Suárez Family: Past and Present: Tiago update (19.5 months)

I meant to write about Tiago back when he turned 18 months old. But twins happened, and that was put on the back burner. So at 19-ish months, here are a few thoughts about this kiddo.

He's finally not skinny. I felt like 5th percentile in weight was his niche in life, but now he's up to 50th percentile! He looks at least a little chubby when he's naked, and it's cute. (I think he weighs about 26 lbs.)

Speaking of weight and percentiles... last time he went in for a check-up at the doctor, the nurse tried to get him to stand on the scale. That led to an epic meltdown that continued right until the moment we stepped out of the doctors office. He could hardly breath during the whole appointment. When I went in a few weeks later for my 6-week postpartum check-up, I took him in the room with me where I was getting my vitals checked. He immediately started crying uncontrollably. I'm not sure what traumatized him.

And speaking of him crying (but not me!!): he's finally old enough to go to nursery at church. I went with him a few times before he was 18-months old, because they needed people to help out in there anyway. He was very clingy, but usually warmed up to the place. (Because it's full of toys...) But he's done quite a bit of crying the last several weeks on his own. Slowly but surely it will get better. I think he's intimidated by all of the bigger kids in there, but it's gotta be better than Sunday School.

So what's going well in his life? Sleeping. I feel like he's in a great rhythm, which makes my life 100% better. Admittedly, he still has a bottle before taking a nap, but in my mind, it's still worth it. Then he has a solid bed-time routine, which Hyrum created and I think is funny. Hyrum describes it very specifically: bath, pick him up, open and close the dryer, brush teeth three times, put on PJ's, read a few books, identify Colombia on the map that hangs on his wall, and then turn off the light and sing a song. Whew! I've been putting Tiago to bed for the last month, and we'll just say I cover the highlights. :) It's nice that he knows it's time to go to bed, though, even if it means he lays in there talking to himself for 30 minutes.

One night we started watching Saving Mr. Banks (about the making of Mary Poppins) right after he went to bed. Within 20 minutes, they started playing several of the songs from Mary Poppins and immediately we heard Tiago screaming in the other room in protest. He obviously wanted to come join us. I thought it was funny he heard us and expressed his feelings very clearly. Then he fell asleep.

Tiago still loves to dance. He'll mimic us dancing, too.

He's not the best at following directions--whether he doesn't understand, or just chooses to ignore us. The one thing he consistently responds to is "hands up" if we're trying to get his onesie off. One night he found a bottle with some milk in it, and was gripping it with both hands. When I told him "hands up" he tried really hard to lift his hands and get the onesie off without letting go of the milk. Of course, it didn't work.

Along with his lack of communication (still no words!) comes a bit of frustration. He's been throwing fits for a while where he'll lay on the floor and swing his arms and legs around. And recently he's started throwing other objects (including the ipad... breaking part of the edge...). He also has tried to throw empty bottles on his sisters faces. What a fun age!

He likes to feed himself, especially when there's a fork involved. He was doing really well eating yogurt with a spoon, but one day decided that his hands were easier. That was also around the time he began his protest of bibs. It makes for some messy meals. I guess the silver lining is that he doesn't eat very many meals, so it's usually not an issue.

Now that I have three kids, getting down 1.5 flights of stairs to leave the apartment is an adventure in and of itself. Normally, I'd hold one baby, and carry the other down in the car seat carrier. Tiago would either make his way down by himself (he can easily crawl backwards, or walk while holding the railing.) One day I brought the carrier down, then went back to help him walk down. Right as I was coming up I saw him tumbling down 6 or 7 stairs. Marble stairs. Ouch. He screamed and screamed, but then stopped and seemed fine. (It was less crying than at the doctors office the previous week. Go figure.) Now he refuses to walk down the stairs and makes me carry him. No wonder my lower back has been hurting recently. I hope he forgets that trauma soon and remembers how to walk down stairs.

He's still in a crib, but we moved him into a different bedroom when the twins were born. My mom brought the girls two blankets that were wrapped in furry sheep that were like small pillows. Tiago loves sleeping with one of them, and when I take him out of his crib every morning he tries to bring it with him along with his normal blanket. It's funny how attached he's become in just a few weeks. And the tag says "spot clean only" which I had to ignore when the sheep was the victim of baby vomiting.

One more fun fact about Tiago at this age. He loves to watch videos of himself. Such a cute little narcissist! When he sees himself dancing, or talking, he laughs and laughs. Sometimes it's sincere, but it's usually a fake laugh, which makes it even funnier to watch. Even with all the fits, this age is a lot of fun!