I also realized that I need to modify the entry titles to include P's name, in case at some point he will have a little brother or sister. I will also state the month number/age.
I am still planning on writing about other stuff that happened around this time, not related directly to Parker, either in "his" posts or separate posts.
So here we go!
Parker is 13 months and 17 day today.
- He is starting to transition to one nap a day. Has been sleeping until after 7 am more often (still only 1-2 times a week) and refused to take his morning nap for the last few days.
- Parker is starting to walk by himself. Since Babcia and Ciociobabcia Halinka (a.k.a. Ciocia) came to visit on September 18th, Parker has been walking (on two) more than before, although at first it wasn't really his idea. :) He can now take 3-4 steps all on his own before falling back on his butt.
- Parker is allergic to egg. Dr. Kim (his wonderful pediatrician, or actually, our family doctor) has indicated that he is "not responding well to egg". However, he was perfectly fine after eating a french toast a few weeks ago. So I gave him a scrambled egg for dinner on Saturday and... it all came back 15 minutes after he fell asleep. Poor baby, bad mama!
- Parker is a very good eater - he loves almost everything, and one of his favorites is broccoli. Here is his typical menu:
Breakfast: Oatmeal or rice cereal with almond milk with fruit (blueberries or raspberries or blackberries.
Lunch: Home cooked soup
Snack: Fruit (banana, mango, shredded apple)
Dinner: Sandwiches with either ham, turkey, jelly, or almond butter, plus some veggies (although most of the times we are not successful in preparing those on time)
Parker also has two 6-oz bottles of almond milk a day.
Food is something I worry about a lot. I feel that maybe he doesn't get enough during the day, and that's why he needs the bottle (or two) at night (more about it later). The problem is that he is a very slow eater. Each meal takes 30-45 minutes as is, and ends a lot of time because he is bored and wants to get out, rather than that he is full (he will still eat if you feed him while he is playing). I really don't want him to learn that eating a meal (unlike snack) not at the table is ok and I am being torn between this and his night waking.
- Parker had a great time with Babcia and Ciocia for over a month. Unfortunately they had to go back eventually, and now Grandpa and Lola are filling in two to three times a week. Mommy and daddy are staying home/telecommuting three times a week with a bit of help from Ewelina (while telecommuting). All until our wonderful Ciocia Aga comes back in mid-December!
- Parker's favorite book continues to be The Very Hungry Caterpillar and he's song is still My Jestesmy Krasnoludki (he is slowly starting to raise his arms on "pod grzybkami mamy budki" and "a na glowach mamy czapki". His first language is definitely Polish, he can show someones eye (oko) and nose (nos). He knows where lamp is (lampa) and clock (tik-tak). He loves to play with blocks. Parker's favorite youtube video Animal Song is slowly giving away to the Shapes Song 2. Parker also loves the Giggles iPad game and one with the animals in a zoo. He also loves the Night Night game.
- We are teaching Parker to move on to doing other things after hearing a "no". We also try not to say "no" when this is not possible. This is very challenging sometimes as it involves ignoring him throwing food items on the floor (we just keep repeating: "Give it to mommy/daddy when you don't want it"; it's finally starting to work occasionally).
- Parker naps in his crib. He also sleeps in his crib first part of the night probably half of the time, and the other half he sleeps in the big bed. He always ends up in the big bed eventually though, which mommy loves. :) He wakes up only once a night for his bottle most nights. He used to wake up for a 11-12 am bottle and then last until the morning. Then we tried to wean him off that bottle, only for him to now start waking around 3-4 am. Plus he will still request a bottle around midnight on occasion. I think it may have been to early to wean him off; all kids are different. Since all efforts to wean him off are more troublesome than actually giving him the darn bottle (plus they don't work), I accepted that my son will drink milk at night for the next several months and am perfectly happy with it. He let us know when he was ready for solids, he let us know when he was ready to drop his third nap and now his second nap, I strongly believe that he will let us know when he is ready to drop his 4 am snack.
- Parker loves falling asleep with mommy or daddy (or any other person, although mommy is clearly the most favorite), although he is getting too big to sleep comfortably in our arms.
- Parker loves playing with (or rather observing) other kids. With our busy schedules, unfortunately we don't have many occasions for this to happen. Now, when we don't have any guests staying with us, I will try to arrange more play dates. Then when Ciocia Aga comes, we will set some play time with other kids to be a part of a routine. Also, our friend Magda mentioned that she would like to drop off her 3 year old son a few times a week, which would be a lot of fun for Parker.
Our new place is closer and closer to getting ready, the drywall is up so now it's only cosmetic. We are shooting to close sometimes in December and hoping to spend Christmas already in the new place.
I am currently reading "Easy to love, difficult to discipline" by Becky A. Bailey and highly recommend the book. All advice about approaching children seem to make so much sense to me, and I now joined the team against spanking. Not that I think an occasional (light) slap on the butt would damage my child but I do think it sends a wrong message and teaches them how to (wrongly) approach others that don't do as they wish they did. Many other things I am trying to correct in my own behavior, toward adults too, not only children. Love the book.
