Playing catch-up: Months 17-18

Harrison has been a busy boy the past few months!  Here are some of our newest developments:

"Ticky Ticky Please"

Vocabulary: Harrison continues to be a very talkative little boy.  It has been so much fun watching him progress from singular words to phrases.  He enjoys talking to everyone, making sure to say "Hi!" to everyone in Target. His newest words include:

"E-I-E-I-O"  (Old McDonald)
Cookie
Car
Please
More -- Harrison decided he got what he wanted faster by saying 'more' instead of just signing it!
Keys
Yoda
"There you go"
Door
Jacket
Tire
Chair
Bowl
Cup
Bear
Goat
Mouse
Quack-Quack
Neigh
"Woah!" --Response to trips or drops
"Look at the ____"  -- most frequently "look at the car" or "look at the kitty"
Potty
"Bye Bye potty"
Night-Night  -- most commonly "kitty night night" and "dada night night"
"Rocket" and "Leo" from The Little Einsteins.
"B" for Auntie Brianna
Mouth
Ears
Eyes
"No no puppy" and "puppy here!"  Poor Winston ;)

Harrison has been the victim of biting recently at day care (4 times to be specific) and there fore he has developed a few biting-related phrases:

Bite
Owie
Not nice
Naughty

Little Einsteins and a back massage from Auntie Emily = Perfect way to start the morning!

Boys are silly.

Activities:
*Harrison's favorite continues to be reading books.  Sometimes with Mama, sometimes quietly in his room by himself.

*He loves to play outside, specifically at the various playgrounds in our neighborhood-- YAY FOR NICE WEATHER!

* Harrison is officially obsessed with all things car and truck.  His most recent favorite is Papa's motorcycle.  Papa even started it up with Harrison on his lap last weekend.  Harrison was a little unsure at first, until Papa showed him how to "vroom vroom" the throttle.  Now its "Papa vroom vroom!" every time he sees the motorcycle. We may have a future biker on our hand ;)

"Papa Vroom Vroom!"

* Harrison has learned how to float on his back in the bathtub as well as blow bubbles.  He is definitely a water baby like his mama!

Relaxing at Wild Rumpus

Newest Favorite Foods:
Frozen yogurt-- He will not eat ice cream by the way, just froyo.
Cereal
Ranch oyster crackers (Thank you, Pinterest)
Beets (really??)
Crackers and cream cheese
Pretzels

Eating is so much fun!

"Curious..."

16!

16 months!  It really feels like this second year is going by much more quickly than the first! Harrison continues to amaze his Mama and Dada, not only with his new skills, but also his new desire for independence. He most definitely lets you know when he's happy or upset, tired or bored.  He continues to be a very active, energetic boy who leaves us sweating at the end of each day.

Harrison has officially transitioned to the Toddler Room at day care.  He LOVES it.  They play outside in the snow almost daily, tons of arts and crafts, and more organized group time than in the Infant Room.  He's making a lot of new friends, becoming more social and his development is taking off again.  I believe being around kids that are slightly older than him has helped him continue to learn new things.  He now mimics behaviors of the older children and enjoys trying new things.  There seems to be a lot of "Hey, I want to do that too!"

New foods: Turkey hot dogs have become a new favorite. Harrison also really enjoys the maple brats we got from Grandpa and Grandma Bergstedt.  He will devour a whole brat in minutes and ask for more. Harrison continues to love peas and carrots.  But not mixed together, must be separate. He is also enjoying pita bread with soy nut butter. His eating habits are still that of a hungry boy. I imagine he will eat us out of house and home when he's a teenager.

New words:  This month has been huge for Harrison in the vocabulary department.  New words this month include: cracker, bubbles, jacket, book, milk, water, "1,2,3" and NO (wonderful...)  Not a new word, but Harrison now enjoys YELLING   "BAAALLLLLLL!"  every time we go to Target and walk past the red balls outside the entrance.

This is what most of our pictures look like these days...

I talked a little last month about using a counting method to teach Harrison positive and negative behaviors instead of simply saying no all the time.  This worked for awhile.  One of Harrison's favorite activities with Da-da is to be tossed in the air.  Daniel has gotten in the habit of counting to 3 and then tossing Harrison in the air.  Needless to say the counting method for behavior training has gone out the window.  Anytime we count now, Harrison runs over to us arms open ready to fly!

Chatting with babes

Activities:  Harrison loves to help Mama with laundry and will help move clothes from the washer to the dryer and close the door when we're done.  He also loves helping vacuum.  He loves to be chased with the vacuum  but will also help push it around the room.  Another new favorite activity is helping to empty the dishwasher.  Here's hoping he will continue to enjoy doing then when he's older!

After recently taking Harrison to the Children's Museum, we decided to get a family membership for the next year.  Harrison LOVED spending time there.  With so may different exhibits and activities, we will be spending a lot of time there this summer and especially next winter!  Harrison's favorite activiies included the ant hill made up of ramps and tunnels.  He spent the majority of our time there running up and down the ramps.  He also really enjoyed the water tables and the play kitchen and grocery store.  It was very busy there on the day we went because of all the kids on spring break, I'm hoping to find a more quiet weekday to bring him back so I can really let him go!

Captain Harrison

Harrison is also getting really good at going down stairs.  We were working on sliding down on the tummy for quite awhile, but Harrison seemed more interested in using his feet. He still needs a hand to hold, but has gotten the hang of walking down the stairs standing.

Harrison remains a cuddle bug.  And thank goodness.  Between the temper tantrums and the need to do everything himself, I'm very very thankful that he still wants to snuggle up with his Mama at the end of the day.  I cherish those moments.

We are thankful for another mainly-healthy month and continue to enjoy watching our little toddler grow into a "big boy".

Month 15

Holy crow is this late. Life at the Herrera household has been near chaos as of late with new schedules and new "behaviors."  Now that I'm back in the swing of working full time,  I get home at around 6:00 pm each evening. This has been great for Daniel and Harrison to have some "guys time" between daycare and when I get home, but has been quite the adjustment for me.  While the increased tantrums and whines still make it nice when 7:00 pm rolls around and Harrison is quietly sleeping, I try to cram in as much Mommy-Son time in the hour I have with him.  I miss him terribly most days.  The nice notes and updates I get from day care about what a great time he is having and all the friends he's making helps ease some of the sadness. Thursdays, my day off, have become our day to hang out.  Some days we do absolutely nothing except play on the floor with all of his toys, read books, and cuddle.  Those days are perfect.  Other days I try to get him out for a little bit. With me working so much during the week, the weekends have become our family time.  It has been nice to spend some quality time the three of us with out always running all over the place. I pray these weekends can last as long as possible.

"Yay puzzles!"

That being said...Harrison continues to test our patience. It is a favorite game of his to do things he knows he shouldn't while watching us from the corner of his eye. He also loves yelling.  Like, red in the face yelling.  Not always because he's angry, more because he knows it gets a rise out of me :)  And just when we think we may pull out all of our hair, he'll blow a kiss, run to you with his arms wide open, or simply lay his head on your shoulder.  It is amazing how such little gestures can make you forget that he just stomped his feet and threw himself down in the aisle at Target.

Thrilled

Amazing mittens that go up to his elbows.  He's not a fan.

During our 15 month well check for Harrison, I had a nice long conversation with our Doctor about "behavior modifications" and the importance of setting boundaries at this age.  I have never been good at telling Harrison "no".  I will typically avoid it at all costs.  I would rather pick him up and move him myself then to tell him "no".  This is not good.  We have started using a counting method as opposed to saying no all the time.  In this method, instead of simply saying "no"  or "don't do that", you count to 3. (I'm sure everyone remembers the:  "Don't make me count!", but this is a little different)  It  sounds a little something like this:  "1, Harrison you know we don't stand on the couch.  2, Harrison sit down please.  3, Mommy said sit down and now you need to listen."  After counting, we correct the behavior and Harrison is to sit on our lap for 30 seconds before he can go play again. Granted, he's 15 months old so it doesn't work all of the time, but with repetition and practice I have no doubt he'll get it.  We have noticed him picking up on the key words, and as long as we use the right tone of voice, he puts the pieces together. The reason we decided to go with this method was really decided in one sentence from our Doctor.  "Why not give him the opportunity to do something right, rather than just tell him he's doing something wrong?"  Perfect.

"Nice try Dad."

Harrison also received 3 vaccinations at his appointment.  Harrison has never had any bad reactions in the past, but he managed to develop a hematoma on his thigh from the DTaP vaccine.  We're not sure if a blood vessel burst simply because of the pressure of the vaccine or if it was knicked by a needle, but either way it looked pretty bad for awhile. At first there was a large nodule and bright red circle on his leg and we thought he may be developing cellulitis, but thankfully that wasn't the case. The hematoma and swollen tissue was ever present for about a week until it finally went away.  Hopefully it wont happen again!

Day 4

Height: 31 (25th percentile)

Weight: 23 (25th percentile) 

Favorite foods: apple sauce, meat balls, corn bread.  Pears have also made a comeback.

New physical endeavors: Climbing Climbing Climbing.  Harrison also likes standing on unstable objects and then raising his hands above his head.  He's trying to give me a heart attack.

New words:  Papa, sheep, baaa (sheep noise),  roar.  Even though we're at around 12 words now, Harrison still prefers to talk in Klingon.
Naps:  The second nap is officially gone.  For good.  Sigh.  Harrison is still sleeping 12-13 hours a night with one nap at noon that ranges anywhere from 1.5-2.5 hours.

HAPPY 15 MONTHS HARRISON, WE LOVE YOU!

Peanuts, Pink Eye and RSV.

This past month will go down in the history books as the month of sick.  Harrison had a pretty rough month and we are thankful that things seem to be on the mend.

December started out with a case of the allergies.  And not pet allergies.  Peanut allergies.  I had received a box of cookies through a cookie exchange at work and thought nothing of it when I gave Harrison a bite.  He is over 1 year, has not had a single bad reaction to the hundreds of things he'd eaten prior, what could it hurt?  Well, it hurt a lot.  It started out as Harrison clearing his throat (and having a cold to begin with, this wasn't out of the ordinary).  It quickly developed into anaphylactic shock.  20 minutes after eating the cookie, Harrison was madly scratching his ears and his legs.  Mommy decided to investigate and discovered his ears were bright read, inflamed and swelling shut.  He was also developing splotches on his face.  *Queue panic*

I have spent what seems like a decade reading textbook after textbook for nursing which should have prepared me to be the most logical thinking mother ever.  Absolutely not the case.  I experienced first-hand what it is like for what I call "Mommy panic" to completely trump "Nurse".  I completely flipped out.  A special thanks goes out to my mom who calmed me down on my way to the Emergency Room.  We entered the ER check in area and I explained to the nurse what happened.  I will never forget him saying: "It's okay, everything will be fine.  If I'm not panicking  there's no reason for you to panic."  It was then that I realized I needed to pull myself together.  I have said that exact phrase to my own patients.  It just goes to show how different it is when the patient is your own child. 

Epinephrine, benadryl, prednisone and 4 hours later we were sent home.  Epi pens in hand.  Harrison will have allergy testing done around the 2 year mark to determine if his body will have a life-long peanut allergy and if he is allergic to other nuts as well.  Until then we are going to be extra careful about what is put in front of him.

A few weeks after his ER visit, Harrison developed pink eye.  GROSS.  I woke Harrison up on a Wednesday morning to leave for day care to find his left eye completely matted shut and swollen.  After cleaning his eyes, he just stared at me with a little pout and his little pink eyes told me it was time to get some antibiotics.  Fun fact: 90-some percent of pink eye cases are viral and do not respond to antibiotics.  Another fun fact: doctors will prescribe them anyways so day cares will let you bring your kid back.  Weird. Harrison's case of pink eye was very mild and was completely resolved with 48 hours.  Thank goodness!

As if  the anaphylaxis and pink eye weren't enough, Harrison developed a VERY bad cold the beginning of January.  Aside from the nasal congestion and cough that everyone seems to have right now, Harrison was averaging a temperature of 102 and started wheezing. We have a cool mist humidifier--did nothing to help.  We bought a Vicks vaporizer--waste of money.  All that seemed to work was cranking the shower on and sitting with him in the steam.  And even that only helped for about 10 minutes.  Daniel stayed home with while he was sick (as I had just started my new job--wonderful timing right?) and took him to the doctor for the wheezing.  I thought for sure he would be coming home with a nebulizer.  After a chest xray was done they ruled out bronchitis and pneumonia but he was diagnosed with RSV and an ear infection.  We are 7 days into our antibiotics now and Harrison seems to be feeling much better.  The wheezing cough still shows up at night (and continues to cause me lack of sleep) but we seem to be on the mend.  YAY!

Loungin'

In regards to Harrison's development:

Weight:   24 lbs

Shoe size:   6

Clothes:  18-24 months (besides the pants of course.  Harrison is a 12 month in the waist and 18 months in the length.  What the heck.  He is already expecting tailored clothes!)

Sleeping:  12-13 hours at night.  Day care naps: 30 minutes.  At-home naps: 2-2.5 hours

Favorite foods:  Harrison's new favorite food is tortillas and cheese.  He also loves carrots (yay!) and of course whatever we're eating.  Harrison DOES NOT like mint ice cream.

Asking Nana for more cake.

New words: ball, "cool dude", truck and shoes.  Harrison also understands what "Harrison, can you 

say              ?"  means and will try to say what you've asked.  Harrison can also sign "all done".

Favorite toys:  Harrison is obsessed with cows.  He is also really into his Monster Truck and wearing sunglasses.

Someone is ready for spring!

"Cool dude"

New physical endeavors:  Climbing on the couch.  Somewhere Harrison learned how to get down off of the couch by sliding on his tummy.  I'm not sure who taught him how to do it correctly, but whoever you are, thank you!

While the tantrums are still apart of toddler hood  Harrison is still such a sweet little boy who loves to cuddle and give kisses.  Thankfully, the tantrums that we are having right now are short and have lasted no more than a couple minutes.  I'm hoping that Daniel and I ignoring his behavior he will soon realize it gets him no where with us.

Here is to a much more relaxed month that is free of major illness!

Month 13

Weight: 21 lbs 15 oz. (31st percentile) Harrison actually dropped a little weight since his last official "weigh-in."  Nothing to be concerned about, his Dr simply said that since he's been walking/running and so physically active he burns a lot of calories a day.

Height:  30.25 inches (57th percentile)

New words: "Good", "Thank you", Nana, "Moo" (for cow), "woof woof" (for dog)

Favorites: Reading books--both with others as well on his own, stacking things and then knocking them over, putting his toys into his toy box (really?? awesome!), sitting in his chair.

Other news:  Harrison is done with bottles!  I was very relaxed when it came to weaning him off the bottles and essentially he got bored with them before I decided he was done.  He has 7 (yes, 7) different kinds of sippy cups now.  All of which he will use...now.  He began the transition not liking much of anything in the way of sippy cups, but now thankfully will drink out of anything.  We have begun to work with him on drinking from regular cups as well.  

Harrison went to see Santa this month!  We weren't sure just what to expect from him since last year he was only a month old and had no idea what was going on.  Harrison took it in stride even cracking a smile while Santa talked to him about joining his Elf Training program.  We weren't able to get a smile for his picture, but I have to say he was quite the dapper little man!

Harrison has definitely entered his Toddler mode with tantrums becoming a regular occurrence   It is not uncommon for Harrison to throw his whole body to the ground and cry.  There is no rhyme or reason as to why he does it as of now.  While he continues to establish his independence, Daniel and I are trying to take everything in stride.  I have found myself on more than one occasion reciting "he is just a baby, this is how he communicates" 

Harrison continues to be such a loving child who now will back up to you in order to sit in your lap.  He will bring you books to read to him, and lay his head on your shoulder.  I pray he will always be such a cuddly boy!