Little Milestones 13-14 Months

Hello, friends! It has been a looong time since I gave you an update on Liam’s milestones (5 months actually, holy crap!), so I figured, now that he is into his toddlerhood, it would be a good time to share with you where he is at with his development. Like the last few times, I will be using several development charts from the BabyCentre UK site. These charts are not set in stone, and of course all babies develop at their own pace, but I just wanted to share with you all a look at where my kiddo is at.

As of today, Liam is 13 months and 3 weeks old. He wears a size 7 shoe, 18/24m clothes, and a size 5 diaper. I am not sure of his exact height and weight currently, but at his 12 month exam, he was 33 inches tall, and weighed just under 24 pounds. He is a tall boy!  As he is constantly learning and doing new things, I will be showing you the charts for 13-18 month olds. He does at least a little bit from each chart!

One of the biggest things that bothers me about these charts, as well as many other charts on other sites, is that they all claim that my barely one year old should have been saying anywhere from 2-5 real words from the age of 12 months. Well, he doesn’t, and I honestly don’t know any babies his age that do. Heck, I know two year olds that still only say “mama” and “dada“. Liam has been saying “mama” to me for months, but as his daddy is hardly ever home, he doesn’t say “dada” very often. He can say it, he just doesn’t. He has also started saying “oh yeah” recently, and just yesterday, he said what sounded like “no” for the first time. I have also been trying to teach him “hello” and “bye bye” to go with his waving. He also freaking LOVES “peek-a-boo” and plays it with me all the time.

The rest of the chart he has mastered, and we are especially proud of his cup drinking abilities. At 12 months, we switched to a cup with a real straw, not a sippy cup, and he picked it up within two days, and has only used a straw ever since. He can also grip and tip a real cup, without the lid and straw, but I need to hold it so that he doesn’t spill.

This is where things get frustrating, as far as these charts go, because several of these same things were listed on earlier charts, from 8 or 9 months old. He has been finger feeding since he was 7 months old. Most babies definitely are at this point, right? He does everything in this list, except for pointing. He does not point. He does not point to things he wants, he just grabs them, and he doesn’t point to body parts. We have been trying to learn “tummy“, but he still hasn’t picked it up.

This is where we get into the supposedly advanced stuff for someone his age, which seems odd to me. I already covered the talking bit, and as I said before, he just used “no” for the first time ever yesterday. The rest? He’s done it all. Liam has been walking since 10.5 months old, running since 11.5 months, and going up and down steps, and walking backwards, for the last month. He loves running around at the park, or at the store. He also tried to “help” me sweep by carrying around the dust pan, and also knows how to put his toys away, and the laundry into the basket. We also started coloring at 12 months, and he can grip and use a crayon pretty well now, although he doesn’t snow much interest in it. I never would have thought that all of these things didn’t come until 15 months.

Another confusing chart. Aside from the talking bit, Liam does all of this. He can turn the pages of his board books when we read, he throws EPIC tantrums when he doesn’t get his way, he is obsessed with both his Scout and Froggy toys, and makes sure to let me know that he needs to bring them to the living room in the morning and after his naps, and he has developed fussy eating habits over the last month and a half. Some days, he takes two naps, but most days it is only one. He can also unzip and pull ff his coat or sweatshirt, pull off his shirt by himself, and drop his pants, but needs help stepping out of them. He can put a shirt on over his head as well. He’s been able to stack his blocks for months. He also climbs onto the couch, climbs at the park, and climbs onto his activity table. He has yet to get out of his crib, thankfully.

I only wanted to include this list because, once again, it contains two things that Liam has been doing for a little while now, and one thing that he is starting to do. He has a riding toy that he got for Christmas, and has been able to get on and off of it on his own for about a month now. He can also dance, and does it regularly. He also recently started being able to get about half of his shapes into their correct holes on his shape sorter. He also responds to the phrases “sit down” “give me kisses” and “come here“.

Now, this chart, he doesn’t do too much from, obviously. We started brushing his teeth twice a day when he got his first tooth at 10 months (he still only has 4), and I will often hand his toothbrush to him to “brush” them himself while I am changing him for bed. He also can take apart block towers, and put blocks together, and has one amazing throwing arm.

I’m starting to not put much weight into what these charts say. I know that my son is a rock star, and is pretty on point in his development, but for him to be doing things that are supposedly moderately difficult for 17 and 18 month olds? I don’t know if I buy into that. It’s a nice thought, but really? Am I not giving him enough credit, or are these charts catering more to parents of children who may have slower development? Who knows.

Anyway, there’s a look at where my kiddo is at in his development. 🙂 As far as feedings go, he is drinking about 20-24 ounces of whole milk every day, and water for the rest of the day (no juice for us). He also eats 3 pretty hefty meals, and two snacks, every day. This kid eats like a high school football player, I swear. We haven’t really had any issues with constipation either, though some days he only poops once, and strains a bit, but he does go 1-4 (sometimes 5) times a day, depending on what he ate. No allergies so far! He’s also had every possibly seasoning out there (no salt!), and has loved them all. He has started his fussy eating phase, and has all but stopped eating vegetables, unless I sneak them into something he really likes.

His current favorite foods:
Broccoli and cheese omelette/scrambled eggs
Toasted English muffin with cheese and garlic
Baked cinnamon brown sugar apple bites
Soft carrot chunks with brown sugar and butter
Elbow noodles with shredded cheese and garlic
Cinnamon apple/banana/cinnamon raisin wheat pancakes
Black olives
Mozzarella cheese cubes
Plain broccoli and butter
Banana slices rolled in crushed Cheerios or graham crackers

Okay, maybe he isn’t that fussy, but he no longer eats sweet potatoes, peas, green beans, or raisins on their own, and it has been a pain to sneak those particular foods into things!

Okay, I’m done now, haha. What do you guys think about these development charts? Are they just really loose guidelines? Did/do your little ones seemed further in their development as well?

Thanks for reading, friends!

Jan

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Little Milestones 8-9 Months

Hello, friends! My little munchkin is now into his 8th month here on this planet, so I thought it would be a good time to update you on all of his latest milestones!

If you haven’t read my “Little Milestones 7-8 Months” post, you can click HERE!

So first, a couple stats on my kiddo:

As of today, Liam is 8 months, 1 week, and 5 days old! He hasn’t had a wellness check up since his 6 month shots, so I’m not entirely sure about his current height and weight, but he is now wearing mostly 12m clothes, with some larger 9m sizes, and size 4 diapers. He also wears a size 5 shoe on his giant baby feet! Tall and skinny still! I am just guessing here, but I feel like he’s around 26-27 inches, and maybe 22-24 pounds. Something like that, maybe? I could be waaay off, haha!

And, no, he has no teeth yet!

He eats 3 meals a day, and drinks 4 bottles of formula (26-30 oz. a day). For breakfast, he generally eats around 4 tbs. of oatmeal, mixed with 2 oz. of a fruit or vegetable, as well as some Cheerios if he still has room. Lunch is almost always a 4 oz. jar of fruit, with Cheerios/toast/smashed fruit on the side. Dinner is always a 4 oz. of a jar vegetables, with either toast or a different, chopped vegetable on the side.

I haven’t introduced too many new our exciting finger foods, and still haven’t introduced any meats. Peas and green beans continue to be favorite finger foods, but he also enjoys black beans, hummus, salt-less pretzel pieces, raw tomato pieces, rotini pasta, and toasted whole wheat bread. And Cheerios, obviously. Since I’ve recently gone meat and dairy-free, I want to try to get some different, healthy finger foods for him to try, that I can eat as well. I really want to look up tofu recipes, but tofu is scary. We’ll see! I have also started adding spices to his foods, such as cinnamon, nutmeg, and garlic powder. So far, no allergic reactions to anything we have tried, although, I’ve noticed that green beans make him pretty gassy. Not uncomfortably so, but gassy. Green beans make everyone gassy though, don’t they? I think it is a green bean thing.

And I suppose that’s it when it comes to food.

Just like my last post, I will include charts! I pulled both of these charts from the BabyCentre UK site, which is my favorite website for all my baby questions and needs. And, yes, I do like the UK site more than the US site.

Here is the 8 month development chart, and if you scroll down, you can find the 9 and 10 month charts as well. The first column contains Achieved Skills (things that most babies at this age can do). The second column contains Emerging Skills (things that half of babies at this age can do). The third column contains Advanced Skills (things that few babies at this age can do).

I’m very proud to say that Liam has mastered everything on this list, aside from two things, which we are working on. He does reach for items, but hasn’t really gotten the hang of pointing, at least not with one finger. He kind of points? But it is probably just him reaching. He also doesn’t really say “dada” still. He is very fluent in “mama”, but has only said “dada” on a handful of occasions. Kyle isn’t home very often, but whenever he is, I try to push the “dada” talk, but so far it hasn’t improved too much.

He completely mastered crawling over a month ago, and is still getting into EVERYTHING. He is now able to pull himself into standing position (which he was able to do at 7 months, if you recall), and is also able to stand on his own if he lets go. He can almost stand himself up from crawling position, without holding into anything, but his core and balance aren’t quite there yet. He also jumps and bounces very well, and is able to sit and kneel himself back down from standing. He just recently starting being able to slowly cruise while holding onto his crib or play yard, but he hasn’t been as daring when it comes to holding onto the couch. So proud of this!

His fine motor skills are developing nicely from where they were at before. We took his doctor’s advice from his 6 month exam and started giving him his finger foods at 6.5 months with each meal, if only just to help with his pincher grasp, and it has definitely improved. He still prefers to rake, mostly because he likes to squeeze and smash his food in his fists, but he is definitely able to pick up his Cheerio’s with his thumb and pointer fingers. He has also gotten a lot better at getting his food to his mouth, but still hasn’t grasped the concept of letting it go so he can eat it, and ends up just sucking on his in his fingers. He eats probably 2-5 Cheerio’s/beans/peas/etc. himself during meals, sometimes more, and the rest I have to give to him. I also recently started giving him a spoon to play with during meals, because he was always trying to grab at the one I was feeding him with (which resulted in huge messes), so now he has started showing an interest in trying to feed himself with a spoon. Sometimes, I mash a pea or a bean onto his spoon, so he can see it and try to aim for his mouth. We’re getting there!

I’ve already covered a few of these from the previous chart that Liam has learned already, but he also has been banging things for quite a while now, but more recently starting dropping and throwing his toys out out of his crib or play yard. He also throws and drops food while sitting in his high chair (my kitchen looks like a graveyard for Cheerio’s every day, seriously). He doesn’t sit still long enough for me to really play games with him when we are on the floor, other than peek-a-boo, which he likes, but sometimes we roll a ball back and forth! He likes to hit it with his hands and crawl after it. We actually haven’t tried the pat-a-cake game, even though the song is on his Scout toy, so we’ll have to try that when he is in his high chair!

Just for fun, I wanted to post the 10 month chart as well. Liam recently started waving by opening and closing his fingers, so every time I put him down in his crib, or pick him up from his crib, I try to wave to him. He doesn’t do it on command, like if you’re saying hello or goodbye to him, but he can do the motion of waving! And he has gotten excellent at babbling and talking, and it sometimes sounds like he is forming real words! I swear, it sounds like he is sassing me on occasion!

We transitioned Liam to a sippy cup with handles at 6 months, and he has been using one ever since. He holds it and drinks from it on his own, both while sitting in his high chair and lying down, but we are still using the nipple lid, as opposed to a spout lid, because he refused a spout. We tried again recently to switch, but he was not happy. I have tried giving him sips from cups, we even bought him tiny, colorful drinking cups to use, but more spills out than gets in his mouth usually. We’re getting there though!

I’ve reeeally been trying to stop using so many cutesy nicknames, and have started trying to just call him by his own name (though I slip and use a silly nickname sometimes, because come on), to get him used to hearing it, so that he responds more. So far, nothing. However, he does respond to the word “no”. Kind of. If we are sitting on the floor, and he crawls over to my DVD shelves or tries to crawl under my computer desk, I sternly tell him, “No.” and he stops and looks over his shoulder at me. It actually makes him laugh! I have to repeat it several times sometimes, but he does listen! I’ve been trying to say the word “no” while picking him up and moving him away from where he isn’t supposed to be, so that he knows to associate the word with me taking him away from it, and it seems to be working.

And just a quick little bit about his sleeping habits, Liam has been sleeping through the night since he was around 2 months old. When he isn’t going through a sleep regression stage, he generally sleeps for about 11-12 hour stretches, only waking up once or twice in the middle of the night if he has a bad dream, or bumps his crib, etc. We moved his bedtime forward an hour, from 8pm to 7pm, after noticing that he seemed overly tired and cranky when we tried to put him down. It worked beautifully, and he still doesn’t wake up until around 7:30-8am. He is also still taking 2 naps a day, ranging from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours each, depending on how busy a day we’ve had. He just got out of his 8 month sleep regression phase, which luckily only lasted a few days, because it was so awful! We were both so tired and cranky that week. Now, he’s kind of teetering on being back in his separation anxiety phase, and has been having little fits whenever bedtime rolls around, but it looks like that may only last a few days as well.

This kid, such a freaking champ!

So there you have it! We have his 9 month shots coming up this month, so I will probably write in a more accurate height and weight in an edit, and let you know what his doctors say about his development. I just wanted to give you a good idea of where he is at right now!

Thanks for reading!

Jan