Day in the Life with an 18 Month Old

Holy guacamole, I cannot believe our silly Max is 18 months old today! His spunky personality blossoms everyday and he is quite the little person now. Even on the hardest days, words can't explain how lucky I feel to be his mom.

Some of you were asking for baby updates, and I totally missed the big 12 month one. But be sure to check out my previous editions: Day in the Life with an Eight Month Old, Day in the Life With a Four Month Old, and Day in the Life With a Newborn. Please let me know in the comments if you enjoy this kind of content!

Max loves to dance to music, ride in his car outside, play with bubbles, explore our kitchen cabinets, shovel sand, run around with my gold spatula, eat yogurt, take baths (he screamed during bath time until recently LOL), and roughhouse with dad.

Overall, this age feels like maaaaajor highs and lows. It's chaos and overwhelm blended with indescribable joy and adoration. Some days he's our giggly sweetie pie and other days he's slapping me in the face or I wonder how in the world I'll have another kid.

Max has been a daddy's boy through and through. I used to get really jealous, but now I just think it's adorable. Maybe our next kid will prefer me?!

Milestones

Max started walking at 16 months. He rolled and crawled super late so we knew walking would be on his own timeline, too. He says words like mama, dada, "ba" for ball and bubbles, "wa" for water, "ha" for here, and "ga" (not sure what that's for). He just started waving, which is the cutest ever. I think I recently heard him say "hi" and "tree," too!

Eating

I'm not gonna sugarcoat it...feeding Max has been stressful and definitely a source of anxiety. He became a lot pickier around 10 months and had phases where he'd throw everything on the floor and eat next to nothing. I know this is normal, but it still ain't easy! It's true what they say, that once you think you've figured them out, everything changes.

Sweet potatoes used to be his favorite, now he hates them. Toddler life! I try to release the pressure but the control freak "is-he-getting-enough-iron" in me is always raging.

Breakfast is his favorite meal of the day and definitely the easiest for us. He's a carb guy like his mama!

His favorite foods are oatmeal, bread (I typically do sprouted frozen), muffins, blueberries, banana and peanut butter, yogurt (I get unsweetened full fat Greek but sometimes he eats my Siggi's and LOVES IT), pesto (will eat it by the spoonful), Cheerios, shredded cheddar, waffles, fries, and peas.

He's in a love hate relationship with beans and hummus. These superfood bars are legit his favorite food; he convulses with excitement when I get one out!

I like these waffles for the calories and eggs being a main ingredient. He also loves peanut butter sandwich crackers, TJ's bamba snacks, snap pea crisps, cheddar bunnies and pouches. He won't touch any kind of meat. He ate eggs once but hasn't been interested since.

We're try to limit added sugar until he's two (for example when I bake for him, I'll use bananas versus maple syrup), but I also don't freak out when it happens, which is certainly does. Like all things in life, perfection is not the goal. It's all a delicate balance, and him having a joyful relationship with food is the number one priority!

We do Ripple unsweetened pea milk and he's obsessed. We tried whole milk and it made his skin worse.

Skin

Max has struggled with eczema since starting solids around 6 months. We've tried eliminating dairy, eggs, soy, etc. but the whole process was really hard and we haven't figured it out. It comes and goes, but usually he scratches and his poor skin feels like sandpaper.

It nearly disappeared when he turned one and we were thrilled, but it came back with a vengeance the past couple months. I'm guessing the heat has been a trigger? The dryness in Denver doesn't help. We do love this organic aloe body wash and still use Happy Cappy on his head.

Tubes surgery

Daycare brought a slew of ear infections and we ended up having to get tubes. We thought they were working well but he's still having frequent ear infections that don't always improve with the antibiotic drops so I'm taking him back to the ENT.

Sleep

You all know we did sleep training early on so luckily it hasn't been an issue for us. That said, there have definitely been regressions where he'll have a week randomly that he's crying at night. He has a full set of teeth, but teething seems to never end!

He's still on two naps for about two hours each around 10am and 2:30pm, but some days we only do one around noon for three hours.

Day in the life

6:00 am: Wake up to my alarm and head upstairs for water, probiotic, and coffee. I use this time to pack Max's lunch if he has his nanny share (three days a week), get breakfast ready, and ideally sit on our front porch in my fab new rocking chair and read til he gets up.

7:00am: Max wakes up! We adore these lightweight sleep sacks. I change his diaper, he drinks Ripple milk (this cup is the best), and then it's time for breakfast.

7:15am: Lately I'll take the steel cut oatmeal Jeff and I eat and stir in hemp seeds and tahini or peanut butter for fat and iron. If I'm feeling extra snazzy I'll add grated carrot or mashed sweet potato since we struggle with veggies. He loves his spoon lately it but also shovels some it in with his hands. We also tried apple slices on the side.

7:45 am: Change for the day, brush teeth (he still hates this), and play around the house while I finish getting ready. Then it's time for a quick stroller walk around Wash Park.

8:30am: Get back home, pack the diaper bag, and head to tot gymnastics class! Max had so much fun tumbling around. We're working very hard on not slapping mommy and pulling hair when we're frustrated or excited.

10am: Head to Whole Foods for some groceries. Max snacks on a banana muffin (without maple plus a handful of spinach) and falls asleep in the car because he's in-between one and two naps right now.

11am: Come home and play around our room while I fold laundry. It takes three times as long but hey, we're doing it!

11:30am: Lunch time! Max has some peanut butter and avocado toast (barely ate it), cheese (didn't eat), a peanut butter spoon, and strawberries (he'll only eat them whole). Shortly after he's pointing to peanut butter sandwich crackers...

12pm: Nap time! Hallelujah. I try to work during this time but I find it really hard to switch my brain from mom mode to working mode. Typically I just want to tidy up the house, eat in peace, get dinner ready, or lay on the couch and read. How cute is this Pink Floyd shirt?

2:30pm: Max wakes up, snacks on cheddar bunnies, then we go play in our backyard. He'll either push his walker, ride in his cozy coupe, or we'll do the water table/pool.

4:30pm: I go to Pilates and Jeff hangs with Max.

5:45pm: Dinner time! I gave him some cannellini beans, a few pieces of leftover salmon, and some watermelon and strawberries. He ate the fruit. Then I ended up eating a waffle with peanut butter. I struggle with not wanting to be a short order cook but also wanting to make sure he's eating! Ohhhh the struggle.

Here's a pic from when we were in Cleveland and he tried some pesto pasta, watermelon, an olive, and corn (didn't touch). He loved baked beans!

6:15pm: Play some more then take a bath.

7:00pm: Bed time! Put on PJS's (obsessed with these), drink milk, read a story if Max will chill for one, or we'll play in his room for a little.

Wake up and repeat!