Jones is 19 Months Old, or, What's Going on with Jones in November!

Jones is 19 months old!

 

At 19 months, Jones:

• Weighs around 27 pounds
• Is around 33 inches tall
• Wears size 18 months and 18-24 months clothes, size 5 and some size 6 shoes, and a size 4 diaper
• Is not that interested in food. In a funny change of pace, breakfast is now the meal he eats best (we struggled for a long time trying to get him to eat anything at breakfast) and he is not that interested in dinner. Breakfast is mine and Jones' special time; I bring his breakfast into his room and he sits in his lap and eats it and we watch cartoons (Martha Speaks and Curious George) while he eats. It's a good start to my day. He has also started playing with his food, and my response to that right now is to give him one chance to stop (I pick up the plate and remove it and look at him very seriously and say, "No, we don't play with our food.") and then, if he still plays with it, we're done with our meal. Favorite foods include oatmeal, Nutrigrain bars, PB&J, broccoli, mashed potatoes, chicken nuggets, and salmon. He likes soup - he ate a whole adult-size bowl of chicken noodle soup for dinner the other night, and pretty much a whole bowl of vegetable beef soup another night. Much to my surprise, he does not like grits. Like, at all. Like, clamps his mouth shut if you try to feed them to him. This month we are really working on mastering utensils. He's really pretty good with a spoon, but the fork is eluding him. And, of course, being a toddler, his hands are his best tool.
• Has decided he likes the way the baby toothpaste tastes, so he'll let you put it on the toothbrush and then he'll take it and put it in his mouth, but there's not a whole lot of brushing going on. I swoop in and try to brush a little, and he'll let me for a minute, but then he starts giggling and thrashing around and it's all over. This is, obviously, way better than crying and screaming at the mere sight of the toothbrush. Progress.

 

• Talks a lot, but I can only understand a limited amount. My favorite thing he says so far is thank you ("tank oo"). Alan was playing with him the other day and he said something to me and Jones said, very clearly, "Jill!". So Alan said, "Is that Jill, or Mommy?" while pointing to me. Jones said, "Jill!" So Alan said, "No, that's Mommy!" Jones said, "Mama!" It was cute, but I think Jones was confused by the end of it. He does really well with repeating things. He can point to his nose, ear, mouth, eyes, and show you his belly.
• Loves to watch the cartoons on PBS on weekday mornings - Martha Speaks, The Cat in the Hat, The SuperReaders and, his favorite, The Dinosaur Train. I usually take him some milk and turn the TV on for him to watch from his crib while I get ready, and he is super entertained. He won't watch TV at night, or any time other than sitting in his crib in his room. If he's out and about, he doesn't care a thing about TV.
• Naps once a day and sleeps through the night.
• Loves his cars and balls, when he's playing with his toys. He especially loves to roll the cars back and forth between us. He is really showing an interest in pens and pencils, so I think I'm going to get him some crayons and see how that goes. The dogs are still his favorite playmates. He loves to play tug-of-war with them, and he loves to chase them around, pulling on their tails. They are such good dogs.

• Moved up to a new room in daycare, the Zebra room. It's an on-going process. He cries almost every day when I drop him off, which is stressful for everyone. He didn't at first, but I think it's because he didn't realize that he was permanently moved out of the Frog room. Now he's realizing that he doesn't get to hang out in his familiar room with his familiar teachers, and it's tough on him. They have told me that once I leave, they get him calmed down pretty quickly and he has a good day, so I think he'll get adjusted eventually. Despite all of that, he still is excited to leave the house in the morning and go to school.

• Likes to go and hide when he needs to poop.  If ever I look up and he's off behind the couch, or if he leaves the living room and goes into the hallway, you can guarantee he's over there with his little face turning red and taking him a good poop away from prying eyes.  They told me he does that at daycare too - sometimes they go for walks in the sanctuary part of the daycare, and he'll hide behind a pew and go number 2.  Ha!
• Still a paci baby, but he went to stay with Alan's parents one weekend and only took the paci at night, so there's hope that the eventual weaning will not be that traumatic.
• Is, much to everyone's surprise, a little boy, and not a baby anymore!