Hi Baby (Toddler) Boy,
You are 13 months old now (or maybe I should say 1 year, and 1 month? That sounds strange). This month we’ve seen a huge developmental leap in you. You are really starting to show us how much you understand, and also even using words. You saw a bird out of the window the other day and exclaimed “Burrrd! Burrrd!” while pointing. You also say good girl to Annabelle (sounds more like “gooo guuuurl”). Some other words are “whaaaaaaat?” and you put your hands up in the air, and of course, mama, dada, bye bye, vroom vroom for your motorcycle, you also say book (sometimes you leave off the k), but your favorite word is still Ba. You are forever pointing at things and saying Ba? Ba? Ba? and wanting to know what it is.
You are still running all over the place, and can even stand up by yourself in the middle of the room instead of having to crawl over something to use it to pull up on. Oh! Oh! Guess what else?!? Your sleeping THROUGH THE NIGHT, and wait for it….. IN YOUR CRIB!! It is a miracle!! Seriously, cannot believe it!!! Daddy and I finally got up the courage to do a little cry it out (which I’d always been against). The first time we tried it about a month or two ago was a complete fail because we kept trying to go in to comfort you. A couple of weeks ago we decided to try again, and low and behold, it worked! The first night you cried for 30 minutes (agony for Mommy to hear you and not save you). The second night you cried for 15 minutes, and kept falling asleep standing up with your head on the rail. The third and 4th night was maybe 5 minutes (while still falling asleep with your head on the rail), and after the 5th night and into this week you have just laid down and stuck your little butt in the air and put yourself to sleep, and stayed there for the next 10.5-11 hours. It’s absolutely astonishing!! We look at you on the video monitor about a thousand times to make sure that you are still okay. I don’t think we’ll ever stop worrying about you.
A major reason that also could be helping your sleep is we found out you have food allergies!!! You have already been to the allergist twice, poked 40 times in your back, and blood taken from both arms. So far we know you are allergic to milk, peanuts, chocolate, green beans, peas, apples, strawberries, carrots, onions, and barley. My poor boy, no wonder you were throwing up all the time with bad reflux and gas pains. All of a sudden you stopped gaining weight so we knew something was wrong. I had mentioned it to the doctors for a couple months, but after the 3rd month of no weight gain, plus weird rashes, they sent you for further testing. Now that we’ve pulled you off of all the foods you are allergic to, you have already gained 2 pounds up to 22 lbs 2 oz, and are 30 inches tall. I’m glad we’re getting you back on track!! You had exclusively breastmilk (plus veggie and fruit purees) until you were one years old, and I am so happy I could do that for you. Once you turned a year, I stopped pumping at work, and you have worked your way through my frozen stash. You only nurse morning and night, and we had to supplement the rest of it with soy formula, and are now switching to almond milk because of your allergies.
Oh! And another big event happened, you now have a third buddy staying at the house with you during the day! Graham is 6 months old, and is going to be hanging out with you and Rylie during the week. It helps Elyse out with her finances, and we are happy you will have another friend to play with. So far you have been very gentle with him, and love to kiss him and give him hugs. It’s very sweet. Although you still don’t like for Elyse or me, or anyone else to be holding a different baby and not you. If I’m holding Graham, you will come up and hug on me and try to inch your way between us, you jealous baby you. I love it!
Most of the time (when you’re not being mean and ignoring me) I get good hugs from you when I leave the house, but you love Elyse and her family soooo much that you are just as happy to be with them. You stand at the front window and wave bye bye to me as I pull out of the driveway. It’s always hard to leave, but I know that me and your Dad are working so we can provide you with the life we want you to have. On the weekends we make sure to spend a lot of family time together. The weather has been gorgeous here lately, we’ve been spending our weekends going to the park. We have a sun tent that we set up, and lay out a picnic blanket, and we lay around in the grass and let you play. We watch the skateboarders attempt to do tricks, and of course we go on the swings and slides too. We’ve had a great time spending time outdoors, and you love love love to play in the grass and dirt.
You are truly an amazing little boy, we have a great time together. There is nothing better in this world than seeing you look into my eyes and say “Mama.” I love you little Lucas Walter.
