It seems like these last few months have made huge changes in our littlest boy and it's been amazing to watch him turn into his own little self. Sometimes I default to thinking he's still just a baby and then he'll do something that stops me in my tracks and shows me how big he's really getting. He's the perfect fit for our family and we couldn't have asked for a sweeter, more sensitive yet full of personality little boy.
He...
[+] is still the sweetest, cuddly baby there is. He is so content sometimes just sitting with you on the couch while you rub his back and head. He lays his head on our shoulders if he's being shy and snuggles with soft stuffed animals. He still rubs his face into any soft blanket and can't fall asleep without his lovie blanket right by his face. He sits and watches TV and for the most part still doesn't fight being in the carrier which this momma loves. He's also starting to be more of a daddy's boy since I've been back to work which daddy loves.
[+] is blossoming on the sign language and is keeping on track with where big brother was at this point which is reassuring. He consistently signs "all done" and "more" and both aren't just in the context of food anymore too which is great. He also signs "milk" especially at the end of the day when he's ready for bed, "please" which is accompanied by the sweetest little "peeeees" sound and most recently "thank you".
[+] verbally he says dada on command along with Ollie. He also says some version of "buu baa" if he wants blueberries and he grunts and nods if an answer is "yes". He said the sound ma once a few weeks ago and I haven't heard it since and am waiting for the day on pins and needles.
[+] knows where his head/hair, belly, ears and piggies are. He'll also put both hands covering his ears if you say "Pat can you hear me?" He points where he wants to go and what he wants. He tries to open doors and knows where his shoes are for going outside.
[+] has really started throwing tantrums when he doesn't get his way or screaming at the top of his lungs for no apparent reason. Neither of which are very fun in general but always seem to be worse when were out and about. He absolutely hates when you take something from him, don't let him go somewhere he wants or pick him up when he wants to walk. He's also mastered the limp body, throw yourself backwards technique which just adds to the drama. And icing on the cake his scratching and pinching that we're trying desperately to stop.
[+] has been taking one nap for what seems like months now and it's awesome. Especially because it's at the exact same time as Mark naps giving us between 1.5 to 2.5 hours of peace and quite throughout the day. He typically goes down around 12:30 but is sometimes extra cranky in the hour leading up to nap depending on how his morning sleep went. He's definitely not as good of an early morning sleeper as Mark was, going down around 7:30pm and typically waking some time between 6&7am. But the nice thing is that we don't ever go get him up until 7am and he's perfectly content rolling around and playing with his lovies while he waits.
[+] wears size 18mo-24mo for most clothing items, size 6 shoes and size 4 diapers. He is quickly catching up on big brother making getting them dressed/doing their laundry that much more complicated. I think we might have to switch to doing their laundry separate at some point because their clothes are already ending up in the wrong drawers/on the wrong bodies.
[+] is such a water baby just like big brother. He loves going to our neighborhood pool, splashing and crawling in the zero-depth area, climbing the stairs on the play structure and floating around in the deep end in his floatie. He also loves being on the boat at the lake except for when he's tired and fighting his boat-nap. He also went tubing for the first time on July 16th which he loved. He was stone-faced the whole time so we weren't sure what he thought but as soon as the boat stopped, he wouldn't stop signing "more, more, more" so we know he loved it. The one part of water he isn't a fan of is bath time. He's typically wanting to get out way before big brother.
[+] still tends to get constipated so we're still on a daily Miralax regimen to help him out. We've also upped his dosage as he's gotten so much bigger since we started and we were noticing there were some days it wasn't helping him entirely. There's no harm in it and so we're not worried about it at this point. Hopefully he'll grow out of it eventually and it won't be a problem anymore.
[+] can "jump" which is just a big time squat that he stands up quickly from. He also dances like no body's business, clapping his hands, swinging his arms and stomping his feet. He waves hi/bye and often times waves bye when he's off to do something he shouldn't be. It's actually quite adorable.
[+] is still getting two bottles of whole milk, one right when he gets up for the day and one right before bed, because after a few absolutely horrible days of fighting with him and some advice from the pediatrician, we're not pushing it at this point. The boys' new pedi has an awesomely laid back attitude and said that as long as he's getting 2-3 total servings of dairy of any form in a day then that's all he needs. And also that the 5-10ish minutes of drinking from a bottle aren't going to mess with teeth/development especially because he knows how to drink from a sippy/straw cup too.
[+] is still enamored by his big brother and it's so fun watching their relationship grow. He will go and cuddle with Mark when they're both laying on the floor and even leans in for kisses when we ask him too. Their newest game is for Pat to push Mark over while he's sitting on the floor and they both laugh and laugh. They also run laps around the house playing chase and their giggles are contagious. Pat's starting to get feisty with Mark too over toys and cups and the like. He'll screech and run away if Mark's trying to take something or he'll scratch and try and tackle Mark if he has something he wants. Overall their interactions are awesome and I'm so glad they have each other.
We love you Pat Pat.
