One and a half. I can officially say "He's one and a half." when people ask me how old my little one is. Gosh. That makes him sound like SUCH a big boy. And after this, he can be one and a half for a couple more months, and then he'll be "almost 2", and then he'll be "just turned 2", and so on and so forth. I guess it's time to stop telling people his age based on the months. I mean, 20 months old or 23 months old don't really mean anything to people right? They'd just do mental calculations in their head and go "oh so almost 2 then." Might as well save us all that effort. But I digress.
I think for this update, I'll write down what our days are like at the moment. One day, it'll be fun to look back and read about the realities of our life today. And maybe when X is 18 years old, I'll show him this and he'll like knowing how we spent our days.
This is what a typical/normal day in our lives with an 18 month old toddler looks like:
Between 5 and 6 am: X wakes up. Kisses mama and asks for "mum mum". If mama asks him to go back to sleep, sometimes he would for a short while, other times his polite requests for milk turns into a full-on whiny crying demand.
6.30am: Daddy is done with his morning business (poop, shower, brush teeth, shave, get dressed, etc) and X runs out of his room to look for daddy. Daddy washes his bum, puts on a fresh diaper and changes him out of his sleep clothes. Mama drags herself out of bed to shower and stuff, while X "helps" daddy make breakfast and pack his lunch bag.
7am: (Now that it's winter and freezing cold in the mornings) Mama bundles X up in jacket, mittens, socks, hat, shoes. Mama bundles herself up. Mama drives daddy to the train station to catch his train to work.
7.30am: Back home. Put in a load of laundry (I do at least 6 loads a week, so once a day with 1 laundry-free day, sometimes there's a load everyday). X helps. He loves pressing the buttons on the washing machine.
7.40am: Mama makes breakfast. Usually I cook 4 (dry) tablespoons of oatmeal and barley porridge for him, which X eats half of for breakfast with 100% fruit puree, and wholemeal toast with Nutella or kaya or butter for mama. X almost always finishes all of his oatmeal, plus at least 1 (sometimes 2) slices of mama's toast (only the kaya or butter ones of course). Sometimes it's blueberry muffins that he can inhale at least half of. Or sultana buttercake. Or char siew pau.
8.30am: Wash up breakfast stuff, clear kitchen area. X "helps" to put stuff away into kitchen cabinets and drawers.
8.40am: Sit down with X and sing songs, nursery rhymes, finger songs, action songs, etc. Read books. Sometimes he asks for another breastfeed around this time if he's tired or hungrier than usual. Diaper change.
9am: Washing machine is usually done by this time. X helps me turn it off and unload the laundry. Then he insists on unzipping each laundry mesh bag and unloading its contents for me. If there's free rack space, I hang everything up. If previous load is not dry yet, I put the stuff that can be tumble-dried into the dryer. X helps by passing me clothes pegs or dumping clean clothes into the laundry basket.
9.30am: Grocery shopping. We bundle up nice and warm, I strap him on in one of my favorite carriers, I grab my green bag and we walk to the supermarket. Buy stuff for dinner tonight and whatever else we need. Walk home. Stop to say hello to the dog downstairs.
10am: Back home. X helps me unpack the groceries, put stuff into the fridge or pantry. If we have some extra time, I fold some laundry or tidy up or clean up around the house. Every week (or two :p) I change and wash all the bedsheets and towels.
10.20am: Mama prepares X's morning snack. Usually it's the rest of the oatmeal porridge cooked in the morning with more fruits. Either I feed him, or he has fun feeding himself with the spoon and making a mess and saying "I did it!" with every spoonful he eats.
10.50am: Clean and tidy up the house, put away all his toys. X helps. Prepare for nap. Change diaper.
11am: Breastfeed. X snoozes.
11.30am: Mama heats up lunch (I always cook extra for dinner and pack individual lunch boxes for our lunches the next day) and eats while checking emails, reading blogs, checking Facebook.
12noon: Mama studies.
12.30pm: Sometimes X wakes up around this time and needs mama to lie down with him to sleep a little longer. Mama obliges and catches a shut-eye. Sometimes he doesn't want to sleep any more but I lie down with him in bed for a longer "quiet/rest time" and we snuggle up. Or he screams and whines. Other times, he doesn't make a peep the whole nap time and mama studies all the way.
1/1.30pm: X wakes up from nap. Breastfeed for a short while... it's his way of transitioning from sleep to wake without getting all super cranky. Once in a blue moon he sleeps till 2pm. Diaper change.
2pm: X has his lunch. Wash up lunch stuff.
2.40pm: I try to sit down with an "intentional activity" with him that I prepared. It can be something to train his one-to-one correspondence (transferring pom poms into ice-cube tray) or fine hand motor skills like pegging clothes peg on a box or something. Sometimes we work with puzzles, shape sorters, nesting cups, stacking blocks, etc. Sometimes I didn't think of anything and wing it on the fly. Hey, it happens to the best of us. On a bad day, we skip this entirely. 15 minutes is considered a super good "work period" for his age and he sometimes works for up to half an hour.
3pm: Start prepping for dinner. Cook dinner. Sometimes X is still hungry and has some grapes or banana or wholemeal biscuits while I cook. Sometimes he snacks on frozen peas, corns and carrots... frozen and raw, straight from the freezer! Sometimes he doesn't want food but asks for a breastfeed, and he gets it!
3.45pm: Usually done with dinner. Clean kitchen counters and floor. And by the way, I use a piece of cloth and a pail of water to clean the floor, not a mop so I get down on my hands and knees. Reason: Easier to keep the floor as dry as possible while cleaning so X doesn't slip and fall since he loves walking on the wet floor.
4pm: Diaper change for X. Clean up and tidy house. Bundle up and off to the park we go (happens 90% of the time unless the weather is really atrocious)!
4.40pm: Leave the park to pick daddy from the train station.
5pm: Back home. Mama takes her shower while daddy catches up with X.
5.30pm: Heat up dinner. Pack next day's lunches. All while chatting with daddy or with daddy playing with X. Diaper change for X (he hates eating with a wet diaper).
5.45pm: Family dinner at the table.
6pm: X's favorite part of dinner time - fruits! He either sit in his high chair or on my lap for grapes or oranges (recently). If we're having mandarin oranges, he peels his own and separates the segments while mama feeds him smaller chunks. Sometimes he insists on peeling our mandarins as well. He does a darn good job I must say and he loves peeling those mandarins.
6.15pm: Daddy wash up dishes. Mama cleans up table and X's sticky mess.
6.30pm: Daddy takes his shower. X sits on potty and mama brushes his teeth for him. Once daddy is done, X joins daddy in the tub. Daddy showers for X. Mama preps his night diaper, pyjamas, lotions and stuff.
6.45pm: Mama dries X off, moisturise him, put on night diaper, pyjamas, etc. All while singing to him... current favorite for this time of the day is Lavender's Blue. X picks either daddy or mama to clear his nose for him. Hugs and kisses all around. Settle down for final breastfeed of the day. 80% of the time, X falls asleep nursing within 10 minutes and that's that. Other times it can take 30 minutes to an hour. Sometimes he's done feeding before he falls asleep. When that happens, mama leaves after a last kiss and daddy lies down with him until he falls asleep.
7.30pm: Peace! Mama studies while daddy watches a show of some sort on his Mac. Or we watch TV together. Or we just chill. Or... ahem.
9.30pm: Bedtime for daddy and mama.
That's essentially it. Throw in the occasional "what the hell" days where he refuses to play on his own and ends up lying across my feet and crying big hot tears while I wash the dishes. Or cook. Or when he wakes up super early in the morning and the rest of the day is a mess of over-tiredness.
But MOST of our days are predictable like this and I like it. It keeps me sane. Although other SAHMs will say the sheer mundane-ness of the exact same routine every single day will drive them insane. Sometimes it does for me too.
Then the weekend hits and it all gets shaken up because daddy's home and we have outings to go on. Then all's good again.
This past month meant more growth,
more spoken words,
more signed vocabulary,
more intentional 2 & 3 word phrases (sentences?),
more potty time,
more self-awareness,
more independence,
more random meltdowns,
more love,
more big hugs with pats on our backs,
more displays of empathy,
more engagement,
more interaction,
more participation,
more seemingly irrational fears and uncertainties,
and just more of everything.
The good, the bad, the ugly, and the amazing.
This month's videos:
This month's favorite photos:
Hey there little one,
I told daddy that you may only be 18 months old now, but when you turn 18 YEARS old, I'll start reminding you of the silly and annoying things you used to do to me and perhaps do it back to you then. Like when you decide once or twice a week that you would like to spend an hour or two awake in the middle of the night for no apparent reason and would like mama to stay awake with you. Maybe one day I'll knock on your room door at 2am in the morning and make you wake up and play Monopoly with me for an hour or two. Or something. That would be fun. That's if you're even asleep at 2am or at home in the first place. But that's another topic for another time that I don't want to think about now.
Having said that, I love our life together. Daddy, you, and me. Just us three in our little world, enjoying our seemingly endless days together. You've been in our lives for just 18 months but it already feels like an eternity. I can no longer remember what life was like before you. What fulfilled me? What filled my life? Now it's you. I have so much love for you that only my love for your daddy can come close to it.
Happy 18 months, my boy. Keep smiling. For you bring joy, love, laughter, happiness, meaning, and positivity into our lives each day.
Love,
Mama
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