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baby talan turned 19 months old today. i really feel like i just wrote his 18 month blog and i don't have much to say this time around, even though he's ever changing.
talan has pretty much lost his appetite. he usually does not like to eat at all first thing in the morning. just likes to have his milk and roam around for awhile. then when he does want something to eat for breakfast, he doesn't want to sit and eat it. he'll just grab a bowl and box of cereal and hand them to me. i'll pour it and he'll walk me (with the bowl) out to the living room where he will then eat, and spill, until i put it all away not able to take one more crumby mess. the other morning i made myself some oatmeal and figured i'd see if he wanted some too. turns out he did. and he wanted more this morning. he was actually quite pleasant sitting in his chair with hayden while eating his cold cereal (the crunch berries only from the generic captain crunch cereal) and oatmeal.
lunchtime usually doesn't go much better. there are some days he'll eat an entire jr. lunchable which consists of mini ritz crackers, little chunks of turkey and small strips of cheese. but he much prefers throwing it across the kitchen and crumbling the crackers into his lap. of course the second he gets down from the table he wants to eat something in the living room. doesn't ever like to sit, this one.
dinner time is the same. he'll eat a very tiny bit and then shake his hands, kind of the way you should to say "all done" in sign language and also say "aaa duuuuuu" so well that i think even an outsider would understand him.
he loves to use a fork. if you can't get him to eat something, but then stab it with a fork, he'll typically start eating again. i've slowly tried letting him use a spoon, but he's not so good at it and he would rather a fork anyway. so he might be 15 before he is able to use a spoon. oh well, he leaves way too many other messes for me to clean up, i don't need another one.
another thing about mealtime is that we moved his highchair back down to the basement and he is now sitting strictly in his booster seat. mostly because our kitchen is WAY too small and the highchair was just always in the way. but he seems to enjoy being at the actual table with the rest of us instead of sitting behind us all the time. we usually like it too. usually.
i am convinced that talan permanently lost the word "mama" when he learned the word "dada". he does, however, know exactly who "mama" is now. when asked to point people out he knows who mama, dada, hayden, tina, justin, jessica, papa, grandma, jenn and rainah are (don...i don't think we even have a picture of you! new family pictures need to happen soon!). he says "dada" often and perfectly clearly. in fact, anytime his binky is in his mouth he removes it in order to say it that much better. and lately, anytime hayden enters a room talan will run over to him, pointing, saying "hhhhaaaa ennnnn" in case we forgot.
he knows a lot of animal noises now and i can't ever talk about having chicken for dinner without hearing a "bach bach" behind me. he moos, meows, woofs, growls, peeps, tweets, scratches his arms and makes some kind of high pitched monkey sound, lifts his arm above his head and somewhat trumpets like an elephant, claps his hands and barks like a seal, chomps and makes a biting sound for a shark, and opens and closes his mouth to be a fish.
i have noticed that when we start to sing the abc's he sounds as if he is singing along. and he has become quite animated when he picks up an old cell phone and runs around the house jabbering away to whoever is on it...usually dada, but many times papa. i usually don't dare say it's justin as he will then run to the window looking for him and calling his name.
his separation anxiety has gotten a little worse, but he always seems to calm down once we leave. we haven't been called out of church yet, but they have had to take him out of the nursery and walk him around at times. he now goes not only on sunday's but 2 thursdays a month as well when i got to mops...so i'm hoping that will help him out a little. he has even cried when i've left him with mom before, which never used to happen. the other day mom came over to watch him while i went to the dr. and when she came in the house he just sat in my lap and wouldn't even look at her. he does that with most people that come to the house and i think it's because he thinks i'm going to leave him. once he realizes i'm staying and so are they, he opens right up.
talan is LOUD. he makes himself known all day long. his temper has gotten worse and i'm hoping it's strictly a "terrible two's" kind of thing and not something that continues the rest of his life. he does still tend to get over things quicker than what hayden did/does, but not as quickly as what he used to. he throws himself anytime he hears "no" or you don't do something quick enough. i honestly can't believe he hasn't started bleeding from his head yet as he's banged it MANY times by throwing himself down.
dave recently started putting him in his crib if he starts screaming about something. today it happened two or three times. shortly after getting out of his crib he started to throw another fit. he threw himself down and started to scream. i asked if he wanted to go back to his crib and suddenly he stopped screaming. he continued laying there all dramatic like but never did scream again. ahhh, maybe this will work!
he continues to LOVE music and dancing and drumming. today while listening to a song he purposely drummed along directly on the beat 4 times in a row. dave and i just looked at each other and said....that really is totally impressive. this kid is gonna make us rich someday. he's USUALLY pretty good about not beating on things he shouldn't with his drumsticks so i let him run around the house with them. most think it's not the best idea in the world but then they don't have to live with his screaming when i take them away, do they?!
he loves the show yo gabba gabba and dances along with all of the kids. there is one song where they sing "wiggle wiggle wiggle go! wiggle wiggle wiggle go!" and then they sing "hold still" he wiggles all around and then will freeze when they sing hold still. it's hilarious. one day i'll be smart enough to get it on tape.
he continues to go to bed around 7 at nite, wakes up at 7am...usually a little earlier and takes a nap at 1, waking up around 3:30 or so. there have been many mornings where it looks like he really misses his morning nap....and so do i!
he likes to be read to. for a bit at least. but will turn the page whenever he is ready, not necessarily when it's time, and that's annoying. his favorite book is a little tool book and a my friends tigger and pooh book about the seasons. he also still loves to get out the wheels on the bus book and this book with a bee in it. the book that because we taught him a bee goes "bzzzz sting!" now that we try to get him to repeat letters, he says "a" and then gets stuck on "b" because instead of saying it he stings himself.
hayden can really bug the crap out of talan, but talan certainly knows how to push hayden's buttons as well. apparently the other day while in the basement talan was palming a ball with one hand (he has giant hands, remember) he would fake throw it right at hayden's face. and he kept doing this. acting like he was going to throw it. apparently this really got to hayden. i wish i could have seen it!
they actually can play together really well and it's so much fun to watch them together. first thing in the morning hayden always goes over to him and says "awwww, baby talan. hi baby!" while he rubs his head gently. they love to play chase together and hide and seek. they also love dancing and throwing themselves onto the couches together. and hayden can make talan laugh like nobody's business. everyday when hayden is coming home from school, talan runs to the door or window yelling hayden's name all excited.
talan loves to play with his shape sorter but doesn't have a lot of patience with it after the first round. he loves holding onto the football while in daddy's car and now the soccer ball while in mommy's car. he loves to "brush" his teeth. he loves coming downstairs to "play" but really it's just making a bigger mess. he loves to give people high fives and daps. in fact, while at old navy, he insisted that i take the cart close enough to every half bodied mannequin so that he could give their hands five. he says "cheese" when you take his picture. he loves to pretend talk on the phone, but if someone really is on the other end he won't say a word. he loves suckers....i hate them. he loves to jump. he loves getting up on our bed and trying to do all of the same jumps and flips that hayden does. he loves to take all of the pieces of a puzzle out but doesn't want anything to do with putting them away. he will now help put most of his other toys away when you tell him to. he loves trains. he loves balls. he loves working out with me and my workout tape by punching and kicking in the air. he loves to make a mess. he loves to throw things. he loves to play with my hairbrush while he's on my bed. he loves to turn hayden's leapster video game on and off and trys to act like he knows how to play it. he loves to type on computers. he loves putting his socks and shoes on but hates leaving his socks on once the shoes are off. he has recently really started loving tv...tivo in particular. and he loves standing and sticking his belly out.
talan continues to hate sitting still. he hates cold baby wipes. he hates having water dumped over his head in the bath tub. he hates sharing. he hates being told no.....especially by hayden. he hates waiting. he hates leaving somewhere when he's not ready to go and will stiffen up so you can't get him in his carseat. i've had to wait it out before in a target parking lot. he usually hates cooperating. he hates having to eat a normal meal while sitting.
while talan has become a much more difficult toddler than we ever would have thought he would, he is still a very sweet and happy baby. he has a great sense of humor and he seriously makes us laugh ever other minute. we had a rough day with him, but unfortunately he's getting a cold...hopefully that's all it is seeing as though i just got over strep throat. it's that time of year....outside right now our cars have a layer of snow on them....no joke.
talan continues to grow and change every day. which makes me both happy and sad. he constantly has us on our toes and there is usually never a dull or quiet moment in this house when he is awake. we can't wait to see what this next month brings us.
we love you so much, talan cash. happy 19 months!
i figure an explanation for the pictures just isn't even necessary anymore. you all know he hates to sit still...enough said.
yesterday i took talan to the dr. for his 18 month check-up. as soon as dr. newcombe walked in, she commented on how he had lost his baby look and looked all toddler now. i think i've had about 3 people say that to me in the last 2 weeks.
talan remembered the last time he was at the dr. with hayden and they were dancing around the room, so as soon as his clothes came off talan started spinning in circles and breakdancing on the floor. he must not have remembered too much else about the last visit because when dr. newcombe came in he didn't cry or get all clingy like he did the last time.
everything looks great with talan. which is possibly a first for him. i was SURE he was going to have another ear infection, but both ears looked great. she only heard a little bit of yuckiness in his chest which is simply due to the cough that returned because of a cold he recently had.
he only had to have 1 shot, which was his flu shot and he only cried for a few seconds. nothing too traumatic.
here are his stats:
he measured in at 33 inches which places him in the 70%. he weighed in at 24 pounds 13.2 oz which puts him in the 35%. and his head measured in at 19 inches which puts him in the 60%. big noggin.
had they measured his hands and feet i believe he would have been in the 160%.
at this point we don't need to go back in until talan is 2 years old. we are hoping to have the tubes put in his ears at the beginning of the year though, so we'll see how that goes.
on a totally different note, after trying to keep all things peanuts away from him until at least age two (i'm so paranoid about peanut allergies. it would be close to the end of the world if one of my children ever has one) i came upstairs yesterday to find him sitting on the couch eating one of hayden's peanut butter crackers. he also had a peanut shell in his mouth the other week. i'm sure we're safe....but i'm still holding out to make sure we keep it that way!
p.s. this picture was taken by justin cox. do you want good pictures? call him. he's good.
first i must state for the record that both of these pictures were, in fact, taken today, this talan's 18 month birthday. we had a wardrobe change, but fear not, i am as anal as ever.
so this morning i tell talan we need to take his picture with his bear. so he goes running into his room to get his bear, runs back out to the living room, climbs up on the couch, lays himself down and starts wiggling all around with a silly smile on his face. easiest laying down picture i've taken since before he was mobile. sitting up? that was a different story. hence the wardrobe change.
every time i sat him up, he's just scoot back down to a laying position and start wiggling around again. i'd sit him up, he'd growl at me and then lay back down. after awhile i just gave up and decided we'd have to try again later. i only got 2 shots sitting up but that would have to do. heaven forbid i try another day when it wasn't actually his 18 month birthday!
talan has started trying to talk quite a bit more within the past few weeks...mostly the past few days actually. dave pointed out a few weeks ago that he talks with his mouth closed. he just makes noises that come from his throat to form his words. so they all end up sounding the same. shoe, sock, flag, tweet tweet, it's all the same noise that doesn't come across well when typing.
he continues to say "baaa" for ball and balloon, however just yesterday i realized he could say "bubble" perfectly clear. hayden and i even heard him say "purple" but that only happened once.
he now says "dada" all the time and quite excitedly whenever dave walks in the door. and he always calls for hayden (haaaennnn) whenever hayden goes off to school.
yesterday he started trying to say "heehaw" but it is just "hee hee" with the first hee being higher and the second hee being lower...just like if you said hee haw. but if you ask him what a donkey says, he first starts to bark. doggie and donkey sound a lot alike.
several weeks ago i commented out loud that i hadn't heard talan's horrible cough in so long i couldn't even remember the last time i did hear it. maybe a week and a half later he came down with a cold and the cough is now back. just in time for his 18 month check-up on monday. well, at least it was gone for a couple of months. i figure it's back to stay for the winter.
talan went through a big eating spell for awhile where he would eat 4 chicken nugget dinosaurs at a sitting. now he barely eats 1. things he used to eat he will now put in his mouth, make an awful face and spit it back out. oh how i hope it's a phase and that i don't have another hayden on my hands!
one thing he does still seem to eat a lot of are hot dogs. he ate 2 of them yesterday for dinner before hayden even ate his one. he also really likes the little carrot shreds that you find in bags of salad. thank goodness they actually sell bags of "matchstick carrots" cuz it was getting hard picking out enough of them from the salad to keep him satisfied.
he still really likes capt'n crunch crunch berries, but will only eat the berries. and he loves lucky charms but really only eats the marshmallows.
talan used to be the world's easiest kid to put to bed. all i would say is, "ready to go nite-nite?" and he would grab his blanket and binky and run himself into his room. i'd lay him in his crib and we wouldn't hear a sound from him until the morning. he did this both at nap and nite time. then he came down with that stupid cold and ever since, he lays in bed crying for awhile before finally falling asleep. it's probably more annoying now because he is 18 months and not a newborn. and because he used to go down so easily. now just listening to him scream in there is like nails no a chalkboard. several times i have been taken back to when hayden had colic. then i remind myself talan's will only last 1/2 hour TOPS not 4-6 hours straight. only then am i able to stop shaking him and gently lay him back down.
he continues to be the world's messiest baby. he can tear your entire house apart in 12 minutes flat. his favorite place in the house is the basement of course because that's where the most stuff is. he has zero attention span which leads to his mess making. hayden at least played with things for more than 2 minutes. not talan. the only thing he plays with for long extended periods of time are his drum sticks.
talan continues to LOVE to dance. anytime any music comes on he starts dancing away, sitting or standing, it doesn't matter. most nites we have a dance session where we turn on some cd's and let the boys dance around the living room while we stayed entertained. and talan doesn't just dance fast all the time. if it's a slow song, he'll gently sway to the music. i've been trying to get good footage of him dancing to the ellen show to send in, but of course he never does it when the camera is rolling. she'd love it though. i say she'd even hire him to just be at every show and dance.
i have come to realize after all of these months, that talan hates wipes. and i think he hates them because they are cold. he doesn't care if it's winter or summer, he just doesn't like having his butt wiped with a cold wipe. hayden could have cared less which is why it never it me talan had a problem with it. i just figured he didn't like being changed...which many times he doesn't, but i think the majority of the time he just doesn't want a cold pack wiped across his naked butt.
talan continues to love his big brother hayden. they play hide and seek and chase. they spin around the room together. they dance together. throw balls to each other. push each other. and drive each other crazy.
just this morning, talan was sitting on my lap after he had gotten up. he climbed down, walked over to hayden and leaned on him....which meant he was hugging him. he climbed back up into my lap and then did the same thing 2 more times.
talan also has recently taken up an interest in exercise. i have started doing my workout tapes in the living room right after the bus picks hayden up in the morning. talan now waits for it to come on and then starts saying "kick kick" (it doesn't come out quite so clear but there was no other way to type it) as he starts lifting one of his legs. he also loves to "punch" and jump up and down when they are doing jumping jacks. the rest of the tape is lost on him, but he gets plenty of exercise doing other things....like running in circles around me, hitting my butt when i'm doing my lunges and running back and forth trying to have me miss him while doing kicks.
talan continues to be a very active little boy. he loves to run and jump and never sit still. he loves to play up on our bed. he can't talk a lot but he knows what he wants. he shakes his head "yes" and now also "no" to help us figure it out. he loves pushing cars around and saying "beep beep." he loves opening the cd player and taking all of the cd's out and then putting them all back in to one slot. he loves to turn the music all the way up when i'm outside at the bus stop. he has recently really started getting into watching tv and movies and his favorite show is yo gabba gabba. he loves running and pretending to fall...but usually does it rather hard...he still thinks it's funny. just today when i said "you be careful, you almost bumped your head" he then went back to the headboard and purposely banged his head into it. he loves climbing down the basement stairs by himself now and will often sneak down when i don't even know it. the other day he slowly brought up cans of food one by one. he loves trains. he loves the beginning of thomas. he loves having his shoes put on. he loves baths. he loves playing with my hairbrushes.
he hates wipes. he hates to sit still. he hates being told no. he hates sitting for meals. he recently started hating going to bed. he hates keeping his socks on when his shoes are off. he hates having his hair washed.
we are headed to the dr. for his 18 month check-up on monday so we'll report back later with his stats. he is now mostly wearing size 18-24 month clothes. he has ginormous feet and wears a size 6.5 wide or extra wide. we are using up the last of his size 3 diapers as he is ready to be in size 4. he goes to bed anywhere from 7-8pm and wakes up around 7am. he still takes his afternoon nap from 1-3 or 4.
i honestly can't believe talan has been around for a year and a half. time has flown by, but we are now at my favorite age. he seems to learn and try new things every day. i can't wait to see what each new day brings but i'll miss each yesterday as i know how fast the time goes.
happy year and a half birthday, baby talan! we love you so much!
today talan turned 17 months old...just one month away from being a year and a half. wow.
while talan has still never made me cry the way that hayden always has, he has been presenting more challenges.
as i wrote about last month, he is SO active. never sitting still for even a second. he couldn't even sit still on the train ride when we went to see thomas the train. it seems like it's more work than anything to go anywhere outside of the house because i'll just spend the whole day chasing him. and people don't get it. well yeah, that's why you take them to the park and they can run all around. no...not my children. they will run all the way OUT of the park and 3 cities over. no joke.
months ago we found some mr. men shirts for the boys. hayden appropriately got mr. grumpy while talan got mr. happy. while he still is usually mr. happy, he is now way more mr. messy than anything. he LOVES to take out every toy he can possibly get his hands on. he will empty the toy baskets 3 times a day or more if you put them back. he also loves to throw his food around the kitchen which drives me insane.
his favorite place to play is in the basement but we only let him spend limited time down here as there are FAR too many toys. he has literally cleared out most of the bins before. and when you start to clean up, he immediately comes over and takes out whatever you just put away.
while in the basement his favorite toy are his drumsticks. he has two pair...a black pair and a pair that look like some type of bug. he far prefers the bug sticks but also plays with the black ones. just today he was SCREAMING at hayden because hayden had the bug sticks first. yes, the fighting has begun. talan loves these sticks so much that this months pictures feature them as it was the only way i could get him to lay still for 2 seconds to get a not so great photo.
he really hasn't been saying any other words this month and i still really wonder if it's due to his ear problems. i'm hoping that once he gets tubes, maybe his speech will come.
he still calls most people "mama" but just the other day he did say "dada" as dave was getting out of the car and coming into the house. i think he actually said it several times. we clapped and made a big deal about it and repeated "dada" to make him realize that was the correct word. ever since, dave has been "mama." he often times sings it, i think when he sings it he is referring to dave. that's when it seems like he wants to point to a picture of dave at least.
for awhile we thought he was calling jessica "caca" and then we started thinking maybe "caca" was justin. we are back to believing that "caca" is jessica and justin sometimes sounds like "caca" but there is a small difference.
he does call for hayden which is really cute. just today i was carrying him upstairs to get changed and apparently he thought we were going to look for hayden who was at school so he started calling for him.
mostly, talan sounds like someone put duct tape over his mouth and he's trying to talk. you can hear the inflections but can't make out any letters. i think hayden did the same thing.
talan still LOVES to dance. it's almost as if he waits for a show to play music so he can start dancing and clapping. he was the life of the party at jessica's wedding. dancing from before the dancing actually started until the bitter end just before midnite.
today i was watching ellen and he got right up and started dancing and clapping along with her. i plan on getting it on video and sending it in. she's gonna want him on her show. who wouldn't?!
something new he has started doing is jumping. now, he's always been a jumper, but he now ACTUALLY jumps. as in taking both feet off the floor at the same time and doing that several times in a row. not sure that i've ever seen a baby as young as him be able to do that, although i guess i've never asked a lot of babies to try it. either way, i'm impressed.
he continues to have a temper when told "no" or if you pick him up and take him away from something he doesn't want to leave. he will growl or throw things or scream and kick and throw himself down. it's usually pretty funny...but probably because it only lasts a few seconds unlike hayden's fits.
he has a great arm and throws really well. too well most of the time. he's hit hayden several times now with hard objects and it hasn't been pretty. if you hand him milk and it's not what he wants (because we can't understand what he's saying) he'll throw that across the room as well. that's gotten pretty annoying. today i slapped his hand good for that one and he was quite offended.
another thing i've really noticed lately his how much he HATES it when you wake him up. yet another thing that he and hayden are complete opposites in. hayden has always woken right up and will become mr. conversationalist when you wake him up. sometimes walking drunkenly but always pleasant. talan on the other hand. he cries and cries and cries. does not like to be woken up at all.
sunday he was sleeping a little later than i wanted him to so i went in and got him up. he popped up from his crib and let me take him out ok, but when i put him down...wow. i sat on the couch with him and he immediately got down off of my lap. he stood next to me and threw his binky which went WAY under the couch. then he threw his blanket and then ran over to the front door, threw himself against and and started screaming. he stood there for about 3 minutes and would look at me and then "AGGGHHHHH" silence. repeat. it was annoying and funny all at the same time. he eventually calmed down and i asked him if he wanted to go downstairs and he immediately shook his head "yes." then he was happy as he could be for the rest of the evening. that's definitely something he got from me.
a new little wrinkle is that he opened the bathroom door all by himself. he was really persistent out there until he finally turned it just enough and pushed it open. wonderful.
he has been waking up earlier than normal...by 7, usually earlier...which is something we are not so happy about. he takes his one nap around 1 and usually wakes up around 3, but sometimes sleeps till 3:30 or even 4. he goes to be anywhere from 7 to 8 depending on how his nap went. he is still wearing size 3 diapers because that's what we have but will be moving to 4's as soon as those are gone. 18-24 month shirts and some pants but typically still 12-18 month pants as he's not so tall.
he enjoys reading books more and more each day. either on his own or with someone. he loves to babble at strangers. he loves to chase and be chased by hayden. he loves to go outside. he can usually point to his hair, nose, ear, mouth, eye, tongue and foot. he loves watching the little einsteins (well for a little bit at least) and patting along with rocket. he loves pushing trucks around. he loves trains and makes the "f" sound instead of saying "choo choo." he eats better if you put his food on a fork but he still hasn't done it himself. he loves an audience. he loves going into hayden's room but it is usually now closed because of the messes he makes. he loves the bath and tries to climb in it whenever he's in the bathroom. he loves the cat even though the cat doesn't love him. he says "beep beep" every time he goes to the fridge because that's what i say to make him move out of my way which he never does. he still looks at most pictures of animals and meows. he barks when he hears a dog outside. he beeps when he hears a car honk it's horn. when he hears the neighbor's car pulling out he runs to the window and waves. when he sees pictures of babies or kids he always points and says something that sounds like "me" but i'm guessing he's saying "baby." he yells and moves his arms up and down when you ask what a monkey says. he grabs anything he can possibly get his hands on. he loves to eat crayons. he shakes his head "yes" when he wants something, but if he doesn't know what you're saying he'll still shake "yes" and then get mad when you give him what he said yes to. he loves shoes and putting shoes on, probably because he thinks we're going somewhere. he loves "brushing his teeth". you can't go in the bathroom without him saying "ma" (not more or milk or baby or anything else he says "ma" to) and pointing to his toothbrush. he loves brushing his hair with my hair brush and then running around the house with them. he loves jumping on the bed.
he still hates to sit still. changing him has gotten easier but still not easy. i can usually put on his diaper, pants and take off his shirt and then he runs away before i can get a new shirt on him. he hates hearing "no". he hates being woken up. he hates watching someone walk outside if he's not going with them. he has started hating having his hair washed as he doesn't like the water in his face.
i'm looking forward to having some time with just him now that hayden is back in school. gotta get him caught up on his letters, numbers, colors, shapes, animals, ya know...all the basic stuff that i've neglected with my second child. actually, i think hayden just learned it all through movies and talan just isn't the movie type. can't even sit still for a half hour show.
we look forward to another month with him and all of his changes...as long as those changes aren't waking up any earlier than he already does.
we love you, talan! happy 17 months!
he sometimes gets annoyed by his clothes and starts trying to take them, and his diaper, off. he took his pants off and then did this with his shirt. it was left this way the rest of the evening:
he modeled the newest look in paris:
he danced around:
he looked at hayden like he was crazy because he took his shirt all the way off:
he snuggled with daddy for a couple of seconds:
he had a dude's picture taken:
he gave daddy smooches with his new and improved kiss featuring a kissing sound:
he gave himself a pedicure:
this was just a funny one so i had to put it in:
he ate an apple that he stole out of hayden's backpack:
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