And just like that, I officially have a toddler. Say what?!
While exhausting at times (ok, most of the time!), this year has literally flown by. I can’t believe Aren is one and how much he has changed in the last few months. Here’s what he’s been up to!
Language:
This has been the biggest change! For those of you who don’t know, I speak to him in Persian, Ara speaks to him in Armenian and when we are all together he is exposed to English. I had heard that kids learning multiple languages are sometimes a little slower to start speaking, but so far he is doing great! I think we are already up to around 15 or so words.
So far he can name off all four of his grandparents, and of course his mama and baba (both Persians and Armenians use baba as opposed to daddy!) Then the rest of the words are pretty funny…
- Water (in Persian)
- Birdy (and he will point to the sky looking for them- it’s the cutest thing)
- Daddy (for daddy shark- I know, I know, how funny!)
- Baby (for both babies as well as Baby Shark!)
- Baby in Persian
- Balloon (we can thank the Jimmy Fallon Mama book for that one)
- Turtle (also from the Jimmy Fallon book although this one he still struggles with!)
- Paw Patrol – LOL (We were gifted some Paw Patrol books and he is obsessed. He can literally say Paw Patrol verbatim. There’s no doubting what he is saying)
There’s a few more that I know I am missing but you get the general gist! It’s been so fun to see him learn words!
Sleep
Oh sleep. So after our failed sleep training attempt in which he got super sick on the third and supposed final day, we kind of put a pause on the training. He’s been sleeping waayyyyy better than usual but it’s still not perfect as he can still get up 1-2 times a night. Luckily 1-2 is a huge improvement from 4-5 so I strangely enough feel rested and not as tired. I’m on the camp that sleep is developmental so unless I feel like the wakes ups are detrimental to our household, I am ok with it. He is a great napper nowadays ( we are on 2 naps still )and I have been able to really get work done throughout the day at last.
Eating/Nursing
I am still nursing Aren a few times a day. He doesn’t seem to want to stop, and I still have a great supply of milk so it works for us. I will be introducing some regular milk varieties to him in the next few weeks. Figured it might be easier to mix regular milk with some breast milk for those times I have to leave a bottle for him.
And as for food? Well he’s still eating three meals a day but he doesn’t seem to keen on adding snacks to that equation quite yet. Some meals he’s a great eater, and some meals he barely eats anything. From what I understand that’s all pretty normal. He never seems hungry so I think he’s doing just fine! He still loves avocados in case you’re wondering 😉
Development
Aren has become a pro at walking. It’s been quite a few months since he took his first steps (total mom fail, I don’t even remember when this was. I will have to look at other monthly updates to see!!) He is on the prowl now and will literally just run around the room. He also climbs all of the stairs, all of the time. He’s obsessed with his basketball hoop and every single book he has. He wants to read all the time which I love! He loves Paw Patrol ( I can’t get the theme song out of my head) and has an unhealthy obsession with sharks 😉 Every shark, whale or dolphin he sees is either Baby Shark or Daddy Shark!
He loves people, and will wave to everyone. He gives kisses and will even give my mom a kiss over the phone when we FaceTime. He still goes to swim class and seems to enjoy it. He is generally a very happy baby and I couldn’t be luckier.
What’s Next:
I finally found a baby class that doesn’t coincide with nap time so I am so excited for that to start up this September. Is it me or do all baby classes happen during nap time!? Who schedules these things?! We will also still be taking our swim classes at Nager Pour La Vie/Swim For Life.
Ara and I are finally buckling down and putting up a baby gate in the next few months. Our house has lots of stairs- There’s three steps down into the family room as well as well as a few that lead to the living room. Those we will keep as is because Aren is pretty comfortable with them. We will be gating up our main staircase though as he is just getting too fast for us!
Like I said, I can’t believe we have a toddler on our hands! I can’t wait to see how he changes in the next few months! I don’t think I’ll be posting monthly updates from this point on but maybe just every few months or so we will get an update up! You can always follow along on Instagram for more of our day to day!
These perfect bright and airy photos…I can’t get enough!