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YEAR 3, MONTH 4
NOV 21 – DEC 20 (2016)
COMMUNICATION
Here are some words said this month (it’s getting to be too many to list):
- “ah yeah”/”eye yeah” (for yes)
- “mama catch” (re: ball)
- “booger” (then he tried to get one out)
- “fresh Goppa” (Goppa = his “formula milk”)
- “condo house” (he says it a lot)
- “okay”
- “go away, Dada” (just once!)
- he repeated back “I love you” (12/15)
- “Santa”
- “scene” (for parts of shows he watches)
- 5-word sentence: “Mama, take trooper head off”
- “rope tow”
- and…his speech articulation is getting very good!
COGNITIVE-EMOTIONAL
- he got scared watching “The Polar Express” & pulled me tight and didn’t let me go (12/6)
- he counts up to 10 on his own, no prompts (12/19)
- he told Eric about his “night night show” (dream) about “fresh powder..crash..boo-boo bear”
- he knows colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, white, black with some errors (i.e. he mixes up green & blue)
ENTERTAINMENT
- playing at Apple Valley Gymnastics (12/17, 12/19); he says “gym..jump..slide”
- he loves watching “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (he calls it “Oompa”), “Elf,” & “Batman” (the original); he loves watching certain scenes over & over (he yells “more!”)
- iPad games, letter writing apps
- in the car he loves bobbing his head to music & he says, “dance song”
- he loves books & his favorites include his Star Wars books (2) and the books in his set, “Amazing Machines: Truckload of Fun (10-Book Set),” by Tony Mitton (especially “Dazzling Diggers”)
- he says “Walla Walla Park” daily even though we haven’t been there since mid-November
THANKSGIVING
- we visited family in Bend, OR (11/23 – 11/27)
- Todd’s great aunt Elaine & great uncle Jeff were there, too
- he loved playing with Legos, cars, battery-operated trains, jumping into pillows & laughing at Eli being silly with a doll in a dump truck
- he was very gentle with Kaiser (cat)
- we walked at Shevlin Park (11/24)
- we went to visit Santa with Todd’s cousins but Todd wouldn’t sit on Santa (11/25)
- we went to open gym at a gymnastics place (11/26)
- dining out: Spork (11/23); Cafe Yumm (11/26); Pacific Pizza & Brew (11/26)
- he said “I need Boones” after we left
- on the way home we stopped at Sharky’s Pizza Shack in Yakima, WA, for a great vegan pizza (11/27)
- on the way home he said “grandma, grandpa, Ashley, Eli” and did kisses in the air
- Ashley sounds like “Ah-side” & Eli sounds like “Ee-die”
SKIING – STEVEN’S PASS
- Eric took Todd to Steven’s Pass (11/29)
- King-5 was filming and Eric & Todd were on the TV news that evening
- Todd said “I ski” & said he was eating “fresh powder”
SKIIING- MISSION RIDGE
- 12/3, 12/4, 12/10, 12/11, & 12/18
- Eric takes Todd on the rope tow, then we have french fries in the lodge, then Todd plays in the snow or goes down the snow “slide”
- he says “fresh powder” (sounds like “powdoo”)
- he frequently says “Mama, Dada, Todd, ski”
- he started pointing out “dada trees” after I told him about different sizes of trees using the terms “baby tree/mama tree/dada tree”
SNOW PLAY AT HOME
- we love living where it snows regularly during Winter 🙂
- he did some skiing at the condo (12/6 & 12/9)
- he told Eric about his dream (he called it “night night show”) & his “crash” in “fresh powder”
- Eric pulled him in the red sled that Grandma got him last year (12/20)
FOOD NOTES
- he calls his apple slices “apple boats”
- he asks for “ice cream” (non-dairy gelato) at Ice (in Pybus Public Market)
DAY TIME NAPS
- no change from last month!
- he took off his diaper during his nap (because he slept without pants)…and afterward we had to wash his sheets (12/5)
NIGHT TIME SLEEP
- he woke up in the night 4x but he fell back asleep without me needing to do much
- at 12:45 AM (11/27)
- at 3:30 AM…barely (11/28)
- at 1:20 AM…asking for “Goppa” (12/8)
- at 3:00 AM…asking for “Obiwan” (which means he needs to be covered up with his fuzzy off-white blanket) (12/11)
- we give him water at night; he calls it “Goppa water”
- he said “hand, Mama” (he asked for me to hold his hand through the crib rails) (12/1)
- he started saying “Dada, Mama, Todd, sleep” before bed in his crib (12/15)
- at 4 AM he said “Batman show” (in his sleep, I think) (12/18)
- he started telling me I could “go” at night (instead of staying by his crib until he falls asleep)
- we snuggled on Eric’s bed & Todd called for a group hug (12/19)
POTTY TALK
- he poops in the toilet…status quo!
- he pees mostly in his diaper unless we ask him to do a “stand up pee-pee” in his baby potty (he complies most of the time)…then he gets to “dangle” for ~10 minutes
- we’re still waiting for him to *initiate* peeing in his baby potty
SEVENTEENTH MONTH
DECEMBER 21 – JANUARY 21 (2015/2016)
HOLIDAYS & FAMILY
- We spent Christmas in Bend, OR (12/23-27). See this post!
- For New Year’s Eve we visited Eric’s parents and their dog, Chico. Then we went out for a Mexican food dinner at Vera Cruz (Stanwood).
SPEECH & COMMUNICATION
- he said “coo” for a dove in a book (1/8)
- he’ll string together various sounds that he’s made before, but in new ways
- it’s pretty easy to figure out what he wants from his verbal/non-verbal language
- he pushes on closed doors when he wants something in there
- he pushes on me if I need to help him get what he wants
- he understands an amazing amount of what we say…way too much to attempt explaining!
TEETHING TIDBIT
- his top left molar started poking through (1/9)
- that’s his 8th tooth!
- it took ~1.5 months between tooth #7 (11/19) and tooth #8 (1/9)
- he tries to bite us (but it’s not too bad)
FINE & GROSS MOTOR
- he precisely fingers pages of books
- he pulls Lego Duplo pieces apart
- he practices with his sippy cup parts (first he sets the circular disc on the glass, then puts on the plastic ring)
- he likes stepping on several college textbooks lined up on the floor and he’s careful not to step on carpet
- turning around in circles in place
- by month end he got good at jumping with both feet off the floor simultaneously
HAVING FUN
- flying his toy airplanes
- repeatedly racing into my arms while laughing (= safe zone!!) while Eric makes his cars go fast
- he “calls” for group hugs
- he loves to stand on the counter in our laundry room to “organize” the shoe shelf and pantry items
- he does some “fancy footwork” while “dancing,” with cute arm swings (mostly with the right)
- laughing repeatedly watching a kid at Fred Meyer climbing on a set of portable stairs that are supposed to be off-limits
MINOR CHALLENGES
Todd is easy to take care of in every way but he does really resist…
- having a diaper put on (sometimes he’ll playfully give us a look, laugh and make us chase him, but sometimes he cries while he tries to spin away from us)
- having his butt cleaned (how dare we ??)
- having his face and hands wiped
- having his teeth brushed (it’s definitely a 2-person job with massive drama involved, followed by an abrupt end to the crying)
- getting into bedtime clothes (note that once he’s actually dressed for bed he doesn’t resist the rest of our bedtime routine (i.e. rocking with me in my glider chair, reading books and drinking a sippy cup of water)
COUCH CRAZINESS
(AKA…WHY HE’S LEARNING TO JUMP)
- started standing on couch and launching himself forward to pillows on the floor (1/7)
- 1st time climbing onto and standing on the armrest of the couch and balancing there (1/15)
- from standing on the armrest of the couch, he repeatedly jumps, frog-leaps and does a complete forward somersault onto a well-padded landing zone (1/20)
THINGS CHANGE!
- when he was much younger he’d always kick blankets off his legs but now he enjoys being under a blanket when I feed him and rock him in my glider chair in the morning
- when he got some fuzzy slippers for his first birthday he wouldn’t keep them on. Now, he likes wearing them and will indicate his need for help putting them on
HOME ENTERTAINMENT
- he loves the show “Detectorists” and we watch the same 6 episodes repeatedly (on Netflix)
- he loves watching movies of himself on our phones/computers and he gets mad when we stop
KINDERMUSIK
- he kissed a girl his age at Kindermusik (1/5)
- one kid there plays a little rough with him, so Todd gets a little scared at times
- last Kindermusik session (1/19)
SKIING!
- practicing skiing in the house on carpet and on a slope (i.e. a blanket over storage bins of different heights)
- 2 ski weekends in Wenatchee (1/9-10 & 1/16-17)
- he spent mornings in childcare at the ski area and we played with him in afternoons
- he enjoys the Mission Ridge childcare and has a buddy named Carl
- 1st time on skis in the snow (1/9)
- he loves to walk all over the snow, including up and down sloped terrain
- he was able to get up on his own after falling down (with all his bulky ski gear on)
- he loved to “sled” on his back (with help)
- 1st rope tow (1/17). First, Eric carried him with one arm, then Todd got towed up between Eric’s legs.
- he wasn’t into napping at childcare but once he got in the car he zonked out
- back at home he takes shoe insoles and steps on them, tries to “ski” with them
- at home he likes to put on his ski mitts and other gear
- he clearly knows what we’re talking about when we say skiing-related words
ROLLER SKATING
- he got his Fisher Price Grow-With-Me 1, 2, 3 skates and he pushed them all over the house and tried to step in them with bare feet (1/5)
- he went skating at our local skate rink twice. He did 2 laps around the rink while holding on with both hands (12/30 & 1/6)
- able to put on both his boots+skates (i.e. they’re already hooked together) by himself (1/14)
HEALTH & HYGIENE NOTES
- this month he had a mild cold. Coughing and sneezing lasted a few days (starting 12/23), but it wasn’t bad at all.
- we stopped using the baby bathtub and started using the regular tub, so now he’s back to loving his baths!
FOOD NOTES
- no change from last month
BABYSITTER DAYS
- Todd had a babysitter 8x this month (we love her!). Jeri takes pictures and sends them to me at work…
NAPS
- he doesn’t cry when I put him in his crib for naps
- when visiting family at Christmas, he took 3 naps in the Pack ‘n Play travel bed (2.5 hrs twice & 1.5 hrs)
- he continues to nap well during long car rides
- nap duration ranged from 1-3 hours (average ~2 hrs)
- 3x he extended his nap on me (for up to 1 hour) after he woke up crying in his crib
- 1x he extended his crib nap for an hour (after I opened his window blinds because I thought his nap was over) (1/13)
NIGHT-TIME SLEEP
- he had 3 nights when he woke up once (for 2 of those times he got back to sleep within 20 minutes)
- his longest stretch without any nighttime wake-ups ended (it was 10/18 to 12/23)
- sleep duration continues to be ~9.5 to 10 hours per night
- on 1/12 Eric got to put him to bed because he fell asleep so fast
- we snuggled together on the couch on 1/18 and he fell asleep. It was bedtime so we had to get him changed into bedtime attire without waking him up too much (it worked!).
- he sleeps in a 24 mo footed sleeper over a 24 mo short-sleeve onesie and a size 5 disposable diaper
POTTY TALK
- 10 poops were done in the toilet
- 49 poops were not done in the toilet (1x he pooped more in the toilet once I got him there)
- the number of poops done in the toilet has decreased a lot because he refuses to sit on the toilet more often than not (especially first thing in the morning). And I’m making the attempt less often.








































