Houston Michael, 21 months of baby love!

It's been quite a while since I updated on this little man of mine. My last "monthly" wrap-up about him was his 15 month milestone. Bad mommy...

So much has changed in that little bit of time that it's hard to remember him any other way than he is now. Where did my baby boy go?! He's SO big!

Big guy even helps mommy at her "desk job" when I'm home ;)

WARNING: This is my attempt at a "baby book" for my child and has a little more info included than you would most likely EVER be interested in. You were warned...

 Eats:

Our fantastic eater has slowly become a much more finicky eater, a.k.a. toddler.

Some days he eats like there's no tomorrow, some days he can run on fumes, and what he gobbles down today he will react to like it's sewage the next day.

There are a few foods that have a 90% success rate with him when he has refused all else:

• bananas
• yogurt {we buy the Greek, high protein yogurt}
• cereal bars {nutrigrain}
• cereal... in general
• CANDY! ;) Though there's not much of that being offered around here...
• scrambled eggs
• pancakes
• bacon!
• pasta
• chips and dip of any kind

It's a guessing game with him. I try to usually feed him what we're eating, but if that doesn't work, I resort to the main staples of his "diet". I still buy the baby food in the pouches to get him to eat fruits and veggies. Those are a hit or miss too but he usually likes them and I'm happy to get something nutritious in him.

I'm telling myself that he will return to liking fruits and veggies again with time, that just toddler-hood and textures are in the way at the moment... fingers crossed!

He use to LOVE avocados... now so much now:

Cognitive Development:

Verabally, Houston has been taking his cues from his momma's early childhood... his speech is developing sloooooooowly. I didn't truly say many words at all until the age of 2(!) and it seems Houston is following in those footsteps. We contemplated speech therapy in the beginning, but just the enrollment in daycare seems to be encouraging his speech skills lately.

He doesn't say words often, but the ones he has said include:

• dada
• momma
• truck
• glasses

...and that's about it folks! He is constantly "asking" what things are by pointing and saying an inflective "Dat?" We can ask him almost anything in the "Where's the ______?" game and he can point to it or take you to it. He knows EVERYTHING we're talking about. He knows what everything is on illustrated book pages, puzzle pieces of transportation/animals, etc.

He's also doing the animal sounds for elephant, lion, dog, cat, cow, jumping "like a bunny" and making a fishy face for a fish----> too cute!

He's doing fantastic with knowing lots of body parts and the colors red, blue, yellow, green and purple too. He has been impressing his parents non-stop!

Daycare:

With the start of mommy's new job that gave me mostly day shifts and more hours, we decided to enroll Houston in daycare as well. It was a rocky start finding a place we trusted AND had openings and the tearful drop off {for BOTH mommy AND Houston} lasted for a couple weeks, but we are now in the swing and he does SO well when he's there.

He loves his friends, his teacher and the amount that we can tell he's learning from daycare alone is invaluable. I thought I would be "tolerating" the daycare route instead of his loving babysitters, but now I'm pretty darn thrilled with it. Hopefully, he is too ;)

An added bonus - our daycare has cameras and can log into on the internet and stalk him all day long!!!

SCORE!

Health:

My extremely healthy boy took a little U-turn within the past couple months though. Within about a 6 weeks time frame, we went from never having an antibiotic at the age of 19 months to going trough 4 antibiotics for never ending double ear infections. The fluid in his middle ear would never disappear and the infection would always return with a vengeance. We finally decided to have tubes place on May 9th as well as having his very swollen adenoid removed and so far, so good!

Playing with daddy on an earrrrrly morning before surgery. I was so afraid of this morning without being able to give him food or drink, but he didn't seem to mind much.

That precious face! His momma was a bundle of nerves that day.

Post surgery: He was in and out of being able to actually look at us and focus after anesthesia, crying, calming down, crying again and then finally able to sit and watch cartoons on my phone while his i.v. finished. The nurses said that most children take a pretty good nap once they get home, but our guy played like a champ for a couple hours, ate like a horse, and finally tuckered out while momma and daddy were desperate for a nap as well.

He never showed any pain or any difference the rest of that day and beyond. He recovered like nothing ever happened within just a couple hours of surgery. Praise GOD!

Loves:

Our baby loves: trucks/vehicles of any kind from tiny to child size that he can ride. He will "vroom vroom" with toy cars all.day.long. as well as ride his vehicles around the house. He also loves steering wheels anywhere he can get his hands on one. He's a big fan of throwing... EVERYTHING. Something we're definitely working on squashing! He loves our dog even if the feeling isn't always mutual and he will feed him anything he has. {He will also jump to "kiss" the dog anytime while his dad and I have to beg, borrow, and steal to get a kiss from him!} He throws major fits to go outside and would stay outside until he was burnt to a crisp if we let him.

As for tantrums, we saw them quite frequently during the time period of constant ear infections. {Slamming his face into the floor is his favorite during a fit - I cringe.} I thought it was just our official entrance into the terrible two's and never associated it until after his surgery when the tantrums resolved. Hallelujah!

Watching Chuck the Truck on t.v. while he holds onto Chuck the Truck during morning snack. He's in heaven...

I can't even start to tell you how much this little guy's dad and I love him to the moon and back. I have never smiled as much as I have in the time he's been alive. His personality is so happy, so sweet, so FUNNY, I could LIVE on his hugs and kisses. My life truly has a clearer purpose with him in it and I am better for his existence.

We love you, Houston Michael!

XOXO,

Momma