oat milk (Left one shows how it settles in the fridge) (Right one shows how it looks freshly shaken)
CASHEW OAT MILK*
{*requires a high-powered blender}
This is my new favorite homemade non-dairy milk! It’s so simple to make!
For years I was in the habit of making homemade milks using a combo of some type of raw nut (including Brazil nut, cashew, almond, and hazelnut) and cooked medium grain brown rice. (See “Milk a Plant” and “Coco-Hazelnut Rice Milk” for those recipes.)
Now that I’m starting to mix various non-dairy milks into Todd’s formula, I thought I’d try a different flavor. One advantage to making this milk is that you don’t have to take that step of cooking the rice first. A second advantage is that it seems to have less sediment (because the fiber in oats is soluble?). And finally, this milk is soooo deliciously creamy. I love to mix this milk with unsweetened soy milk (equal parts) for my coffee drink (latte). Mmm…
INGREDIENTS:
4 C water
1/2 C raw organic cashews + 2 raw Brazil nuts + 4 raw walnuts
1/3 C organic rolled oats
1 pitted date
2 pitted prunes
1 t vanilla extract (optional)
ASSEMBLY:
1. Soak the nuts, oats, date and prunes in the water for at least an hour, up to 24 hours.
2. Blend the soaked mixture plus the vanilla extract in a Vitamix or similar high-powered blender.
3. Refrigerate and use within ~1 week. One batch fills up roughly 3 pint wide mouth glass jars.
4. Enjoy!!
Tags: dairy free, non dairy milk, vegan
















