Austin – Months 18 – 21

Austin – Months 18 – 21

As we roll further into the year, Austin is now turning into a proper toddler. He’s now 21 months old and he knows his own mind. He definitely keeps me on my toes – as I’m sure all parents of 21 month old toddlers know all too well. He’s had a pretty smooth last 3 months, since my 18 month update. A couple of colds and coughs (and of course a couple more dreaded COVID tests) but luckily everything has gone away, as coughs and cold do and he bounces back a few days later.

Juggling working and a poorly baby is a tough gig for parents. Luckily my work is really supportive and they let me work flexible hours as and when I need to make up the hours. My husband’s place is a bit trickier, but they have been good with him taking short-notice annual leave.

Sleeping

Austin has been a dream sleeper until just a couple of weeks ago. I think he’s hit the dreaded sleep regression. He’s dropped one of his naps. I think that’s pretty late compared with what I heard from parents of other children Austin’s age, so I think myself lucky that he would still have 2 good naps. But he’s definitely not tired for his first nap until about 11am, which is getting into late napping territory, so I’m now putting him down after lunch. He generally sleeps for around 2 hours at home and about 1 hour at nursery.

With this, it’s brought about a little bit of reluctancy to go to bed. I think this isn’t helped by the fact that it’s not dark at bedtime (7pm), so he’s up and shouting and crying, which he hasn’t done for months and months. Hopefully it’s just a phase. It’s only been a handful of days, so let’s see how it goes. Prior to this, he was a dream sleeper, even if he was an early riser – between 5:30 and 6:30am most days. Perhaps the one nap will help him sleep longer in the morning.

Feeding

Austin still refuses to drink milk in the morning or before bedtime, so I just offer him extra yoghurt or cheese during the day. I also make sure I add in extra dairy through things like homemade white sauce, cheese sauce or custard – all things he had no problem in scoffing down!

I’m told he pretty much finishes everything at nursery, at home, he can be a bit hit and miss. He eats a very large breakfast at home, so I think he’s less hungry for the other meals. Breakfast at home is a bowl of cereal or porridge, a piece of toast (or half a bagel thin or muffin) and some fruit.

He’s definitely more fussy with food. He’s really not keen on meat. He’s okay with beef, but can be really fussy with other meats, particularly chicken. But he will eat fish, quorn, pulses, so I’m not worried about the variety he is getting. He will try most vegetables. Sweetcorn, peppers, cauliflower and carrots are his favourites. I’ve planted a few veggies in our garden, so I’m hoping he’ll be interested in what I’m growing and want to try them when they are ready.

Mental and Physical Development

You forget how it was only a few short months ago you were worrying about them walking around the house. Now he just tears around like he’s always been walking. He’s still wobbly getting up the stairs and he can’t be trusted with anything he can climb on. He often climbs on top of his little table and chairs or the drum stool he has for his little kit. I’ve also caught him opening the freezer and climbing up the shelves to get into the fridge above.

He’s worked out light switches and door handles (there goes weeing in private). He’s also honed his fine motor skills. He can turn on and off his own toys, which is a blessing and a curse. The Toot Toot vehicles we gave him for Christmas all start singing their merry little tunes at the same time.

He’s able to put pieces of jigsaws together and is an absolute pro at building things out of Duplo. In fact I would say that Duplo is one of his favourites at the moment. He also loves baking in the kitchen with me. He’s great at helping me measure out the ingredients and mixing it together in a bowl. He’s also the chief spoon licker!

We also do drawing and painting, but he spends longer with the paints than he does with the crayons. He really enjoys using the paint brushes. He also got some magic sand for Christmas, which he adores playing with. He likes it when you build little sandcastles and he can destroy them. We had the same thing when it snowed heavily here. We made snowcastles in the garden and he was stomping around destroying them.

Teeth-wise, we now have 16 teeth. Just 4 more to go for a full baby set. I don’t see the next 4 coming through just yet. He’s quite good at letting me look as I brush his teeth, and I can’t see any bumps yet.

Speech

Austin’s speech is coming along really well. He’s now able to string a couple of words together. The other day at the lunch table he pinched my fork and announced ‘I got big spoon’. Much to our amusement. He also sings lines of his favourite nursery rhymes. He’s really getting the hang of communicating what he wants. He can tell you what he wants for breakfast, when he’s feeling tired and wants to go up for bath time and bedtime.

When we are out and about, he’ll tell you about every plane, helicopter, bus or bike he sees. Also any emergency vehicle which happens to pass. He’s also getting the hang of colours and can tell you some of the main colours of things – yellow, orange, green etc.

He loves reading books at bedtime and he has his favourites. As you are reading them, he’ll tell you what’s going to come next in the story. One of his favourites at the moment is Paddington which makes a nice change from The Apple Tree farm books. I love them, but I think we have read each one several hundred times.

In my next update, Austin will have turned two, so check back to see what he’s been up to in the last few months.

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