Howard Trio Plus One: Graham at 20 Months

How is it that our baby is approaching age 2?! The time seems to be passing much more quickly with Graham than it did with triplets, but I guess that's probably because we are so busy doing stuff with the older kids that he seems to be growing up when we aren't paying attention. Although we still refer to him as the baby, he is definitely showing us that he has opinions and wants to be a big kid. Although he can be super sweet and affectionate with us and his siblings, he can also throw quite the tantrum when he doesn't get his way...which is often.

Weight: About 21 lbs

Size Clothes: 18 months

Night Sleep: Graham is still sleeping through the night most of the time, which is fabulous! He did have a little sleep regression around 18/19 months as he had some night waking that lasted a couple of hours at a time, but thankfully that was short-lived and he seems to be sleeping better.

Naps: Graham takes one nap from about 12-3, but sometimes he gets down for his nap a little later because we are out doing something and I end up having to wake him up by 3:15/3:30 so that he sleeps well at night. Once in awhile his naps are only 1-1.5 hours, but I'm hoping he'll continue his long naps for awhile as that is my chance to get things done around the house and do my part-time job.

Food: He continues to be a picky eater, but thankfully he can now eat gluten and soy so that opens up a lot of options. He was also eating dairy, but I figured out a couple of weeks ago that his lingering junky cough was probably dairy related since he had had it since the pediatrician told me to introduce all dairy six weeks earlier. At the time of his appointment he had a cold so I assumed the cough was related, but when I realized he was still coughing and had no other symptoms I suspected the dairy since this was one of his symptoms of dairy intolerance when he was an infant. I decided to try just cutting out milk, yogurt, and cheese, and the cough is gone. He had been eating yogurt every night, but honestly he hadn't had much milk or cheese because he didn't like it so it wasn't hard to cut those out of his diet. I am feeding him butter and foods with dairy baked in, and I don't think it's causing him any issues. The foods that he will currently eat are:

Fruit
Peas
Corn
Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
Toast with jam
Chicken taco meat from the slow cooker
Sometimes meatballs
Turkey slices
Pesto pasta (but I'm cutting out cheese right now so he can't have this)
Sometimes pasta with marinara
Pancakes, waffles, and french toast
Vanilla almond milk yogurt
Graham crackers
Ritz crackers
Sweet breads / muffins
Z Bars (kids Clif bars)
Fig bars
Breakfast sausage (although lately he hasn't wanted to eat it)
Hot dogs
Raisins
Fish sticks
Almond milk yogurt
Baby food pouches - they are quick, easy, and nutritious
Anything with sugar, which we limit but he definitely gets more of it than our other kids did at this age since he sees them eating it after meals

His diet isn't the healthiest, but after struggling with Jack over food for the last few years (and talking to OT's and nutritionists about Jack's eating and diet) I've realized that it's better to have him eat what he will as long as his diet is somewhat balanced. I do put new foods on his tray and encourage him when he tries it, but mostly he ends up spitting new foods out. Hopefully he won't be extremely picky forever.

Enjoying his first graham cracker when we were trying soy and gluten

Milestones: Graham can now run, he's attempting to jump, he can climb up and down a flight of stairs (although we are always right behind him in case he slips), he is proficient at his small slide that we have in the house and he's even figured out how to climb up it, he can take off his shoes and socks, he can buckle his booster seat straps (the one he uses for eating), he can climb into his car seat, he can climb into his booster seat, and he always grabs a stool or block to climb on to help him reach things or to get onto the couch. He also does some fairly frustrating things, like unplugs the safety plugs in the outlets, plugs in anything with a plug that he can get his hands on, opens up the canister of our small vacuum and dumps the contents on the floor, etc. He is right on track for his fine and gross motor skills.

Climb a big rock during a climbing trip

He loves to use these blocks to reach things and climb on the couch

Pure joy

I have to close the door so he can't get the stool from the bathroom all of the time, otherwise he'll be climbing places he shouldn't be

He decided to help himself to some homemade chex mix

Teeth: Graham now has all of his eye teeth and judging by the amount of drool and irritability, he might be working on his 2-year molars. Once he has those he will have all of his teeth until his 6-year molars!

Likes: He still loves electronics and anything that plugs in, so I've had to start hiding our iPad. Unfortunately, our baby monitor is now broken from him dragging it around and winding up the cord, so I've tried to limit how much he 'plays' with other electronics so that he doesn't break them as well. Graham loves playing outside and he even plays in the backyard solo if I'm working in the kitchen and I leave the slider door open (I have a really good view of our backyard from our kitchen). He now thinks the trampoline is really fun, but he can't really jump yet and I don't let the big kids jump when he is on there. He loves balls and the small basketball hoop. He loves climbing on and off the tricycle. He also really enjoys the play kitchen and he'll bring me "drinks." The toy phone continues to be one of his favorite toys. When I'm trying to make dinner and he's being fussy, I put him in his booster seat and give him a container of play dough and he loves it! He also enjoys drawing pictures with his siblings.

Trying to Facetime using the iPad is challenging with him around

He loves the vacuum, but unfortunately he knows how to open the canister and he's emptied it on the floor one too many times

One of his favorite activities is mopping with my Norwex mop

Important phone call outside

Art!

Play dough

Play kitchen

He loves the backyard

He did this completely by himself. When he's in the mood, he really enjoys looking at books.

He did this himself as well. There's a screw holding the chair together since it broke during a fall, and he's trying to get it out.

He loves when his big sibs push him around the yard

The perfect Christmas gift for a toddler that loves to clean

He loves being thrown in the air, and he loves being swung upside by his feet (I can hardly watch)

Future athlete?

Dislikes: He doesn't like anything being taken away from him or being told no. He doesn't like being confined (in the stroller, shopping cart, being held, etc) for long periods of time. He definitely does not like being strapped in his stroller, especially when we are out doing errands and he has to be buckled and unbuckled multiple times. He knows how to throw a tantrum when things don't go his way!

The carseat is a daily struggle

Speech: Graham still doesn't say many words and he officially started speech therapy a couple of weeks ago. The speech therapist is not worried about him as his receptive language is great and he can communicate enough to get his point across, but I'd love to have him saying some more words as that might help with some of his frustration. He says mommy, da da, ta da, bump bump, show (doh), yum, and just in the last week he started saying baby, bye bye, and puppy. He also used to say ball and more, but he hasn't been saying those lately. Mostly he nods, shakes his head, and points to get his point across. He also waves and blows kisses.

Places he's been: Graham had his first airplane ride when we flew to Michigan for my grandmother's funeral the weekend after Thanksgiving. The flights out went very smooth, but the flights back were a bit more stressful as he was tired and cranky. We also almost missed our second flight due to a delayed first flight, but I literally ran through the airport with a duffle bag on my back while pushing him in the stroller and we made it with only minutes to spare. Miraculously, he fell asleep on the second flight which made things much less stressful for me. Graham has also been on numerous long car rides to climbing areas, Denver, and his grandparents house in southern Colorado. This fall we went on a few camping / climbing trips and he slept well at night and even took some naps in the tent.

Checking out the wildflowers while camping / climbing

Graham's first time playing in the snow was in Michigan when we went back for my grandma's funeral

Things he does to make us smile: He loves to hug stuffed animals, he's starting to dance, he enjoys leading a game of banging his hands on the table and then sticking them up in the air and watching everyone else follow his lead, and all of this makes us smile. Every time he says a new word or at least tries to imitate us, it is really exciting. One of his favorite things to do is carry Jack's lunchbox into school, which is adorable and the kids love it.

Most of the time he does NOT want to sit still for photos

Happy boy at the park!

The big kids were reading so Graham joined them. (Ignore are awful sofa covers. Someday we will get new couches,)

We were trying to take photos on Christmas Eve but Graham wouldn't stand still so we were just taking some shots of the big kids. All of a sudden Graham came into the frame wielding a toy sword and smacking the kids, which of course they thought was hilarious. It's blurry, but I caught some of the laughter. Graham is always doing crazy things that makes the older kids laugh.