Spear Summary of Month 21
This post covers the 21st month of Spear’s life – the entire month of August – and he was 20 months old during this month.
Sleeping and Eating
Y’all. I basically have decided Spear is just going to nap in the mornings FOREVER.
This month he started school two mornings a week which means he does not have the morning nap on those days.
But the other days of the week he naps in the mornings. I have a pretty solid routine and he gets about an hour to an hour and a half nap and then still takes the full afternoon nap.
I’ve had to be more mindful about waking him up RIGHT at 7 am and that helps ensure him to be nice and sleepy for the morning nap.
He’s SO wild and SO active and is SUCH a high sleep needs
He LOVES to snuggle before bedtime and will lay in my arms and wrap his arms around me and squeeze me while I sing to him.
Spear continues to amaze me with his eating.
He is SO adventurous with what he will try and what he enjoys.
This month he jacked my salad off the counter and DOWNED IT and now he will fuss and want to eat salad anytime I have it!
First kid I’ve had that LOVES salads!
He is also doing GREAT with utensils.
My favorite thing is how he will “foo” his oatmeal every morning.
He LOVES water and will constantly drink it which is such a healthy habit that I love to encourage!
School
This month was a BIG MONTH with Spear and school.
First, I had ZERO plans for putting him in any type of school and planned to potty train him this month.
THEN I realized that speech needs to come first and enrolled him in a Mom’s Morning Out.
THEN I switched him to a legit preschool.
Whew. Thankfully he’s super easy going and flexible and y’all my mom heart feels SO CONTENT with the decision to send him to the legit school (you can read my thoughts here).
He LOVES it and is SO happy every single time I drop him off and pick him up. His teachers sing his praises and I LOVE seeing the pictures of him having so much fun at school!
Speech
This was also a big month with Spear’s speech. I had a lot of emotions about it and wrote this post sharing my thoughts and feelings.
We started Spear’s weekly speech therapy at our home this month and he’s LOVING it and doing SO WELL.
Some notes I’ve learned:
- It’s GREAT to have him in school around other adults who don’t know his every want and need as it’ll help encourage him to communicate.
- Pairing words with an object is important.
- Repeating the same word over and over is great too!
- And holding the object near your mouth when saying the label for the item so he can see the word being formed.
I feel encouraged already only after having two meetings with his therapist!
On top of enrolling him in school I also made an appointment with an ENT to have him evaluated to make sure his hearing is okay and that nothing else physical is at play.
I also purchased this dvd that I heard can help with speech. We do independent playtime each morning and then follow it with watching this movie!
Swim
Water safety is SO important and I haven’t done a lot of updates about Spear’s swim over this summer.
We swim CONSTANTLY but it’s always me working with him when Zach is working so I don’t really have anyone to take a picture or video of Spear’s skills.
He is doing AMAZING which makes me really proud of myself too b/c it shows me that I’ve done a great job being consistent and working with him.
I had him starfish so I could get some pics! He’s killing it!
He also had a moment this month where he put it into real life practice.
He was playing with a ball near the pool and fell in. I was standing right there but did NOT rush to him.
I was calm and watched. And sure enough, he turned right over and did his little starfish! He did GREAT!!!
Toddler Life Moments
Whew. We have a full on wild man toddler on our hands!
Spear’s wildness combined with how dang SMART he is can be a tricky combination!
He is our FIRST child to figure out the baby gate. Totally figured out how to unlock it and open it on the stairs.
Zach added an additional lock to it and that seems to work for now.
And then Spear figured out the water on the fridge (another kid first for us). So thankful our new fridge has a lock on the water!
He is also my first climber and I’m constantly having to get onto him for climbing up on the table!
He is also SO quick to pick up on things and will mimic our behaviors and will catch onto things SO quickly. He’s SO common sense smart which is JUST like Zach.
Outside Time
Spear LOVES being outside. He knows Zach will take him out and he will RUN to the door and ask to go outside when Zach gets home.
He especially loves working on things outside with Daddy. He has a little spot in Zach’s shed and when Zach is working on house stuff Spear does his “work” too.
He’s always more interested in figuring out how things work than he is actually playing with them.
He also doesn’t love swimming. He will do it, but would rather be playing in the yard than in the pool!
Reading
Yes, Spear is wild. He’s into stuff. He’s daring. He can be straight up EXHAUSTING.
But oh my word this child LOVES to read.
He will get a book and sit so happily just flipping the pages and babbling and looking.
It’s so precious!
Sibling Moments
Spear ADORES Kye.
Spear didn’t feel so great for a couple of days and when Kye got home from school he wanted to just be held by his big brother.
The boys also got haircuts together which was so cute and they both looked so handsome!
Tessie continues to be obsessed with her baby brother but school has def taken away from the obsession a bit.
Spear is starting to really be more interested in his siblings and pursues time with THEM and I’m sure he misses them while they are at school all day!
More About Spear This Month
I have really soaked up our solo time together with the kids at school.
It’s my sweet time with my sweet boy!
He does great running errands with me (and is WHY seatbelts for shopping carts became a thing!)
He LOVES playing with clothes and understands where everything goes on his body and can put things on and off.
I adore this child 🙂
21 Month Old Schedule
Sample Schedule for a 21-Month-Old Toddler
7:00: Up for the day
8:00: Independent Playtime
8:45: Video Time
9:15 Reading time together
9:30: Nap
11:00 Up from Nap
12:00: Lunch
12:45: Down for Nap
4:00: Up from Nap
5:30: Dinner
6:30: Bath
6:45: Story and Bedtime
Videos:
Spear’s video for this month should auto-play in this blog post!
Sibling Comparisons:
- What I’m Gifting My Family: 2024 - November 21, 2024
- Effective Parenting Tips to Discipline a 5 Year Old Child - September 24, 2024
- Happy 9th Birthday to My Daughter – Letter to Tess from Mom - August 26, 2024