So Toby is 18 months old (well, more like 18 and a half due to my tardiness in finishing this post). From when I started this blog until Toby was one I wrote monthly updates but I haven’t written one since his 12 month update in July. Six months on and we are definitely the parents of a toddler and not a baby any more. So, what’s been happening in the last six months?

Toby is still really tall for his age. I’ve not actually been able to measure him for quite a while but we weighed him at Christmas, he weighs 28 lbs and I’ve just swapped all his clothes over to age 2-3 (although he’s been wearing some 2-3 sleepsuits for a while now). I’d like to keep him wearing poppered vests for the moment but I’m really struggling to find any big enough. I managed to get some plain white ones in age 2-3 from Tesco but if anyone has any ideas where I could get some coloured ones then please do share. He’s also got pretty big feet and is wearing a size 6 – he’s had them a while though and there’s still plenty of growing room in them so his feet can’t be growing too fast.

Our little toddler has been walking for about three months now. We did have a bit of a set back in November when he had some mystery injury to his leg or foot and wouldn’t but any weight on it for a couple of weeks, but whatever that was he now seems fully recovered. Now he can walk Toby loves running about in the house and hiding behind doors or trying to shut us out of rooms. He has been tall enough to reach the door handles for ages but a few weeks ago he worked out how to open the doors too so now nothing is safe from him.

We finally seem to be getting a respite from teething. Toby now has 16 teeth so only his back molars still to come. Even though the teething has stopped for the moment he is still suffering with every cough and cold that comes his way – one of the hazards of going to nursery full time I guess! Speaking of nursery, Toby has been going full time since August now and most of the time he really seems to like it. We’ve had plenty of mornings when he’s cried as I’ve dropped him off, but usually when he isn’t feeling well or hasn’t slept well and is still tired. I hate having to wake him up at 6:30 am and he doesn’t always get the best naps at nursery either so weekends are often spent catching up on sleep, for everyone!

Toby is very talkative and is often babbling away but we still don’t have many recognisable words. He says Dada a lot (and sadly Mum very rarely), and ‘what’s that?’ whilst pointing at things, or at least that’s what it sounds like. He does say see-saw quite clearly when he’s on his rocking horse, or even if I just rock him on my knee. He also says something resembling spider, and if you say spider to him he’ll point to the ceiling because that’s where all the spiders were in our house in the autumn. Oh. and ‘shoe’ is the other word that he definitely knows. We just need him to learn a few words that would actually be useful in helping him communicate now though! Although, he’s not saying much yet Toby definitely understands so much these days. It’s actually quite amazing to see. He can follow some instructions and knows where things belong. Every night he puts his dirty clothes in the laundry basket in his room (even if he does sometimes then take them all out again so he can put the basket on his head!). He shakes his head for no if we ask him questions, but doesn’t seem to have a way of saying yes yet though.

Part of Toby’s ongoing struggle to communicate is quite regular tantrums or crying when he doesn’t get his own way. It’s quite exhausting sometimes and I have to admit I’m a bit rubbish at just giving in for an easy life sometimes. He is usually relatively easily distracted though so most of the time it’s not too bad. And although he might not be able to communicate much he definitely knows what the phone is for, and loves picking it up and saying ‘hiya’. In fact it doesn’t have to be the phone, any vaguely phone shaped object will do.

Sleep, or rather lack of, is still an issue that we are doing our best to cope with. On the occasional night recently Toby has slept all night but usually he’s awake once or twice. He still has a bottle at bedtime and more often than not he will need another if he wakes up in the night. He does seem to be genuinely hungry rather than just seeking comfort from it, but I don’t know what we can do to try and get more food in him during the day. He already has two breakfasts, two snacks, lunch and dinner at nursery plus more food when he gets home! I know he shouldn’t really still need bottles at 18 months but with a full time job I really need as much sleep as I can get and when the options are 10 minutes in the night to give a bottle and then he goes straight back to sleep, or spend half an hour or more with him screaming before he calms down I’m afraid I’m going to go for the bottle every time. I just have to trust that one day he’ll eventually grow out of needing milk in the night and we can all get some proper sleep!

I realise that a lot of this sounds like a bit of a moan, and in all honesty I am finding things pretty hard at the moment. But then Toby gives me a big cuddle, or runs around the house like a loon, or makes us laugh in any number of ways and then I remember how much I love him and I wouldn’t change him for the world.