Busy, Busy, Busy, Busy...There's So Much to Do!

This is one of the little songs that plays on Joel's music table, and it definitely sums him up right now! He is enjoying many of his new toys from his birthday, but right now his current favorite things are Nyla's water and food bowls, the toilet, cords of any kind, and mommy's cookbooks. He is so quick and is into one thing right after pulling him away from another. It makes for some interesting days here!

He is trying more and more table foods and actually getting them into his mouth before smushing them all around and playing with them. He really likes chunks of tofu, toast with apple butter, crackers, any kind of bread, and mac and cheese. We thought we'd be starting him on whole milk, but Joel's new pediatrician (that we LOVE) tested his iron levels since he was having blood drawn anyway, and his iron levels are a little on the low side. Since milk provides no iron, he'll be on toddler formula until at least fifteen months.

Joel is doing so many cute things lately! He's very into imitating, so every time we squeeze our eyes closed, he does it too. He will also shake his head back and forth when we do it. Also, if we say certain sounds like dada or titi he will repeat it. He will say mama, although dada is much more frequent. In fact, I will say mama for him to repeat. He responds with dada and we go back and forth. He even says it with kind of an exasperated tone, too, like he's doing it just to be a stinker. We're trying to catch it on video because it really is funny. He will also give us a kiss if we ask for it. Not a puckered one, of course, just a lean in open mouth drooly kiss. We love it! Right now we are working on him interacting with us while he is playing. He gets very focused on whatever he is playing with, and we are trying to get him to present things or show us what he's playing with. It's kind of a recent concern on an attachment level, but since we don't see any other red flags, it's not a major concern right now.

You might remember our post about sleep awhile back. We had a hunch that teething was causing his frequent wake-ups and tears, so we tried teething tablets. He sleep all night that night, and the next and the next...now we are afraid to not give him teething tablets before bed! We did talk to Joel's ped, and she said they are absolutely safe and confirmed that Joel is working on eye teeth and molars. Yikes! We are also at the point where we give Joel his bottle, snuggle, and put him into his crib awake. It has taken about a month, but he is quiet and goes to sleep very quickly on his own, which is great! However, the past few nights there have been some tears when we leave the room. He stops as soon as we go back in, so we know that it's a security issue. We don't agree with the cry it out method, but it also doesn't do much good to go back in because as soon as we leave, it starts all over again! I have tried sitting on the floor next to his crib, but he has a hard time going to sleep that way. We do give him about two minutes, and if he doesn't stop by then, we will go back in to him. Usually those two minutes are an off and on crying, too, so it's not an all out scream. It's still hard, though!

Wow, this is a long post! I guess I have a lot to say about our boy! One last thing to say (and some cute pics of him eating cereal). At Joel's appointment, the doctor told me, "You better get your running shoes ready for this one!" Hmmm, I think we consider ourselves fairly warned. :)