20 Months!

Growth: Currently 45% for weight (24 lbs) and unsure on height...he definitely is a tall skinny kid and his legs are getting scrawnier. Starting to wear 2T clothes, his 2T jeans he was wearing today fit him perfectly in length with shoes. He is quickly growing out of his size 5 shoes, I need to order new ones ASAP. By the way, this kid's feet sweat like a teenage boy! We play the 'stinky feet' game, and they truly are stinky! I'm looking forward to the sandal days.

Eating: Still loving food, but he is starting to get a bit pickier (I think it's more of a behavioral thing). If I try to feed him, he gets mad and doesn't want to eat it, he wants to be a big boy and eat it himself! He LOVES his cooked vegetables, the other night he ate almost a full cup of steamed mixed veggies! He still loves yogurt and has been favoring 'nanas' recently. He really wants to have what others are eating, especially snack food. He recently enjoys Roasted Garlic Triscuits and Teddy Grahams. He seems to be thirsty all the time and will use the word 'More' whenever he wants to eat or drink. Soren can feed himself with a spoon and fork consistently and has almost mastered using a cup.

Likes: Bath time, Food, MILK and JUICE!, his monkeys and blanket, books (he is enjoying books about emotions or 'word' books. He loves when you use different voices for different emotions/characters).  He enjoys taking things out and putting them back, he has recently enjoyed the process of taking playing cards out of the box then putting them back in, same with crayons. He loves playing 'chase' with the dog (they don't so much enjoy this game), and throwing every.thing. "Moo Moo" the cow puppet at ECFE, car and ball ramps

Dislikes: Limit-setting, getting into the car seat, and any other little thing depending on the second ;-)

Development:

• Speech- Says the words 'Mama', 'Dada', 'Down', 'More', 'Nana' (both for Banana and grandma), 'Papa', 'Bubble', and 'Ball'. Knows many more words just not saying them yet. When asked 'Where is the _____?" in a book, he can point to many things including shoes, cat, dog, duck, monkey, car, goose, and ball. For body parts he knows hair, mouth, nose, feet, and working on eyes and ears. It seems that every day he is learning a new word!
• Motor- Can stack 6 blocks consistently, beginning to jump, can walk backwards, tries to stand on one leg, climbs onto everything, beginning to practice lifting the leg when walking up stairs, can mimic drawing a circle and line, kicks and throws a ball, can scoot on a bike well
• Cognition- He seems to be grasping actual stories more now. In the "Goodnight Gorilla" book, he grasps the concept of the humor with the animals going into the bed. He points to pictures in books and you can almost see his little brain processing all of these cool new things
• Self-care- consistently feeds self with a spoon and fork, almost mastered using a big boy cup, beginning to practice unzipping.

Sleep: Soren had a bout of bad sleep with the recent transition, however he is back to sleeping through the night! Soren and I currently share a bedroom, if he wakes up in the middle of the night, a simple "Shh, shh, nuh-night" will calm him enough to go back to sleep. He goes to bed at 7:30pm and wakes up around 6, then gets a sippy and kinda plays in his crib until 7am. I believe his 2-year molars are starting to come, I can't see anything yet but he has his hands way back in his mouth and is starting to bite again.


Soren is doing well with his dad and I separating. He does not cry during transitions and can say 'bye bye' without issues... I attribute this to Brian and I doing well co-parenting and doing our best to keep expectations and routines consistent. The other moms in our ECFE class say all the time about how happy he is and well-adjusted despite the changes...we really are blessed and I am working hard to be the best single mom that I can be. I looked into an in-home daycare for 2 days per week, however I didn't get a good vibe, so it's back to the drawing board. I'm considering sending him to a 2 day/week Christian preschool that has before and after care options...it's more expensive, but gives me a peace of mind knowing that there is developmentally-appropriate structure and expectations.

Stopping to poop :-)

Chasing the dog