Raffi’s 22 & 23 month update
I am such a proud mama. Raffi’s vocabulary and understanding of language continues to impress me. At lunch today he busted out with such a cute version of the ABCs that I had to upload it to YouTube and now I have to share it with you.
Cutest. Kid. Ever.
A few quick highlights for this past month…
1. Raffi now speaks in two part sentences and repeats everything you say. Last night Trig was about to throw Raffi up in the air but I thought he hadn’t seen the fan so I yelled out “Watch out for the fan!” Raffi not only repeated that every time he and Trig walked by the fan, but he also followed it up with “Be careful baba!” I love seeing how their brains work and how they put different thoughts and ideas together. Some of my favorite mispronounced words of his right now are:
dayn-jus! (dangerous!)
up-silled (spilled)
puh-soon (spoon)
bee-bug (ladybug)
buttahfly (butterfly)
wawar (water)
milllllllllK (milk)
bery bery ipsy (very very slippery)
pa-hair (pacifier)
fireeeeee (photo)
Some examples of things he might say in a day:
“Mama goes gets Raffi’s milk. Not Alessandra’s milk. Alessandra’s milk goes here. No bread for Alessandra. Baby only drinks milk.”
(slips on the floor) “Very very slippery! Mama, it’s very very slippery over here. I need paper towel. I clean mama”
“Raffi sit down. Raffi no stand on chair. Raffi sit down. I’m so proud of you Raffi!”
Of course we understand him perfectly but a stranger on the street might only get half of his words right. I really need to start being more careful with what I say because he is truly a parrot. I also can’t do anything in secret now because he goes and tells the world what we do every day. In fact, that is my favorite thing to do. At the end of the day before bed I ask Raffi what he did that day. He always starts with “I had fun ____” – I love that. He also says that right after leaving any place. For example, “Mama, I had fun with Geddo. I play basketball with Geddo”.
2. He’s over separation anxiety it seems. We had a quick bout with some bad separation anxiety including him refusing sleeping in the crib, but he’s now back to crib sleeping. He didn’t do so well in the big boy bed and I’m so happy he is back in the crib. However I’m also glad that he is ok in a bed when we travel because that makes it easier on packing for us. I hope he stays in the crib at home until 3 if at all possible. Viva the baby jail!
3. Raffi sings through most of the day now. I couldn’t wait until I had a child old enough to sing, and now that he’s old enough I am really enjoying it. He sings one song over and over again all day in the cutest voice. I love it. Favorites include the hello song from Nest, Twinkle Twinkle, ABCs and Old Macdonald.
4. Potty training is completely done and I feel that I can say he’s 100% trained. He hasn’t had an accident with me in weeks – he’s even dry overnight 100% of the time now.
5. When I’m not working our day looks like this:
6:30 AM Exercise if I’m not being lazy
7:30 AM Wakeup and breakfast for Raffi and I, I nurse Ali
9 AM Go outside and play. Ali naps in the stroller or while I’m wearing her.
12 PM Raffi and I eat lunch, I nurse Ali
1 PM Both kids nap, I work
4 PM Raffi has snack, I nurse Ali
4:15 PM I do lots of housework like fold the laundry, make dinner, unload the dishwasher etc. Raffi plays independently with a little help from me. He also entertains Ali by bringing her various toys to eat or showing her something he’s doing.
6 PM We go outside and “play” again. I don’t bring the stroller this time. We walk down the street to get the mail and usually end up at the park out front where other kids are playing.
6:30 PM Dinner for Raffi and I and some days Trig too
7 PM Both kids get a bath. Raffi helps me bathe Ali and then takes his bath.
7:30 PM I nurse Ali while reading books to both kids and then put her in crib awake if she hasn’t fallen asleep
7:45 PM Raffi goes to baby jail for the night and hasn’t cried in 3 nights at bedtime (hurray!)
I have found that our lives are the most fulfilling and our kids are happiest when we have a fairly structured routine. Ali is only nursing 4 times a day now, naps at 9 AM and 1 PM and goes to bed by 7:30 PM. Raffi eats his breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner at the same times as Ali and takes his afternoon nap with hers at 1 PM. In the morning we always go outside. If it’s raining we drive somewhere but if the weather is in any form decent we are outdoors. In the afternoon we always have some quiet playtime while I get things done around the house, or in rare cases we run errands. Then in the evening before dinner we always go for a quick walk outside (an hour or less most nights) to get some more fresh air and also to get our energy out. It works for us and I find that when we have a skeleton outline of our routine we can be more flexible in between and still keep them happy. Does that make sense?
6. Raffi is obsessed with taking pictures. He loves looking at pics of himself on my phone or saying who he took the picture with. He also loves to pretend anything is a phone and will randomly hold up a toy and yell out “photo!!!!” It’s adorable but also shows me that we might need to take it easy on the photo taking. It’s just so easy when your kids are this cute:
Random facts:
Wears: size 5 shoes but is growing out of them, 18-24 month shorts and pants, 18-24 month or 2T tops, size 2T-3T undies
Sleeps: 8 PM- 7 AM overnight and 1:00-2:30/3 PM nap
Eats: 3 meals, 1 afternoon snack and not usually a morning snack (eats better when we skip snacks)
Favorite foods: milk, water, waffles, muffins, blueberries, raspberries, fresh mozzarella, chicken, American cheese, avocado, carrot sticks, sugar snap peas, eggs, pasta, pizza, watermelon, ice cream, popsicles
Lease favorite foods: still won’t try fish and won’t try eggplant but wants to like it, is refusing fresh tomatoes this month
Favorite toys: musical instruments, doctor’s kit (the B. doctor’s kit lives on), playing with dry pasta and cups/spoons, puzzles, books with identifiable items (letters, parts of the body, colors, shapes, etc)
Loves: playing hide and seek, opening and closing doors, saying Hiiiiiii to Alessandra, climbing into Ali’s crib, turning lights on and off, turning music on and off, going down the big boy slide by himself, going on adventure walks, in general being outdoors, pretending to feed Ali, being chased by Trig, laying down in a bed with either one of us, reading the same book over and over again, SINGING and hearing someone singing, sitting next to Ali and I while I’m nursing, hugging his giraffes and carrying them around when he first wakes up
Hates: being left behind a closed gate while I run upstairs to grab something
2 Responses to “Raffi’s 22 & 23 month update”
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He is the cutest! As a speech-language pathologist with a particular interest in early development, I loved this post. Isn’t it completely crazy how quickly toddlers take off with speech? One day it’s one word, the next it’s an entire conversation. It’s such a fine time.
He is such a cutie!
I totally agree that having a schedule helps all around, both mama and baby!