Brady’s 16-month update

Today’s blog post is devoted to our special little man, Brady Oliver Pitt, and it’s all things toddlerhood and life with a 16-month-old boy. And yes, this may seem like a strange time to be giving an update on Brady, but so much has happened since Brady’s 1-year update, it seemed like the right moment to dedicate a post to our favorite dude.

Let’s get right into it …

Brady’s 16-month update

Walking

Brady is walking! Brady took his time with his first steps (apparently 95 percent of toddlers walk by 15 months), and he didn’t really want to walk on his own until just after the 15-month mark. He loved to walk around the house with us holding his hands for quite a while, but he was not ready to let go, until one day … he was! 

He started out by taking 2 to 3 steps at a time then throwing his body to fall forward onto cushions, us, ottomans, etc. and we were worried he may never break this habit. Then one day, he started walking across his playroom and could stop at the end and still be standing. Now, all he wants to do is walk, and he can turn corners, and bend down to pick things up and get right back into stepping — he goes for a long time and is a total pro. He has been exploring all the rooms in our house that he had essentially never seen before from his eye level, and he loves it. We let him walk around out in public a bit now too!

We have semi-baby-proofed the house, but he is only allowed to truly touch everything and roam totally free in his one playroom, which is safe. We have more work to do to close up the toilets and lock the cabinets, etc..

I can’t get enough of his little walking legs! Love it! However, I don’t love that now he will not hold my hand when walking at all and insists on doing it by himself. That’s fun out in public.

Food/eating

I don’t know the exact time that the change happened, but it’s just like one day Brady liked food, because for many months, he wasn’t all that interested in anything but milk. Now, we call him a little garbage disposal, because he basically eats whatever is in front of him (except for last week, when the poor little guy was sick and didn’t have much of an appetite). We do a combination of feeding him with a spoon and letting him handle and feed himself bites of food from his tray. I think he prefers to feed himself, but he hasn’t mastered using utensils yet, so that ends up quite messy. Once again, he’ll probably do that skill a bit late, and that’s okay. 🙂 

Here’s Brady’s typical day of eating at 16-months-old … with some variations thrown in each day. He eats mini meals, but for the sake of organization, I’ll name them.

• Breakfast — Bottle of warm grass-fed organic whole cow’s milk (brand shown below)
• Snack — Puffs organic cereals, fruit/veggie pouch, cup of organic whole milk yogurt
• Lunch — Bottle of warm milk 
• Snack — One whole banana with a chunk of almond butter or other fruit with almond butter
• Dinner — Veggie burgers (he usually has three mini ones), baked sweet potato with peanut butter
• Bedtime — Bottle of warm milk 

He also likes Cuties (the fruit), black beans, butternut squash, applesauce, juice and bread. And he recently tried pizza and was feeling that too. We keep trying to incorporate new things every few days, and so far he hasn’t spit too much out. By the way, this is Brady’s favorite type of milk … 

We’ve tried giving Brady eggs two or three times and he gets red spots around his mouth right after, so I think he may be a bit reactive to them. We’ll try again soon. He hasn’t really had any meat, but maybe soon as well. Although, I don’t cook meat, and we only have it once a week, so I’d imagine Brady will follow our pattern of having maybe a little bit of grass-fed beef once per week too and not every day. No plans to give him chicken or lunch meat or anything else like that, because I don’t really eat that either.

We also give him a sippy cup of water sometimes throughout the day, and he gets to bite off of whatever we are eating or snacking on whenever he is around. In fact, he grabs for Larabars and my morning breakfast too. So cute, but like, I don’t like to share my food, so it’s hard for me to give in, but I do when I see that little face …

I have no idea how many calories Brady is eating (you guys know I’m not into tracking food), but I know that he seems to fill up and will signal when he is done (he waves his hand side to side like wiping the plates away), and he’s growing properly, so it must be working for now.

Breastfeeding/weaning

Skip this section if you want to avoid a bit of TMI …

Well, we have weaned. I’m so proud to say that our breastfeeding journey took us right up to 15.25 months. I slowly began the weaning process in December, by dropping one feeding at a time every week or so, and we were down to just one in the morning. I could tell that Brady was ready, and I was ready too, so one morning, I gave him a bottle of warmed-up milk, and he was fine with it — and that was that. He still comes into our bed in the morning to snuggle though, and I never want that to stop.

Brady has been 100 percent fine with the transition, loves to have his bottles, and is just as happy as ever. I, however, had some pain and discomfort during the weaning process, which I guess is to be expected. Although I did it very slowly, I still had quite a few days of engorgement and aching, but I think we’re finally in the clear. I used the Kellymom site for tips on how to solve that, by the way.

I didn’t announce, oh “hey we’re done breastfeeding” anywhere, because that didn’t seem appropriate, but you guys are my friends and want to know, so now you do. Breastfeeding was a fairly easy and seamless journey for us, and even though I got back to a lot of exercise, my milk supply stayed intact, and I’m forever grateful it worked out for us like it did. It feels nice to have my body back to myself. It’s been a while …

Sleeping

Brady is a good sleeper! FINALLY! Most nights, he sleeps through the night. I would say at least once a week he wakes up for some reason and has to be rocked back to sleep. He’s getting more teeth, so I think that has something to do with his wake-ups here and there. We put him in his bed at 7 p.m. and he wakes up around 7 a.m., and we get him out around 7:30 a.m.. He chats, sucks his finger and plays with a couple of his stuffed animals while lying on his back with his legs in the air while he waits for us to come retrieve him — totally content — we watch on the monitor and giggle.

He takes one nap in the middle of the day starting around 1 p.m., and it’s usually 90 to 120 minutes. Randomly, one day two weeks ago he slept for three full hours. I finished my entire to-do list that day and even watched a little TV at the tail end of his nap just as a treat. I couldn’t believe it. Then the next day, he only napped for 45 minutes … so it’s like Dave and I like to say, “Tottie giveth, and Tottie taketh away.” (We have 10 million nicknames for Brady, and Tottie is one of them.)

Last week when he was sick, he didn’t sleep or nap very well at all, and it was a reminder of what an awful feeling it is to have to wake up to care for a baby multiple times in the night and then be miserable the next day. He’s on the mend now, which we’re quite thankful for.

Brady’s go-to sleeping position ever since we moved him into his crib has been with his knees tucked under him and his butt in the air. That’s still his most popular position, but he also lays on his back a bit more, which is a newer development and makes me think he really is growing up so quickly!

Development

Brady is showing us all sorts of new skills lately. He can identify his belly button — if you ask him where it is, he pulls up his shirt and points to it. He loves to put things in bags and then take them back out again. He can stack his blocks on top of one another (and then knock them down). And he has all sorts of sounds that he uses for specific things.

He still says “momma” and “dada” to us at the right times, but one of the funny things is his use of “no, no, no.” He actually uses “no, no, no” when he wants something, it’s more like “na, na, na.” So we’re trying to figure out how to explain to him that’s not quite the correct usage. 

He is still very chatty and happy and loves attention and giving hugs (short ones). He loves books and reading, and if you ask him “to go get a book” he will come back with one and hand it to you to read to him, anytime, anywhere. And when he is in playing mode, it’s such a treat to hold him in my lap and read him a book — it’s some of the only times I can get him to keep still.

He has also become a full-fledged toddler in the way he throws a temper tantrum. If you put him down when he wants to be with you, he will arch his back, cry and kick (and scream). It’s a really good time. He sometimes does this when putting him in his car seat too, so that’s fun — particularly in a busy parking lot when someone is waiting for your spot and watching it all happen. But overall, he remains one cheerful and fun-loving dude.

Parenthood

I still have my moments of wondering if I’m doing things right as his momma, but mostly, I’m confident, when I look at our happy little man. Dave and I don’t do a ton of reading on parenthood, we just sort’ve go with our gut feelings, and so far that has been working. We did that from the beginning, and I think it helped us to not get so worried that Brady wasn’t developing as he should. He was a terrible sleeper for his first eight months and late to do tummy time and late to walk, and it’s all totally fine now, because once he does something, he does it well! 🙂 

Side story that shows you have to go with your gut in parenting (and in life): In the fall, Brady had several colds and ear infections in a row and it was really upsetting to me that it kept happening. I felt like Brady’s doctor spent less than 1 minute with us whenever we had an appointment to check in on things, and he barely listened to me — always saying it was no big deal for babies to get sick. (On top of that, we’d always have to wait for more than an hour to get into a room — not fun with a sick little man.) So I finally decided to switch pediatricians, and we started with our new one for Brady’s 15-month appointment, and I liked the new one so much more. He told me way more information and asked way more questions than our original pediatrician did. Then, when Brady was sick again just last week, the doctor and his nurses spent SO much time checking Brady’s vitals, giving me advice and treating him with care — it was much better — so I knew what we were experiencing at the last place wasn’t up to par. The moral of the story: Go with your gut! I had a feeling we weren’t getting the right care (even though our first pediatrician has a great reputation around our area) and it felt good to take action and make a switch.

Anywho, as you guys know, I spend the day with Brady every day, so I do the majority of the care-taking, but if Dave doesn’t have a game or event during the weekdays, then he makes it home in time to play with Brady for a few minutes and do the bedtime routine, so I can have a little time off. On the weekends, we share duties entirely, and I’m so grateful Dave loves to do all the Brady things, because it would not be fun to have a husband who was hands-off. Truth be told, on the weekends, I probably do way less, because Dave just takes over, and that’s fine by me. They like to go on outings together (this past weekend, they went out to find Brady new fly sneakers, just because), and sometimes I like to take Rudy on a walk by myself, for a little quality mommy-to-puppy time, you know? (Rudy needs that attention.)

In spite of how much work it is to care for a toddler full time, I love being Brady’s mom, and I love this age he is. He loves to play, he gives little hugs (not long ones, but he gives them, and they are magical), he loves being touched, and he’s so adorable. I definitely enjoy toddlerhood more than newborn-hood, hands down. And we’ll see how that changes as Brady continues to grow, but so far, I like every stage more than the last.

Sometimes I worry that Brady should be in a structured daycare/preschool by now learning things, but then I have to remind myself that he is learning about life every single day with me. I do want to get Brady into a preschool a couple of days a week in the fall when he is 2-years-old, and we are on some waiting lists, so here’s hoping. I think it will be great for Brady to have some routines with other kids in a classroom setting and learn to listen to other adults. But right now, he’s with me, and it’s working out fine, for what it is. (In case you missed it, I wrote a full post on being a work-from-home momma here, “Mom life: What I’ve learned as a work-from-home mom.”)

Other thoughts on Brady at 16-months-old

I know I mention this a lot, but taking Brady to gym daycare has been great for us both, and I’m glad we’re still doing that most days of the week. And really, we don’t have any other official “kid” activities on the books right now, so it’s good for him to go there regularly and interact with others a little bit. (We also found our go-to sitter through gym daycare!)

After doing my moms group for the first 12 weeks of Brady’s life (Muir Mommies, for my local friends), in which I learned about motherhood, we haven’t signed up for anything else yet. We tried out a MyGym class, and it was fun, but I just didn’t want to commit to the weekly time. I’d like to take Brady out and about to parks and on playdates a bit more in the future so he can play with more kiddos his age, and hopefully I’ll get that started once the weather warms up a bit. Apparently there are some kid activities at our local library too, so perhaps we will try that. Brady loves to do new things, although he does tend to be a little bit shy upon introduction. So sweet!

Overall, Brady is at a very adorable age where he is still a soft an innocent squishy walking baby in diapers, but at times, he also shows signs of being a little boy with independence too. It’s a wonderful mixture that I can’t quite describe with the right words. And his blonde curls and baby gibberish are truly what dreams are made of. Hands down.

Dave and I couldn’t possibly love this small fellow any more than we do …

Well, that about covers everything for this particular update, so let’s do some quick facts …

Brady by the numbers

• 16-months-old
• 24.4 pounds
• 2 feet 7 inches tall
• 5 teeth
• 100 percent adorable

Brady’s favorite things and our favorite things for Brady

• These soft blocks — I think he likes the bag the blocks came in more than the blocks
• This tricycle — such a great gift from our friends and will grow with Brady for a while
• This fire truck — he loves to carry this thing around and play with the pieces
• This train — Dave and I sing the song from this choo-choo all the time, highly recommend
• This humidifier — we just put in his room to help with the dry air when he has a cold
• Wearing his matching sweatsuits most days of the week, like this one
• This bottle — he is starting to hold it on his own, and it heats up nicely in the bottle warmer
• His Brady chair — he jumps in it and jumps off it multiple times a day
• Walking around the house
• Sucking his pointer finger when he is tired
• Touching everything
• Pushing a carry-on suitcase around the house — did this for the first time over the weekend
• Practicing his clapping
• Giving high-fives
• Waving high and bye using his whole arm spastically
• Playing with his puppy brother, “Woo Woo”

You may also like the following posts …

• Brady’s 1-year update
• Brady’s 10-month update
• Brady’s 8-month update
• A look at our first 12 weeks of having Baby Brady in our lives
• Life with Brady at six weeks postpartum
• My favorite things you actually need when you have a baby
• What I’ve learned from traveling across the country with a baby multiple times
• Mom life: What I’ve learned as a work-from-home mom

Have a great start to your week, my friends! Thank YOU for being here and sharing in this journey with us. Brady sure appreciates it. 🙂 

Questions of the day

What’s one thing your son or daughter loved at this age?

How was your weekend?

What’s something you completed that you feel proud of?

What’s your current favorite toy?