Tyler - 24 months

Weight: 25lb 8oz

Length: 34"

Clothing size: 24 month shirts and some 2T shirts, 18-24 month pants

Shoe size: Size 7

Diaper size: He started potty-training three weeks ago, so he wears underwear during the day now. He still wears either a diaper or a pull-up at night.

Eating: Tyler still loves dairy... milk, string cheese and Chobani Tot greek yogurt pouches
Sleeping: Tyler goes to bed at 8:00pm and wakes up for the day around 7:00am. He usually takes one nap before or after lunch. A few nights each week, he wakes during the middle of the night and quietly walks into our room. Brad takes him back to bed, and I soundly sleep through it all. 

His days: Tyler goes to Mother's Day Out three days each week. He also tags along to Caleb's weekly PT, OT and speech therapy sessions

His favorite things: Caleb, milk, playing outside, and music (especially "Five Little Monkeys") 

Highlights of the last three months: We switched Tyler's crib to a toddler bed. He started potty training! His speech development has been amazing... he often speaks in sentences, and many of his sentences are 5+ words long! He got a few more teeth, so now the tooth count is at 16. He has everything but the four two-year molars. He had his first dental appointment several weeks ago, and he did great with the dentist.

Potty Time

I just looked back through recent blog posts and can't believe I never posted anything about potty-training Caleb! Caleb wasn't ready to potty-train at the typical 2-3 year old timeframe, but he started showing a few "readiness" signs right before his fourth birthday. So over fall break in mid-late October, Caleb and I got busy with our own little "potty boot camp". He did great and has been in "undies" ever since. He still has the occasional accident, but I'm so happy with how well he's doing.

Tyler wants to do everything his big brother does, so he has been showing lots of readiness signs ever since Caleb started potty-training. I decided to give it a try with him during Christmas break, but it kept getting put off due to busy schedules and illnesses. I finally got around to devoting some time to do "potty boot camp" with Tyler on New Year's Day. He's only 23 months, so I figured I'd introduce it to him but not push it too hard. He picked up on it all right away and has seriously blown me away! He's having a few accidents each day, but he's having way more successes. I wouldn't be surprised if he's potty-trained (day time... not at night) by his second birthday later this month.

Walking!

When Caleb was a baby, we were told that he probably wouldn't start walking until he was 2-4 years old. He has been working with a physical therapist since he was two months old, and it seems like we've been working on standing up and walking for several months. We are beyond thrilled that, at 2.5 years old, he is walking! He can't go more than about 15 feet without assistance... and really, he usually goes even less than that before either losing his balance or taking a shortcut to grab on to a nearby object/person. But he wants to walk constantly now, and I know that his strength/endurance will improve with time and practice!

On the Move

It's hard to believe crawling was so hard for Caleb just a few weeks ago! 

Will Crawl For Kleenex

PT Progress

Caleb had a big day at PT this afternoon! He made some great progress toward learning how to crawl, and he also transitioned from tummy to sitting several times!

Pulling Up

Check out Caleb's newest trick! When sitting on his stool, he can now pull up to his train table!

Another Tooth and a Haircut!

Caleb had a big day on Saturday! He started cutting his third tooth! I was beginning to wonder if he was ever going to get another one, since he got his first tooth at ten months and his second at eleven months. I'm pretty sure his third tooth is the 1st molar (upper right).

Also, Caleb got his first haircut on Saturday afternoon! He did really well for the first couple minutes but then was pretty upset the rest of the time. That hairstylist got a decent tip for all she had to deal with!

15 Month Recap

Weight: 18lb, 14oz

Length: 27.5"

Clothing size: Mostly 12 month, but he does wear a few 12-18 month and 18 month clothes. He still wears size 3 infant shoes.

Diaper size: size 3

Eating: Caleb has definitely found his appetite. It's hard to believe he had a feeding tube this time last year! Caleb loves turkey, cheese, guacamole, Greek yogurt, sweet potatoes, butternut squash and most other fruits and veggies. He hasn't seemed too interested in pasta, but he did gobble up some chicken spaghetti the other day. It was the Pioneer Woman's recipe... who doesn't love it?! Caleb drinks all of his milk and water from his Honey Bear straw cups now! 

Sleeping: Caleb goes to sleep around 7:30-8:00pm and wakes up around 6:30-7:00am. Taking two naps is starting to become rare. When he does, he usually naps 30-60 minutes each time. If he only naps in the afternoon, that nap is usually 1-2 hours. 

His days: Caleb is a busy little guy. He goes to Mother's Day Out three times each week. When he's not there, he stays busy with speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, story time at the library, play dates, and lots of play time at home.  

Highlights of the last three months: Caleb's speech is getting more clear and intentional. His favorite thing to say is still "Dada"... even when Daddy isn't home. He says "Mama" every now and then. The ladies in the nursery last Sunday evening told me that Caleb said "Bye bye" when his friend left. 

He's starting to sign a few words. He sometimes signs "eat" and "more" before and during meals/snacks. He was signing "celebrate" a lot, but he has switched to clapping lately. 

If we ask him "where's tummy?", he will usually pat his tummy and smile! 

Caleb is trying so hard to figure out how to crawl. He will sometimes rock from side to side and sort of propel himself forward a little bit. By doing this, he can usually move a couple feet. His biggest motivators are toys and Daddy's pizza. Rolling is still his primary mode of independent mobility.

First Tooth

Caleb has his first tooth! I've been thinking that he was teething for a while, even though I've read countless times that children with Down syndrome usually don't get their first tooth until 12-18 months of age. He's been chewing and drooling off and on all summer, and I have felt a little "ridge" or "bump" on his lower gum for the last couple weeks. That little pearly white finally popped through yesterday! I tried several times yesterday evening and this morning to get a photo of it, but Caleb wasn't interested in helping his mama out. So for now, you get a photo of the first entry on the "teething" page in Caleb's baby book!

Back to Tummy and Hand Foot & Mouth

After weeks and weeks (and weeks and weeks...) of practice, Caleb is finally consistently rolling from his back to his tummy! He's been doing this every now and then (like once or twice a week) for a while, but he has rolled over 30+ times today! We are so excited and proud of him!

And Caleb is doing all of that rolling over while dealing with his first virus. He had a low-grade fever a couple days ago (99.6) and was very fussy. I figured that he was probably teething. The fever went away yesterday morning, and I thought we were good. Still no teeth, but at least he was in a good mood. And then as I was changing him out of his pajamas this morning, I discovered a rash covering his body. Fortunately, we already had his nine-month well check scheduled for today. His pedi said that he has "hand foot & mouth disease". For any other first-time mamas out there who don't know what it is, it's just a virus that should go away in a few days. I did cancel his OT and PT appointments for the rest of the week, just in case he's still contagious. 

All that tummy time is paying off!

One of the many things we've learned in the two months since Caleb's birth is that children with Down syndrome tend to have hypotonia (low muscle tone). While Caleb was in the NICU, an occupational therapist showed us several exercise to do with Caleb to strength his muscles. We spend a good amount of time each day stimulating the muscles in Caleb's arms and legs with techniques similar to massage. We also do lots of "tummy time" to strengthen his back and neck. Our goal in doing this is so that Caleb will get stronger and will reach developmental milestones as close to "typical" as possible. We know, and accept, that some things will happen for Caleb later than for some of his/our friends, but we want to give him every opportunity to keep up.

Caleb's Gigi and Papa (Brad's parents) were babysitting on New Years Eve, so that Brad and I could go to dinner and an OKC Thunder game. While at dinner, we received a text from Brad's mom telling us that Caleb rolled over. We didn't believe her. Caleb is two months old, and babies with Down syndrome don't roll over for a while after "typical" children. We told her that we needed video evidence. Caleb didn't cooperate with her, but he decided to show me for himself the next day. He rolled over once, so I grabbed my phone in case he did it again... and he did! He has rolled over at least once every day since then! I wasn't expecting him to roll from front to back until 4-5 months. I'm so proud of my little man!

Jan 1, 2013


Jan 3, 2013