Jimmy - 17 Months and 7 Days

Mamma’s 1st little boy…where do I begin with this update? First of all we just made the switch to size 5 diapers last night. It was something I’ve been putting off for a couple of weeks because it just seemed impossible that he could be in size 5 diapers already. But the need was pressing since size 4 was becoming more and more unreliable at holding “things” in.



Swaddled like a baby

 I’ve read and heard from other moms that at about 18 months a little switch goes off in their heads and things start clicking and they transition overnight to a full blown toddler and their “baby-ness” all but disappears. So I’m trying to absorb every little moment of the last month of his “baby-hood” that I can. I find myself watching him all the time these days. Marveling at how quickly he’s growing, how big he already looks and acts and how much of a baby he still is at the same time. I’m looking forward to seeing the things that “click” for him next month and the months following with a little sadness and a lot of excitement.


The Dr was right when she told us at his 15 month checkup that he would have all four of his 1 yr molars in by 18 months. I didn’t see how that was possible when he wasn’t even really teething but sure enough the two tops ones are almost all the way through and the two bottom ones are showing themselves a little more everyday! They’ll for sure be all the way in by 18 months. That should make it a lot easier for him to chew the huge bites he likes to take!


I know I’ll forget something but here is a list of some of the things he’s doing and into these days:

• He loves brooms! There is a broom in the garage and if we’re not paying attention he’ll get out there and get it and bring it in the house or play with it in the yard – he drags it around, swings it around, lays it down and looks at it and then picks up the other end and over and over and over again. He never gets tired of it. I think we need to find a kids broom for him.

• He’s learned how to squint his eyes and will squint when you say “ojitos”. It’s the cutest thing ever! Now he adds the squint to his smiles and grins and makes me laugh every time.


Smiley baby - 1 year ago


• He smiles and squints at us when he’s in trouble too. It’s so hard not to fall for it!

• He loves to dance and I don’t know where he comes up with his moves but they’re ever evolving. At first dancing was just kind of bouncing in a squat – then it changed to turning in very slow circles – then a couple of weeks ago he was skipping around like he was riding a horse and walking in an exaggerated squat like he was severely bowl legged or something – now it’s a mixture of all those things and he keeps adding things to it.

• He’s screaming and throwing himself down now. Yep the not so pretty side of toddlerhood. We’ve been working on the falling down thing and that’s gotten a lot better but he still does it some.

• He’s picky and then he’s not picky. He can’t make up his mind. Sometimes he doesn’t want to eat anything and then other times he eats anything you put in his mouth. I never know which eater I’ll get at dinner time. I bought him some pediasure to put in his milk but then I ended up drinking half of it myself. So that wasn’t helpful.

• At bath time we’ll go into the bathroom and turn the water on and then go back into the living room and get undressed…diaper and everything…then he’ll take off running down the hall and straight to the bath tub. That’s about the only naked time he gets in our house! He loves his baths! He still hates water in his face and gets panicked when water trickles down from his hair though or if I’m not careful enough about rinsing his hair out.

• His hair is getting long and I recently said we would cut it at two but the conversation came up again and we’re not even sure if we’ll cut it then. I guess we’ll just have to see what happens when we get there.

Sticking his tongue out

• Sometimes he is very introspective and quiet and seems to be thinking a lot and other times he’s very very vocal and talking at the top of his lungs. He talks to himself sometimes and nods his head while he’s talking…the other day I saw him talking to his shoes. I wish I could video it every time because the sounds he comes up with are amazing. And he keeps moving his lips sometimes even after he’s done talking. So funny!

• He’s very serious about playing with his toys. He concentrates a lot and you can see the wheels turning as he’s trying to figure out how the toy is put together. He gets that from his dad for sure.

• He tries to put his own shoes on – he can’t yet but he’s trying.

• He still tries to poach “new toys” from the kitchen trash can so we have to stay on top of that

• Two nights ago he played peek a boo with me with his little hands covering his eyes…then stuck a little finger all the way up his nose and told me a story…I laughed the entire time!

 He’s not talking much yet and doesn’t have a big vocabulary but he understands a lot. I’ve read and heard that’s pretty normal for kids that will be bi-lingual because they are learning two languages so they are learning twice as much at once. He understands pretty much everything we tell him to do though in English and in Spanish. If he calls me it’s usually “mom” which is followed up with “ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma” and daddy is “da –ie” and he uses that one A LOT more. He has some words he can say but it’s just words…nothing he uses correctly…except for “no”.

More smiles - 1 year ago!

When I tell him to say “Please” before I give him something he really wants he points at it and smiles really big and that’s good enough for me. ONE time he said “peas” and it was the cutest thing but it hasn’t happened since.

There is so much more that makes up 17 month old Jimmy – the way he lays his head on our legs for a little break while he’s playing, the big wide open mouth kisses that he gives that comes with teeth and everything, the way he waves hi and bye, the way he knows exactly what he wants and doesn’t want even when he doesn’t have a clue (refuses chocolate milk one second and then sucks it down like ambrosia the next), the way he talks himself to sleep…I'll never be able to write it exactly right.