Nineteen Months Old

We are barreling full steam ahead toward two! Yep Ace is well on his way to being a toddler entirely and losing all signs of being a baby. In fact in recent weeks new babies have been born and he refers to those as 'bebes' so of course he is not a bebe.

Ace's vocabulary is ever expanding past the point of documentation. I was doing pretty well up until 75 words. But life is busy and he's a-talkin' so it's hard to get them all written down. He has started to say more sentences. As you'll recall his first phrase was 'I did it!' and then shortly followed with 'All done, mama' in just this last week he has started to add more and more. Often by repeating something that I have said, such as when I told Nick to get off the table we were eating at. Ace promptly repeated me 'Nicky getdon' and then two nights ago when he was finished with another round of upchucking he said 'All done, Mama sick yucky.' Yes it is, Bear.

Yes, Ace has had his first touch of the 24-hour flu. Around 2:30am on Tuesday morning Loving Husband woke to Ace coughing and took him into the bathroom - where he proceeded to upchuck his dinner from the night before. He then continued this pattern every hour until about 7:30 - I allowed him to try a little water and he wouldn't take no for an answer when seeking Mama Milk and so I gave that too him knowing the end result would in fact be very messy. Indeed it was. He spewed all the water and milk and was not feeling so hot. Over the next couple of hours he managed to snooze a bit and keep 3 or 4 sips of water and 7up down. Then we ventured to the doctor for a prescheduled appointment to check out a knot under a bruise in his leg (which turned out to be a hematoma and nothing to worry about) At this point he hadn't thrown up since around 8:45, had one shockingly impressive round of diarrhea but was in pretty good spirits. The doctor confirmed the flu and we headed home. He threw up twice on the way home. All over himself and the carseat. I pulled over and mopped up what I could without taking him out and then continued on driving home. He fell right asleep. I managed to get him and the carseat without even a flinch of him waking up. So he slept for an hour sitting in his carseat in the laundry room. Once he woke up he was hard to comfort and very sad. We laid in bed and watched some Nemo and eventually he drifted back to sleep - still not taking anything to drink and yet again wanting milk. :( He finally took some pedialite around 5pm and sipped on that until bedtime. He also managed to eat three crackers without issue and went to sleep with just a bit of water pretty easy by 9. So hopefully today he will get back to normal eating slowly and gaining back his tummy.

Besides that illness, Ace for the most part is doing wonderfully. He's growing like a weed! He's grown at least an inch since his 18 months doctor's appointment and is now wearing a size 7 toddler shoe. He's still as skinny as a rail but he's still gaining weight. I say that confidently considering that he went to the doctor after not eating in 15 hours and vomiting up everything he had eaten and he weighed exactly what he did at 18 months. Which indicates to me that he easily weighed at least one pound more than that prior to the sad bout with sickness.

Ace has started to become very interested in numbers. He knows what 1 is and he can actually point out the #9 - although he often refers to all numbers at 9s - he can say the word numbers as well, and we're working on the 'party trick' of 'Ace how old are you? 2!' :)

In his 19th month Ace slept through the night for the first time!!! Yipee. To say the parents were thrilled, elated, in awe would be an understatement. And while he has yet to repeat this wonderful event, he has been leaps and bounds better at his sleep - which is encouraging.

Ace's 19th month also nearly brings a close to mama milk. We are almost weaned entirely. Yes, WE ... momma has to wean too ... it's a sad thing to let go of that special time with him, but since I don't produce as much any more and it isn't really nutritionally beneficial anymore the time has come. We had been down to 3xs in 24hrs: 7am, nap time, and part of the bedtime routine. Oddly enough the easiest one to cut out was right before bed. He seems content to simply take a sippy cup of water and go to sleep. Nap time is the one that we've been working on this week and that is difficult. But we're surviving. The AM feeding is the last one to go - and perhaps the flu bug has the added 'advantage' of ending the mama milk entirely. Either way we'll be done by April 1st, the current goal.

Swim lessons continue to bring both mama and boy great joy. He has a wonderful time splashing, kicking, and dipping under the water. Back floating while still his nemesis seems to be less objectionable than it always has been before - so perhaps one day he WILL back float. :) He also graduates to PT3! The next session starts again in April and he will be with kids 18mos-3years and will learn to jump off the side of the pool, swim to me, and extended breath control even further. We're both excited for the adventure that is awaiting us.

Ace is a growing happy boy and we cannot wait to dye Easter eggs with him, hunt for them, and enjoy many more upcoming spring time activities.