17 Months Old

On the night before they turn 18 months old (I'm really getting bad at doing these on time!), I wanted to jot down some things about the boys at 17 months old:

• I shared a video a couple weeks ago of the three of them smooching each other. They are so incredibly affectionate at this age. I love it!
• I have not been able to pick the boys up once since they have been 17 months old. I had my surgery on November 21, their 17 month birthday, and am on lifting restrictions for (hopefully only) a couple more weeks. I am able to hold them in my lap so I've been creative about lifting them into my lap with my legs!

  

  Lots of floor time with the boys these days until I can pick them up again!

• In the past month, I've also started a new routine with them at bedtime. Typically I will lean over the crib to kiss them goodnight, but in the days following my surgery that wasn't possible. Instead, I started squatting down and getting smooches from them through their crib rails. They love this new routine and treat it like a little game. I will probably keep it up long after I am medically cleared to pick them up again!
• Speaking of my surgery, it's been an incredibly frustrating 4 weeks for Will and me both. I'm frustrated because physically I feel fine, but can't do much to help Will with the boys these days. And Will has been frustrated on more than one occasion as he is left to deal with so much alone. Changing diapers for 3 squirmy toddlers all day, every day, can get the best of anyone. They can be so irritating when they just won't hold still long enough for you to change them! Grrr. 
• Temper tantrums are unfortunately becoming more and more of a regular occurrence, particularly with Griffin. Luckily he's at an age where he's easily distracted so the tantrums are often short-lived. 
• The fighting. Oh, the fighting. They always want whatever toy their brother has, and instead of waiting to take turns, they steal things from each other. Which leads to tears and, unfortunately, biting. Something that is another daily frustration with us. Cooper rarely, if ever bites, but Griffin and Will will bite (usually each other) nearly every day. All 3 boys are covered in bruises in the shape of little teeth. Sigh. 
• Exhibit A of the stealing and sharing of toys:
• We've somehow lost all of our sign language DVDs (how does this happen?! How do DVDs just up and disappear?!) with the exception of one that was still in the DVD player. This particular signing DVD teaches them how to sign "share" which is something we are working on doing with all our toys!
  
• All 3 boys continue to sign to us daily, though they haven't added many new words to their vocabulary ("share" is a new one that they use regularly)- perhaps if we hadn't lost the other DVDs we may be further along by now!
• We've begun to be a bit more lenient with screen time and let them watch something in the evenings a few nights a week, mainly when we need a few spare minutes to finish a project ourselves. The only show that will fully capture their attention is Baby Einstein- they love, love, love the Baby McDonald show on YouTube.
• We've started practicing using forks with meals. They do a pretty good job of stabbing their food and are remarkably accurate at getting the food to their mouths. We've tried spoons a couple times, but that is quite messy so we're perfecting the fork first.
• Other new "tricks" at the dinner table: they will take turns saying "bite, bite" and feed each other! 
• We replaced our Thanksgiving art work on the fridge with some Santa artwork. I let the boys play with the old art, and they found it so, so funny to rip the paper up! Wouldn't it be fun to be so easily entertained all the time?!

  

  New fridge art

• They talk all the time. We usually don't understand what they're saying, but we're starting to pick up more and more words from them. Cooper and Will can say quite a few words; Griffin probably could if he wanted to, but he is more of a grunter (has been since he was born!)
• All 3 boys are still dealing with the nasty stomach virus, which has led to way more diaper changes (see frustration from Will above) and laundry than normal. My heart goes out to the boys, but man- it is so gross to deal with! I'm looking forward to when we (all) finally kick this bug and get healthy again!

  

  This is the look Cooper gave us all day long when we were having to feed them in very small bits every 10 minutes. He would stand in the corner and look longingly at the crackers and pedialyte and cry and whine until the 10 minutes are up and he got to have more.

  
  

  

  Sick Griffin, Sick Mama

  
  

  

  Sick Will and Cooper, (amazingly resilient and not sick) Dada

• Their favorite toy for the past week or so has been a gigantic box that we let them play with. Seriously, they would spend an obscene amount of time running in, out, and around the box. It was entertaining to watch! I let them draw all over it with crayons one day- they loved that, too! 

  

  Final days in the baby jail

  
  
  
  
  
  
   
  

  

  Who needs real toys when there are giant boxes to play with?!

• I found a Learning Tower for the boys for a great price via the NextDoor app- we haven't used it a ton yet, but I really look forward to having the boys "help" me around the kitchen as they get older. We did test it out a couple times- all 3 boys can fit on it at once, though only 2 can use the counter so we'll probably continue to use the solo high chair in addition to the Learning Tower when we're doing group activities. 
  
  
  

  

  First order of business: check out the Toys R Us ad for Christmas ideas!

• We found a cute little plush Christmas decoration at Target recently- it's a "mama" Penguin with little triplet penguins and plays "Holly Jolly Christmas"- the boys LOVE it! Every night after dinner when we are taking them upstairs for bedtime, they run directly to the penguin and wait for us to turn it on. They'll be so sad when the Christmas decorations come down and the penguins go away!

  

  Griffin usually leads the charge over to the penguin

• The kitchen area is officially baby-proofed as of this past weekend, which means that the boys are now free from baby jail. My parents brought the boys a kitchen set for Christmas, and we knew we were going to set it up in our kitchen so they had a play area downstairs, which meant the baby jail had to go. It was time- they had outgrown the jail (probably a couple months ago) and I wanted them to have a little more freedom to run around while we're in the kitchen area. So far they've done pretty well with their new found freedom. The room isn't 100% baby proofed, but it is good enough that they can roam without getting into too much trouble. Our boys are growing up!



As I said, not completely baby-proofed. They are experts at finding our weak spots.