23 Months

Isaiah turned 23 months on Saturday...aka he is one month away from being TWO years old!  (aka way past the time that I should be counting the months.  It's a sickness, ok?)

Also, it's fun to have all the photos documented this way.  I was able to get every month since his first birthday in this high chair, against the blue wall, and that's just fun. I need to get out more.

Isaiah has grown quite a bit this month!  He's back to gaining weight and seriously sizing out of 6 month clothes (to the point that people are noticing and commenting "hey, it looks like this will be the last time he wears that outfit, huh?").  He now has twelve teeth, one of which made us all crazy and the other seemed to sneak into Isaiah's mouth one day.  

He's made huge strides in sitting up.  If only I'd get the guts to let him sit up on his own on the floor...

I wouldn't say he's mastered it but he's hardly wobbling and lasting at least 10 minutes.

Because of his newfound strength, we've upgraded his highchair and taken away the baby attachment:

We were able to keep the back on for now, but even that can go soon.

He went on his first airplane, vacation, trip to Disney World!

Isaiah's vocabulary continues to grow.  He can name most characters from Sesame Street (Grover, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Ernie, Bert, Abby Cadabby, Oscar), and says trashcan, fish, "blue car", yogurt, egg, carrot, cheese, and "oh cool".  He's also learning to say his version of a few color words: brown, purple, pink, yellow, and red.

Oh, and (no big deal....yeah right!) he got his first wheelchair. ;-)  He is free to move outside of a house and he is thrilled.

Check out the new umbrella for Isaiah's wheelchair!  He's a stink about the sun
and this blocks it wonderfully!  It's by Radio Flyer and meant for their wagons. :)

Honestly, this has been his most amazing month since the holiday season and Dave and I just keep saying how great things are going and how proud we are of Isaiah's progress.  Let's keep this momentum going, shall we?

22 Months!

I swear after his second birthday that I will stop counting months (out loud and on the internet...ok Sanne? ha) but our baby turned 22 months yesterday!  

He's an inch taller but weighs less than a month ago, closer to 15 pounds now; we're getting that figured out and believe it's partially due to his being a picky pants, teething torture, and the fact that his shunt is doing its job in relieving the extra spinal fluid in his head and his head shrinking a centimeter! (woot woot!)

Even with the weight loss, he is getting bigger as he's sizing out of his 6 month clothes!  He's basically moved on to 9, and even some 12, month onesies.  

His vocabulary has taken off.  It's mostly mimicked but oh my goodness, so many new words and sounds!  Giggle, oink, turkey, rabbit, donkey, llama, owl, pirate, ARRR (like a pirate), ROAR (like a dinosaur), eyes, ears, mouth, head, diaper, nuts (not included in conversations about diapers LOL), Ayla, Trista/Tricia, Uncle Matt, castle, Hakuna (ha, we were watching the Lion King), "Hi dad", Epcot (all these Disney words, can you tell what we talk about around here?).

It's AMAZING.  Plus, SO MUCH BABBLING!

He's starting to really learn to point and count, and blow kisses (I am dying to get this on video)!  His communication has really improved recently. :)

His favorite toys are a helicopter that he places shapes into, his cash register, everything Elmo (Disney blasphemy), and cookie cutters. 

He's up to eleven teeth now, too! And survived experienced his first dentist appointment.

Happy 22 months (and one day), Isaiah!  We love you to infinity and beyond. <3

21 Months!

Isaiah turned 21 months this past Monday...most normal people would call that "one" or "almost two". ;-)

You can see how thrilled he was about our picture session.  

I believe he's thinking "Mom, I'm over a year old; stop with these monthly updates already!"

I was in a cleaning tizzy, the curtains were in the washer, and he literally kept looking at the window like "WHERE ARE THOSE HANGY BLANKETS? WAAAH"

Maybe he's just gearing up for being a two year old (FYI, that's 3 months away.  The countdown is ON. haha). Terrible Twos have come early.

I had taken him to get a hair cut (it was beyond our normal DIY cut; we have some things coming up that I wanted to be sure I didn't wreck his hair his hair looked good and Angie at Tangled Manes does a great job.

#keepingitreal.  Getting your haircut is an emotional experience, guys.

This was our third time getting Isaiah's hair cut professionally, but his first time there sitting up like a big boy, because he can do that ya know. ;-) I had brought our Boppy chair with me and it worked rather well.  He'd purposely throw his head around, given how he reacts to hair cuts like he does to doctor appointments...so I was there to grab his head or balance it because I wasn't in the mood for a broken neck.

I forgot a 20 month update (oh, the horror!) last month thanks to his surgery, so things are a little muddled together in my head.

Isaiah's hanging out at his usually 15.5 lbs but comically was measured at 22" long...that's 3" less than last measurement.  It's hard to get it right sometimes, especially when he's hating being at the doctor, but this one was just comical. ;-)

This month, Isaiah started picking his head up during tummy time! (!!!!!!!!!)  We started doing tummy time on an exercise ball and he's really taken to it as compared to on the floor.  

He's also started drinking from a straw (WHOOP WHOOP! FINALLY!) AAAANNND (drumroll please) he's starting to finger-feed himself!  This is huge.  He'd previously been eating like a king 24/7, and I was his servant, placing his food on a fork for him to pick up and eat (because if you put any food in front of him, he'd throw 100% of it all over and eat 0% unless it was on a fork/spoon). 

He started Speech Therapy right before his shunt surgery, and his ST has been great in providing us with all kind of resources.  He's back to learning sign language and has been signing hi/bye, all done, ball, and more....while saying each of those words.  

He's added so many words to his vocabulary....bird, paci (short for pacifier), airport, airplane, tractor!, crazy (haha), open, closed, on, off, Kristy (his PT), Gavin (his BFF), blue, bucket, butt, poop (I wish I was kidding about those last two). Plus he's now saying the letter H thanks to one of his favorite toys...a V-tech helicopter....the crazy thing is that I know there are more words, I'm just blanking right now.

He's started purposeful motions to songs this month, his two favorite songs are Itsy Bitsy Spider and Head, Shoulder, Knees, and Toes.  

He's really developing and it's just amazing.

Happy 21 months (and 2 days), Isaiah! We love you.