Raffi’s 20 month update
I have so much to share with you. Raffi has changed so much in the last month. I’ll get right to it. It’s so hard to get the monthly photos now because he just wants to hold the camera. I swear he is a very happy child who smiles and laughs all day long – just not when he sees a camera.
– By far the biggest change is that Raffi is in big boy undies. We started toilet training around 19.5 months, and he’s doing great. 4 weeks later he is now completely day trained (including naps). We are still working on nighttime and #2 training. I’ll be sharing a full post with tips as soon as I can sit down and write it. I’m very proud of him and his progress. He even made it on a trip to and from RI (6 hours each way) without a single accident. He’s a rock star.
– Raffi is also now picking up words faster than I can write them down. He is starting to string together more complex sentences than last month. Examples include “hold you mama?” “Raffi sit bath” “I go peepee” “I go sleep”. He knows all of his animals, all of his foods, all of his friends, all of the family names, and surprises me every day with the words he spews out. I’m not sure if everybody can understand him, but I can.
– Speaking of understanding, toddler tantrums completely make sense. Sometimes he is trying to ask for something or tell me something and I can’t understand what he’s saying. If I tried to communicate and someone didn’t understand me I think I’d have a tantrum too.
– Favorites this month include the alphabet and counting. He knows most of his letters and spends his days identifying them everywhere. Sometimes it takes me a minute to figure out why he’s shouting “T!” over and over again until I see the letter “T” of the stop sign we are facing.
– Another big change this month is that Raffi sings! I love it. He takes a music class on Thursdays (Enchanted Music Together) and sings those songs all the time. I play the CD every day and he asks me to repeat certain songs over and over again. His favorites include “Hey Ya Na”, “Blue and Green” (the song that goes boing boing), hippity hoppity and the wedding song. He also sometimes sings “Twinkle, Twinkle” and the ABC’s. If we play his music during car rides he is as happy as can be. I’d like to get a very small iPod player for his room with a timer so he can listen to some music before bed, but I haven’t found one I like yet. I’m also not sure if it is a good idea since we also play the ocean white noise all night.
– Raffi helps me bake. When he’s in a bad mood we do one of two things: cook/bake something or play with water. This month he helped me make chocolate covered strawberries for mother’s day, and blueberry muffins for his breakfasts. He also played with water about 20 out of 30 days.
– Finally, after months and months, Raffi has stopped throwing food off of his tray. Meals are such a pleasure now. He eats well with a spoon and fork, and the post-meal-mess is far easier to clean up than it used to be.
– With an infant in the house and not enough time in the day to be a good mom all the time, I let Raffi watch a TV show every day. He used to only want to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, but now he asks for Super Why sometimes. If I’m being perfectly honest I really enjoy those 25 minutes of quiet time while I feed the baby or make my lunch or do both at the same time without also having to keep up a conversation. It’s a bad habit I know I need to break, but it’s just too easy to continue.
– I say “yum!” when something is delicious, and Raffi now says “Mum” when he likes the taste of something. I find this to be so adorable and I can’t help but smile every time he says it. He also says “pa-soon” for spoon which is so cute.
Click on the thumbnails to enlarge:
Random facts:
Weight/height: I’m not sure, but he looks much bigger than he did last month.
Teeth: He got several teeth last month, and I think they all came through. I’m not sure how many he has left to get.
Wears: Size 5 shoes, 18-24 month clothing, some 2T but it looks huge, no more diapers, size 2T-3T undies
Loves: playing with water, music, singing, doing pushups while we exercise, TV, climbing on the kitchen table, sitting on the counter while I cook, counting things, playing with his animal figurines, playing any musical instrument, milk, stickers, pretend food, spoons (yes, he is randomly obsessed with spoons), his little Giraffe loveys, laying on Ali’s swaddle blankets and pretending to sleep, laying on his belly to play, laying on his belly in the bathtub, wearing his cool new hat, opening and closing doors, hiding in closets
Hates: having to stay still while I clean his bumbum, bedtime in general, being hungry, being thirsty, having anything taken away from him (especially pens), wearing clothing, having foods he doesn’t like on his plate
Favorite foods: frozen waffles, peas, milk, water, juice (given to him during potty training), blueberries, watermelon, avocado, broccoli, strawberries, American cheese, pizza, beans
Favorite toys: his easel and small letters, his animal figurines, his musical instrumentsÂ
Note: I’ll be sharing updates on Alessandra too, so keep your eyes out for her first update!
Previous updates can be found here.
10 Responses to “Raffi’s 20 month update”
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I have the opinion that there’s nothing wrong with a little TV. Personally, I need it to entertain him while I work out in the morning. It’s part of our routine and he plays (without a screen) plenty throughout the rest of the day. I know someone who has a DVD player in the car and plays a movie for each and every car ride. Don’t feel bad about it!
I also don’t think it’s being a “bad mom” to let him watch a little TV. I also have a 20 month old son and he gets a little Sprout each day. There’s a huge difference between using a TV as an all day babysitter and one program a day. I wish us moms would give ourselves a break sometimes!
TV is definitely part of the routine for my 20 month old too. Right now he’s really into Thomas, but for awhile it was the Wiggles and Elmo before that. The way I see it is, my husband and I are both very active people and we strive to raise an active little boy. We both also use TV to relax and unwind, and don’t see a problem allowing our little one to do the same as long as it’s a part of an otherwise active lifestyle. He gets to watch some in the morning (otherwise we’d never be able to get ready and out the door for work) and he also gets a show right before bed.
I’m sure someone has asked about this in the past but where did you get the number blocks? Are they the same blocks you used for pregnancy pics too (weekly)? I love them.
Thanks.
They are from bbblocks.com. And yes they are the same ones I used for my pregnancy!
Thanks!! Will check this out for baby number 2!
Ditto everyone else about TV! he seems like a smart, well adjusted boy and a little TV never hurt anyone 🙂 I swear my son has learned so much from some of the TV shows he watched! It always was in small doses, never on during meals and he knew after his show, the TV went off (and he even learned how to turn it off at a young age and did it himself). If you make it forbidden, that’s when they want it all the time!
My boys are bigger, but they each get to pick a TV show a day on weekdays. It usually adds up to a little over an hour a day, sometimes a bit more or less. They make good choices for shows, they’re smart kids and plenty active the rest of the day, and I don’t sweat it. And Super Why, especially, is really good–I definitely think it helped my oldest son learn to read. So don’t worry! He’ll be just fine.
I know this was over a year ago, but I’m loving reading all of these updates! My son Harry is just recently 18 months old and pretty much on track with Raffi at 18 months! Though, I feel like he has miles to go before he can use utensils LOL. And I’m very impressed that Raffi knows letters! Harry is particularly attached to numbers 1, 5, and 9 and knows whether there is 1 or 2 of something, but we are working on the rest. I am also starting potty training soon with a goal to be done by Christmas (so 22 months) and this makes me hopeful.
I can’t believe how much your little guy grew and changed between 18 and 20 months and now I have an idea of what’s to come soon! Thank you for sharing your beautiful family with the world. 🙂
Thanks for the nice message! I now go back and read the posts that correspond with my daughter’s age. It helps to know where she falls. Sometimes she is ahead of him and sometimes behind.
Good luck with potty training.