Squidge | 18 month update

I almost feel a little choked up writing this, my little boy is 18 months old as of today! I miss him being a tiny baby, but I absolutely adore the little person he’s turning into. This last week he’s really started saying ‘Mummy’ (and perfectly!), he says Daddy all the time, and finally he’s started saying Nanny :)

He understands EVERYTHING we say, and I mean, everything. You can give him complex instructions, and off he goes to do it. He loves nothing more than being outside – it almost doesn’t matter what you’re doing, he just loves being outdoors – it’s all one big adventure and he wants to be part of it. He also really loves snuggling up to me and watching a film on the sofa, usually anything Studio Ghibli (the boy has good taste).

Clothes

Left: Top & socks: Mothercare, Jeans: Tesco F&F. Right: Top: H&M, Trousers: John Lewis

Apart from a couple items of clothes, he’s now fully in size 18-24 months and has been transitioning for about 2 months.

Sickness

He has started throwing up a bit though, which is a little concerning. Twice he’s thrown up his night bottle almost straight away – both times after feeding very well in the day (we think he was over full), and the other night he threw up a belly of pasta in his cot – we didn’t find out until we got him up in the morning (about to leave for work) and there was mulched up pasta all matted in his hair (nightmare!).  He’s got a bit of a cough again too, but other than that he’s been doing great.

Toys

I know this is a pic of a pic, but I love it all the same :)

He plays so differently these days, it’s almost hard to say what his favourite toys are.  He does keep going back to this little castle he had for Christmas, he loves opening the door and putting everything and anything in it, and playing with the little knights and horses that come with it. He likes having a quick ride about on his trike and absolutely loves being read books. He also loves feeding his stuffed animals from his sippy cup - we have little tea parties in the lounge with the stuffed animals, he loves that :) 

Speaking

His speech is really improving quickly, some of the latest words (other than Mummy, Nanny etc) he’s learned are:

* Pear

* Wheel

* Owl

* Wow

* Apple

* Stuck
* Bumble Bee :)

* Thank you (which he says, often unprompted when you pass him something! Amazing!)

I have to give a special mention to the word ‘Happy’.  He doesn’t just repeat it pigeon-fashion, he says it when he’s happy.  So if something happens that he likes, if we give him something he likes, anything like that, he’ll start saying ‘happy’ again and again while he plays. So amazing.

Crafts

He’s old enough to start having a go at crafts too.  He loves sticking things down and scribbling with pens and crayons.  I’m starting to do some painting with him too – I really want to nurture his creative side.  I’m very creative, from a very artistic background, whereas the hubby is very scientific and logical – I’d love for him to have a healthy balance of the two, but we’ll see :)

Eating

Squidge eating the chocolate from the Easter egg hunt at Dyffryn Gardens

He goes a bit back and forth with food.  He’ll have weeks where he practically eats nothing, and weeks where we can’t fill him up enough.  Overall he’s pretty good, albeit fussy. He’s great with a fork and spoon, often preferring to use these over his hands. The only ‘puree’ type food is has, is the odd fruit pouch as a dessert after his dinner – he has about 1 a day, maybe 2. Sometimes if he’s struggling to eat anything, I’ll give him a pouch as it’ll often give him an appetite for his main food.

Typically he’ll eat food like pesto pasta (or plain pasta – he hates tomato sauce!), fish (cod, salmon), black Kalamata olives, raspberries, kiwi’s, orange (he LOVES blood orange!), new potatoes (the only kind I have really been successful with), broccoli.

We’re still keeping him away from foods that give him wind – peas in particular are a nightmare and usually result in a terrible night for all of us – we also steer clear of beans, onions – anything like that.

He's such a happy little boy, we really are incredibly lucky. He's so gentle and affectionate too

 - his tantrums feel like they've eased off, and if he does have them they're usually pretty short lived, and make most of their appearances when he's really tired.

All in all he's doing great and we couldn't be prouder of him :)

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Squidge | 16 month update

It’s been a while since I’ve put a Squidge update on here... no wait, it's been a while since I've put any post live on here for ages! Anyway, as he’s just hit 16 months old I thought I’d share a little update with you all. It’s so hard to believe that in 2 months time he’ll be a year and a half old!

"Lets take a selfie"

I’ve already started collecting his next-size-up clothes for him as he’s starting to grow out of some of his 12-18 months ones (mostly tops as they’re struggling to fit over his head) and some trousers. But saying that, he still wears some 9-12 month clothes too.

He’s coming on leaps and bounds. He’s been walking for 5 months now and is really steady on his feet. 

Chilling on his fav chair, watching is fav film (Kiki's delivery service)

Current toy loves:

• His little Squirrel trike

• His Next 2014 teddy bear (he cuddles it and kisses it on the nose)

• The seat his Grandad bought for him

• His little wooden kitchen (although, he loves taking the sink out and standing in the hole)

• His little basket of plastic fruit (flinging them across the room is a firm favourite)

He’s becoming such a gentle and affectionate little boy, it’s just the loveliest to see.  He regularly gives us kisses and cwtches up to us resting his head on our shoulder. But he’s also not a pushover. If another toddler shoves or hits him, he’ll seek them out and shove them back :P I love that about him, I love that he sticks up for himself – not something we’ve taught him to do yet either.

"Smile for Daddy"

I don’t want to write this because I feel I’ll jinx it, but he’s become a really great sleeper (OMG, I drafted this 4 days ago, that night (Weds) he was awake nearly all night! I had 2.5 hrs sleep... and then the same again the next night! I actually jinxed it!).  He’s pretty much slept through every night for the last 3 weeks now, only waking up a couple of times in a couple evenings for his dummy. But I’m also painfully aware that the 18 month sleep regression is looming!  He’s still in his cot and still in a sleeping bag. I’m not planning on changing that until he can climb out of it, and at that point we’ll just put the side of the cot down and put a stair gate on his room.  He’s still far too mobile for a bed (he does laps of his cot when he sleeps!).

New words;

• Wee wee
• A'wight
• Flower (well, 'wower')
• Door
• Don't touch
• Vroom (car)
• Beep beep (Microwave, lol)
• Stuck - this one is really amazing. He doesn't just understand the word, but the concept. He'll say stuck if his foot gets caught in the cot, or if a toy is caught on a chair, or if his fork gets caught on his bowl - so clever.

There's loads more, but they're the main ones :)  He's also really good with animal sounds, so far he can do: Monkey, Lion, Dog, Cat, Pig and Horse (he does the click, clack with his tongue for that).

His favourite things to do:

• Go outside to play - usually with a watering can and some water
• Empty out the contents of things (baskets of plastic fruit, buckets of wooden blocks)
• Help unpack the shopping, one item a time :)
• Snuggle up on the sofa and watch some Studio Ghibli (I've taught him well!)

There's loads more, but I have to stop somewhere :)

Every day he makes me proud. The way I see him play with other children, how smiley and gentle he is, and how affectionate he is.  I could never have hoped to have such a great child, and for the most part, he's really well behaved too.  He plays up a little if he's really tired, but that's it.

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FASHION | What Baby Wore Today #WBabyWT

A little while ago I was invited to take part in a really fun campaign run by Asda, their #WBabyWT (What Baby Wore Today) campaign (how fun is that!?).   Well, if you follow me on Instagram, you'll know I'm very fond of photographing little Squidge, and he loves the camera on him too (such a little poser).  So when I was asked to collaborate, I jumped at the chance (any excuse to photograph him in cute clothes eh!).

I've long been a fan of Asda baby (and grown up!) clothes.  They're really good quality (very soft) and very affordable.  Miles and miles better than Primark in terms of quality, and pretty much the same price, as well as really lovely designs.

First up, Squidge models the 2 piece check shirt and shorts set (£8*).  Now seriously, how cute is he in this outfit!  It's lovely quality, the shorts are a thinner denim so more comfortable, and the shirt is a light cotton - perfect for Summer (lol, like we've had a Summer this year!).

Next up, Squidge models the Mr. Happy t-shirt and shorts combo (£5*)(I really really love him in this!). This is made out of 100% cotton too and is really soft.  Other than it being a very apt top for him (he's really become a happy chappy recently, more so than normal, constantly giggling at things), I love that it doesn't have poppers to do up on the shoulder, instead it's very stretchy.  Considering his head is 98% percentile (BIG!) and this still fits, that's pretty awesome.

The next two outfits are part of one set - I love good value finds like that! It's the sea creatures print 4-piece set (£10* - now discounted to £6).  The first outfit is a romper suit where it's an all one one, so the vest part is actually part of the actual romper.  Once again, made of cotton and really soft against babies skin.  I really adore this romper suit - I'd bought loads and loads of romper suits for him, thinking that it was going to be a nice hot summer, but he's had hardly any opportunity to wear them as it's been pretty chilly and rainy.

Another great outfit and romper suit is the Finding Nemo All-in-one stripe and socks set (£8* now down to £5).  I love that the socks match the outfit and have a yellow top, a really nice touch.  Again, all made of cotton so it's nice and soft.

Yet another romper suit picked by me! This time it's the Mr Men Mr Tickle romper suit (£5*).  I really love seeing him in grey, I think it really brings his eyes out :)  I love the blue stripes on the sleeves too, a really nice touch, better than it just all being plain.

I have also bought him this Superman swim suit (£8*), I was planning to put him in it when we get out his little paddling pool, but we haven't had good enough weather to get the paddling pool out, and I doubt we will until next year... I just hope he gets to wear it before he grows out of it! It just seemed so mean to be as he's a 'Kent'.

What do you think of my picks?  Have you tried Asda baby before?

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*Clothes are PR samples, opinions are my own
All of the clothes modelled were in size 9-12 months