I''m back with another one of my sporadic parenting updates, as we enter the final months before my little one turns two. How is he nearly two?! He was only born last year, wasn't he? Barely walking last week? When do they stop being babies, anyway? Can I still call him a baby after he turns two?
Eating
Same old story, he's the epitome of a fussy toddler, but will now allow me to bribe him into trying new things in return for something he likes (such as blueberries, yoghurt, chocolate, or my phone). I used to think I'd be above such measures, but I choose my battles more wisely these days...
Something significant has changed though - our breastfeeding journey has come to an end. A rather abrupt end, in fairness - I had to start some new medication which was not advised while feeding, and decided I would put my health first for once. He still asks for it from time to time, and was very cross with me for a good week after I started saying no, but now accepts it when I tell him it's all gone. I felt a fair bit of guilt, given how much comfort he used to take from it, and I miss the calmness of sitting down for a feed with him (so rare in a boisterous toddler's busy day), but part of me is glad we have stopped. It means I can bond with him in other ways, and he's coming to me for hugs a lot at the moment which is lovely.
Sleeping
Now feeding has ceased we've updated the nap and bedtime routine, as I always used to feed him to sleep - he'd never sleep for me any other way. I went on a girls' weekend trip in mid-March though, and he was absolutely fine without being fed, which helped with my decision to stop feeding. We're doing a very slow, gentle version of sleep training, if you can call it that, where one of us stays in the room with him while he falls asleep. The idea is we will leave earlier and earlier each week until he can go to sleep without us. He has a musical rabbit, I sometimes tell him a story (he hasn't got the attention span for a book!) or we sing a song together, and then he lays down and chats to himself until he falls asleep. We were having rather a lot of 5.30am wake ups after the clocks changed - NOT a fan! - but he's sleeping until about half past six now, falling asleep around 7.45pm at night.
He has one nap a day which varies from about an hour and a half to two hours, usually between 11 and 1. We've been using the same methods to help him sleep, and I usually ask him when I think he's ready for a nap and he says yes, which I think is helping as he feels he is choosing to go to sleep. He's very independent so I find myself using this a lot when trying to do things with him!
Playing
Harry is at his happiest when he's outdoors, so the warmer weather has come as a huge relief. My in-laws have a garden where Harry spends three days a week while I'm at work, running around and generally being a bit mad. He's super energetic and never spends more than a few minutes on one activity. The obsession with anything on wheels continues, but he's also happy pretending to bake cakes or "cookays" with his toy kitchen. He also loves to tickle us, and my husband has taught him to blow raspberries on me - great!
Chatting
His speech is really coming along and he's using more sentences these days, although I still need to translate a lot of what he says, but he's very good at mimicking me now! He's super sassy and this becomes more and more evident the more verbal he becomes. He's also adept at saying please and thank you in the right context, although he can't quite pronounce thank you... and instead ends up saying something rather rude instead (he tries to say "thanking" but hasn't quite got there yet!) - I have to suppress a laugh every time!
