18 Months of Caleb Asher

It is so cliche to say it but, time sure is flying by!!!  Caleb turned 18 months old on April 27!

Caleb 18 months

Addison, 18 months

They look SO much alike except Caleb is my chub-ster :)  I am astounded at how much they look alike!!!

Stats:  Coming soon.....all I know is BIG

Diaper Size: Five

Clothing Size: 2T

Shoe Size: 6??  Lil feet!!!!!

Caleb Likes....

...giving hugs

...being tickled

...giving kisses

...books

...to giggle

...anything sweet or salty

...Broccoli Potato soup

...to do everything his sister does

...cars

...to talk to Daddy on the phone

...music

...bananas

...to dance

...open doors even after he has been disciplined for it multiple times

...to play with balls

...to sign

...to flirt

Caleb Does NOT like...

...to have his diaper changed except first thing in the morning

...eating anything green without lots of encouragement

...sitting still

...being disciplined

...waiting for food the moment the urge hits him

...being denied access to touch, see or be near mommy

...being buckled into the car seat

...having water dumped on his head

...strangers

...being told NO

Personality:  Strong willed.  Loving.  Compassionate.  Curious.  Tender.  Energetic.  Leader.

Eating:  Textures and the size of the bite are his hang up.  Strange texture with not enough seasoning gets spit out and big bites of anything come back up.  He actually is a good eater when he isnt over thinking things; for example when we eat out he is usually thinking more about whats going on than he is what he is eating.  Also it's funny--he likes our homamde guacamole but not plain avacados; he likes broccoli potato soup and brococoli orzo but not the brocoli chopped up alone.

Allergy/Intolerance:  When we go to his well visit next month, we will discuss testing skim milk to replace almond milk.  Lower/Non fat dairy seems to bother him slightly less.  He can have baked/cooked dairy in moderation.  We limit it to one "serving" a day because otherwise his diapers are unmanageable and they bother his skin immediately after going #2 in them :)

Sleeping:  He is a great sleeper.  When he wakes up early or during nap, he patiently waits for someone to come get him.  I am glad we kept going with BabyWise even though it was so challenging those first 6 months when we did not know what was wrong with him.  I am sure as soon as I type this, something will happen to change my statement.  He sleeps 12 hours at night and about 3-4 hours worth of naps.  I do not know if he is sleeping all those times or resting, but that is the expectation.  Any less sleep and he is a hot mess.

Paci:  As always, we limit it to in the bed only.  I only recently noticed that he is really liking his paci; we would take it away but I am about to face an 18 hour drive alone and I will need the help.  He takes it out right when it is time to get up and has never asked for it any other time.  We will probably wait until shortly after two to worry about it.

Independent Play Time vs Play Time with Others:  Caleb has fantastic attention span during blanket time or play pen time.  But when he has much more freedom, he jumps from one activity/item to the next.  I think this might be normal, I am not sure because I know Addison is NOT normal.

Routine:  We are in the process of dropping his morning nap.  Here is a rough outline of how the routine will look once all the dust settles...

First Birthday October 27 2012

October 2012

November 2012

December 2012

December 2012

December 2012

January 2013

January 2013

January 2013

February 2013

March 2013

March 2013

March 2013

March 2013

April 2013

April 2013

To my sweetest little boy:

Oh Caleb, my heart skips a beat thinking about how much I love you even as I type this.  I never understood how intensely parents could love more than one child until you were born.  My heart's capacity to love grew so much when you entered the world.  We have been through some trials my sweet love, but I think that will always make us close--so I am grateful for the trials.  Your name, Caleb, means "whole hearted" and you live each moment with your whole heat and I love that about you.  My favorite part of your name, Asher, means fortunate; we are fortunate to be a recipient your endless hugs, kisses and laughter--I think anyone else who knows you well would agree.  I hope you understand that I would do anything for you Caleb.  I would lay down my life for you if it meant you were exempt from pain, especially after I watched you be in pain for so long as a baby.  I hope that you understand i dicipline you because I love you more than any other human can love you.  I want you to be godly, righteous, loving, caring and beautiful (I mean on the inside) person and that's why we have time outs.  NOTHING, NOTHING you will ever do will stop or even decrease my love for you.  My little Asher, I consider it a privilege to be your Mommy.  I am so glad that God gave me this time with you.  As your big sister always says "I love you even more than much". 

With all that I can give you,

Your Mommy

18 Month Routine, Pre Manna

Since about May or June we followed the same general routine for Addison and that was the first time I put it on paper. So the last routine was geared for about 12-18 months. I loved having it on paper because it helped me problem solve when things were chaos, helped me accomplish a lot more of our goals (blanket time, errands, etc.). I blogged about it (New Routine, The Wise Series Way) and gave ALLLL this disclaimers about still being flexible and such. What's interesting is I have actually felt MORE free since we put the routine on paper! So it made sense why I have felt so chaotic since we dropped the morning nap in late September---I had no revised routine!!!

Below is the new Addison norm beginning about 18 months. This will change soon based on how we integrate Manna into the routine. Most of the components of Addison's day will stay the same, the timing will just be altered to allow me time to nurse or nap the new baby. Sibling time will be added soon too, YAY!!!

Food Strike

I am going to start sharing my experiences instituting the wise series in our family a little bit better going forward. I will probably organize and re-organize the blog labels as time passes, so bare with me. Additionally, when Manna arrives I HOPE I am able to write about not only the newborn experiences all over again but also about the transition from one to two children. With that, today i would like to discuss the topic of FOOD STRIKES.

"On Becoming PreToddler Wise" focuses on ages 12-18 months. I did not know this book even existed and the timing of my discovery could not have been more perfect. During the 12-18 month age babies really begin to start exerting their will...in everything. This is particularly noticeable after they master walking, which for us was not until 14-15 months! Food strikes is one way that children will exert their will.

A FOOD STRIKE is when a child completely refuses a previously favorite food; I mean they will not even TASTE it. When this happens you have two choices:

1. Give in and give your child something else to eat even though you already spent time and thought preparing what you already gave them. Risk? You may create a picky eater. Remember, who is in charge here? You or a one year old? A one year old is clearly not capable of making sound, logical decisions.
2. Persevere by teaching the child obedience (discussed in my experiences below); remember it is BIG PICTURE here. Obedience at the table translates into other areas like SLEEPING for those of you struggling with that :)

Before I proceed, remember that it IS natural for children to begin developing preferences but as you may recall this scenario is about a previously FAVORITE FOOD. Pre-Toddler wise recommends working to feed your child things that they find enjoyable, which I agree with completely. But this does not mean offering five different things at a meal until you finally find something that tickles their ever changing pallet. Use your judgement whether this is a battle of wills or an off day.

Here is our story....Addison loves cream of spinach with lentils and brown rice. She always gobbles it up. One evening at her usually dinner time, she saw them and rejected them before they were even heated up and in front of her; she showed NO signs of illness either. These were all the clear signs that it is a battle of wills.

First we gave her the benefit of the doubt that she was just not hungry yet. We gave her no more milk and nothing else to eat for about 45 minutes. Next we sat her in the high chair in the most secluded area possible, put a reduced amount of food in front of her and we sat at the table ignoring her. She signed all done a million times, did anything to get attention and yes she cried. We stayed to supervise ensuring she did not break any rules (throw her food, pick up her bowl, etc) or choke of course. She carried on for an hour and as quickly as the crying began, it stopped. As if making peace with the food, she stared at it, picked up her spoon and at all of it. We praised her and praised her for obeying. We gave her the remaining components of her meal which she ate gleefully.

I wish I could report that all battle of wills have ended, but that is not the case. She still pushes it, but so far has not held out an hour. Everything we did was at the prompting of the pre-toddler wise book and I am SO thankful we tried it AND even more thankful it worked. Much to my surprise, the turn of events was EXACTLY like the real-life example given in the book.

I have so much more to say on the food topic, but I will continue my thoughts in another post later. I hope at least one reader is encouraged by this story---encouraged that the principles of the wise series do work AND that these small learning opportunities payoff in the long run.

New Routine, The "Wise" Series Way

The wise series of books ("On Becoming Babywise" "On Becoming Babywise II", "On Becoming Toddlerwise", etc) all stress the importance of a routine so your child knows what to expect next ultimately building self-confidence, self-control and so much more that I cannot do it justice to list. Part of what the series encourages it to actual write out the routine, but know that you MUST be flexible. Flexibility is key because it gives you freedom AND teaches your child that THEY are not the center of the universe. In fact the series encourages you to break the routine, particularly to serve others (invite them over for dinner, do something for them at their home, etc.).

I say all of this to share Addison's new routine (in photos below). We do NOT live and die by this routine nor am I in any way saying THIS WAY is the BEST way. I tell everyone "do what is best for your family's unique situation" and for us, it is this and the wise series :) Our goal was to provide Addison a routine that provided her as many learning opportunities as possible inlcuding opportunities to learn independence and self-control. Many of you may think this is silly to write all this down in such pain staking detail, but I confess some days I just run out of constructive things for us to do. This routine helps me in those moments. And lastly, establishing a good daily schedule for Addison now will make adding Manna so much easier. I can look at the needs of BOTH and *hopefully* be better at accomplishing what everyone needs in a day. It's kinda like a lesson plan a teacher would make :)

We will be revising this when the morning nap is finally dropped and when school begins (September 13 I believe). The school routine will also incorporate several "versions" of Manna's routine but we will have to see exactly how Manna's routine plays out when he/she arrives.

Now everyone knows what I do all day long!!