18 month updates on Lil J

So Lil J is now 18 months old.  A year & a half already.  He seems like such a big boy these days, with the exception of communication skills.

He now weighs 28.2 lbs (75-90%), he is still 32" tall (25-50%), & his head circumference is still 20" (>95%).

He can say "hi", "dog", "ball", "daddy", & "Jesus" quite well.  There are lots of other words he says & I hear the same sound over & over, but I don't know what he's trying to say.  What's interesting is that even though we can't make out the words he does have the inflection & tone down quite well.

His latest obsession is putting things into a container & taking them out & putting them back in & taking them out & on & on it goes for hours on end.  He often brings the container to me & shoves it into me wanting me to play with it too.  He does the same with his balls, when he wants me to throw them & bounce them really high.

He recently broke his jumperoo.  It had a weight limit of 25 lbs, which he's been over for a while now.  But it's been my babysitter while I workout & shower in the morning for a long time now.  I had worried that this day was coming & wasn't sure what I was going to do.  I had always put him in the jumperoo & put on DVDs.  So now I put him in the crib & put DVDs on.  He doesn't quite seem to know what to do--he sits, stands, jumps, lies down, etc while watching the TV.  For some reason he is more easily bored in the crib than in the jumperoo.  He no longer wants to watch his Veggie Tales DVDs.  He had always struggled to stay interested in them--they are clearly for an older child.  But he still loves his "Your Baby Can Read" DVDs & Cherub Wings.  So he mostly watches those while I workout & shower now.  He had always hated his playpen, from the first time I ever put him in it, so I have always kept it for time outs & didn't want to put him in there for this occasion.  I'm a little concerned about putting him in his crib like this, as it's always been kept ONLY for sleeping (& he's so great at going to sleep without fighting or fussing & I assume it's because I've kept it that way), but I don't know what else to do with him.  I was tempted to just let him stay on our bed, playing & watching TV, but wasn't sure I could trust him to stay there.  I tried it out this morning & he stayed for a while, but then came looking for me, crying & afraid he had been abandoned it seemed.  So that's definitely not an option, at least not yet, maybe when he gets a little older.

We still do daily Bible study & Bible reading.  I also read to him in Spanish, though not always every day.  And I sometimes to read to him out of a book (right now we are doing Black Beauty), though we don't get to this every single day either.

Feeding him has always been a struggle & lately it's gotten even harder.  I am honestly perplexed.  I feel disappointment because I feel like I must be doing something wrong.  And then I feel worried because I want to make sure he is getting good nutrition.  When I see the growth percentile falling height-wise I worry that it might be related to lack of nutrition.  But anytime I ask a doctor they tell me as long as he continues to gain weight not to worry.  He has always been a picky eater, but lately it's even worse.  I try to come up with new ideas on what to feed him, but he's so picky that he seems to reject EVERYTHING.  And now he also refuses to eat anything off of a spoon or fork.  He has to be able to pick it up & put it in his mouth himself.  He has been hating the highchair lately too.  For a while I was still doing breakfast in the highchair & not using it the rest of the day.  But even breakfast has become a nightmare now & this morning I didn't even bother--I just gave him a a bath (used to do the bath AFTER breakfast) & put him in the crib with DVDs on.  So when he does eat I have to make sure it's something not messy since he's not in his chair--he lives on pretzels, dried fruits, quesadillas, toast, grilled cheese sandwiches, fruit roll ups, & some dry cereals.  He still drinks kefir & goat milk throughout the day too & some water.  Each evening he gets a cup of diluted juice, which he usually really enjoys.

I had taken the tray off the highchair & put him at the table in his chair to eat, hoping he would be ok with that, but he was still fighting it.  I am hoping this is a temporary phase.  I know some people would say I am giving in & letting him have his way, but he isn't doing it in a stubborn way like that's what he's trying to accomplish.  I am a big believer in choosing my battles & this seems pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things & me fighting it seems like it could even be harmful to him.  (Sure, I can force him to sit in his chair to eat, but he's going to eat very little & possibly not get enough nutrition that he needs or I can give him little snacks while he's out of his chair & get much more nutrition into him)

I don't know, but it's exasperating, it truly is.  I don't understand why feeding has to be such a difficult issue for us.  And anytime I mention this to someone (usually other mothers, hoping for some helpful feedback) they insist that he certainly looks like he's eating well & I shouldn't worry.

That's all the updates I can think of at this time............