Oh my word! Where has the time gone?!? I can't believe that I am having to combine a post that includes pictures and events from almost three months of Cale's life! Well, no more delaying...here we go!
Cale has reached a bunch of milestones in the past 2.5 months! He is now officially a FULL-TIME walker! He is picking up speed everyday, so I know it is a matter of minutes before he will be a full-time runner! Ha! I do have to admit that he is harder to keep up with now that he is walking, but I LOVE that I can hold his hand and walk places, or put him down at the park, or do a number of things that were harder to do when he wasn't getting around on his own two feet!
Adam and I have found ourselves saying, "He is just so big...He is just so grown up...He is SUCH a toddler!" Physically, he is just a big boy! At his 15-month well check that we went to last week, he weighed 24 lbs (50th percentile) and measured 33" (90th percentile). He is definitely taking after my dad...he even looks a lot like him!
Cale's vocabulary and understanding have really taken off. He has added "puppy", "keys", "cracker", and "mow-mow" to his vocabulary, just to name a few. He follows basic command directions, such as, "get your shoes and bring them to me", or "go get the ball and throw it to Daddy". He understands when we tell him its time for a meal, or when we are going to run errands, or when it's time for a nap/bedtime. Unfortunately, like most toddlers, he understands more than he can communicate back with words, so he is entering the stage where he becomes frustrated with his lack of words. The tantrums have started, with the full-on scream and cry session. I've been told this could last for several more months (or years).
Because of the heat, we've been spending a lot of time inside at malls or Gymboree, or in the water outside! We are thankful that we have access to two pools and a little pool in our backyard that Cale enjoys. He loves trying to drink from the backyard hose...
Unfortunately, we have been dealing with some sleep issues this month. As we were trying to transition Cale from two naps a day to only one nap, Cale responded great during the day, but his night time sleep started to become very irregular. He would wake up between 11:30pm-1:30am and be very disoriented. Sometimes he would put himself back to sleep after 5 minutes, but other times we would have to go in and comfort him to get him back to sleep. We weren't sure if it was because of his schedule transition or due to his discomfort from the FOUR molars he was getting in, all at the same time. Right before we went in for Cale's well-check appointment, he woke up and was screaming (blood-curdling screams), so we went in to check on him and he seemed very disoriented and unaware of what was happening. He flailed in my arms and did not want me or Adam to hold him. He was shaking and screaming...it was pretty scary. We took him into our room with low lighting to see if we could get him to calm down. He would not make eye contact with us, and it looked as though he was looking through us. He finally came out of it and started acting normal again, but was very confused at why he was not in his bed and why the lights were on. We took him back to his room, he reached for his bed, and went right back to sleep. It was the craziest little "episode". Later, Adam and I were discussing it and Adam thought I should ask Cale's pediatrician about "night terrors". After talking with the pediatrician, she did feel like that might be what Cale is experiencing. Night Terrors differ from nightmares, in that night terrors is a condition that usually happens between ages 1-7 and it is a sleep pattern disruption. With night terrors, a child may "wake up" screaming and flailing, etc..., but they are not truly awake, and have no memory of it in the morning. It is often onset by sleep exhaustion or disruption in schedule. Since "diagnosing" Cale with night terrors, he's had a few more episodes, but we've gone back to his solid two-naps-per-day schedule, and that has really helped! Hopefully with age, the two to one nap transition will go a little smoother in a few months!
All in all, we are loving watching Cale become a little boy!
More to come...
He looks so grown up in that last picture! Our boys are growing too fast!
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