Dear Chase – Months 13 and 14

Dear Chase,

A few days ago you turned 14 months! I can hardly believe it’s been 2 months since your 1st birthday. (If you’re interested, you can find all my monthly Dear Chase letters from his first year here.) I’ve decided to switch to writing you these letters every other month, because even though you’re changing every single day, the changes are starting to get a bit more gradual than they were in your first year. I thought about stopping writing them now that you’re one, but I really like being able to look back and remind myself when you did certain things or hit certain milestones. Hopefully one day you’ll enjoy reading them too!

So anyways, here’s how things have been going for the past two months:

November 

You went to your one-year appointment a few days after your first birthday. You weighed 25 pounds (92nd percentile), were 31.5 inches long (98th percentile) and you still have a big head 🙂  The doctor told us a few things: it was time for you to get some shoes and it was time for you to make the switch from formula to milk.

You’d been eating real food for lunch and/or dinner for several months but now it was time to make sure you started getting it for all three meals. You did pretty well with the transition from formula to milk. I started by giving you 20 oz of milk (2%) per day but after a couple weeks you were still having pooping issues so we started using Miralax, in addition to things like prune juice, raisins and probiotics, and we also cut back your milk to 15oz a day. You get a cup with breakfast, lunch and dinner. We had a great time starting to eat breakfast together every morning.

While you sleep like a champ at night, usually going down around 8pm and sleeping until 7:30 or 8am, this month was rough in the nap department. You had a several week stretch where you boycotted your afternoon nap every day and took only a short morning nap. That made for some ROUGH afternoons and evenings as you definitely weren’t ready for just one nap.

I took you to get your first pair of choose at Stride Rite (size 5 wide) and you absolutely loved them! You love to run and get them and bring them to me and then sit down and try to put them on yourself!

We had great weather in November and we spent a lot of time going on walks with the dogs and playing at the park. You still love going to the Little Gym and reading books and you’re walking like a champ. You no longer love sitting in the cart. Instead, you want to help mommy push the cart around the store. You still spend a lot of time at the gym and we switched to putting you in your popup playyard most of the time instead of in your jumper seat.

We celebrated your second Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpa’s house and your aunt Katie came to visit you the weekend after Thanksgiving.

We started letting you explore the kitchen a little more and you spent less time outside your gated community, although we still put you in there a fair bit. For the most part you’re a happy boy, except when you’re hungry or when you can’t poop.

December

Mimi and Grandpa came to visit the first week of December. You loved running errands with them, reading books and taking walks outside. We put up a few Christmas decorations and you did really well leaving the Christmas tree alone. Mommy was worried you’d try to knock it down every day. We ended up taking you to the doctor in early December because you had a rattling sound in your chest for a couple weeks, but luckily your lungs were clear and it was just some extra mucus rattling around when you couldn’t clear it out by coughing and it resolved on its own.

The weather continued to be nice so we took LOTS of daily walks, went on a couple playdates and started brushing your teeth! You absolutely love brushing your teeth!

You love your daddy and bath time and you still love when mommy carries you in the Ergo. You seem to be going throw another separation anxiety phase and you throw a fit most of the time when I leave your sight.

Some of your favorite toys are everyday kitchen items and you like to have ALL your toys out all at once.

And then, just like that, it was time to celebrate your second Christmas. You enjoyed helping us rip the wrapping paper off presents and tearing up the tissue paper into little pieces. We celebrated a few days early with Grandma and Grandpa and they got you a shopping cart. You love pushing it around the kitchen and crashing into things. Daddy had to add a little extra padding so you wouldn’t destroy the cabinets and appliances.

We headed to Chicago for Christmas with Mimi, Grandpa and Aunt Katie and you had a great time!

Mommy did a 25 Days of Joy photo project and I loved capturing the magical little day to day moments with you.

Overall, you’re doing great. You hopped back on the 2 nap train this month so you typically take 2 solid naps a day and sleep for 11-12 hours at night. You eat 3 meals and a snack each day. Raisins are by far your favorite snack. You’re not a huge vegetable fan unless they’re dipped in hummus. In fact, you’ll eat pretty much anything that’s dipped in hummus. You love meat, eggs, nut butter and more! You drink 15 oz of milk each day and we’re still trying to get your pooping issues under control.

Most of your tops are size 2T but you’re still wearing mostly 12-18 month or 18 month bottoms. You don’t like socks but you love wearing shoes. You love your animals, especially the kitties. You say mama and dada and are pretty close to saying doggy, kitty and ball. You love to read and enjoy throwing your ball around the kitchen and chasing after it. Mommy and daddy got you a kitchen for Christmas and you like to make us dinner and pour us coffee. Currently, your favorite toys are a salad spinner and a ball and you LOVE the vacuum. You hate wearing hats or gloves but love being outside, even when it’s cold and your new favorite activity is shaking your head no any time we ask you a question.

You make us smile at least 100 times a day and every day I’m grateful that I get to take care of you and watch you grow!

Mommy loves you!

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