Enoch at 16-19 months

I feel terrible that I haven't posted one of these posts for my Little Man since he was 15 months old!  What kind of mother am I??  If you want to reminisce with me, you can read his 14-15 month post.  {I think it's hilarious that the beginning of that post is also an apology about my lack of monthly recap postings...}  Also, since I'm finishing up this post as Enoch is about to be 22 months old, I'm going to make this one a little shorter than normal in hopes of not confusing Enoch then with Enoch now... if that's even possible!

Stats - 32 pounds, 33 inches tall, size 2T or 3T in clothing, depending on the brand, and size 7/8 in shoes.

Eating - Enoch has made huge strides in this category over the past few months.  He now eats most foods by himself, and he's even mastered using a fork on anything solid enough to be speared by it.  He still loves most foods, though he prefers crunchy veggies like broccoli or cauliflower cooked, not raw.  I think that a few of his favorites right now are: cherry tomatoes, grapes, and chocolaty desserts.  He also currently has 16 teeth and is ever getting new ones in.

The Toddler Strut - Little Guy is quite active these days and has mastered the toddler strut, which I think is one of the cutest things about this stage.  In case you've never witnessed said strut, it basically entails rapid feet shuffling accompanied by a prominent/pooching belly, wide corner clearances, and a slight lean forward from the hips up.

stepping up by himself

New Skills - Zipping (zippers), using a fork to eat (which he now prefers to use over his hands), climbing up stairs, helping throw away trash, cleaning the house, and probably more things that are slipping my mind since they're everyday occurrences now.

Talking - Up to this point, Enoch had mainly been jabbering.  At his 18 month check up (which we went to about 3 weeks late), the pediatrician asked if he could say 10 words... When I started counting, I realized that he really only knew a handful: mama, dada, baby, yeah, bye... those were about the only words he was verbalizing.  She checked the box 'yes' though because he could say 'more', 'all done', and 'please' in sign language, and he knew lots of animal noises.

Sleep - Enoch made the leap from 2 naps per day to only 1 around 18 or 19 months.  It was fairly easy, and I knew he was ready because he began having a hard time going to sleep for his morning nap.  At first I added in a snack time mid-morning in order to help him stretch to lunch time (snacks make everyone happier!), but eventually we phased that snack out.  He still sleeps 12-14 hours per night, and his afternoon nap usually lasts 2-3 hours.

small splash pad on campus

Nursing (or lack thereof) - Around 16 months I decided that I did not want to tandem nurse (nurse Enoch + Karis at the same time), so we began the process of slowly weaning Enoch.  (And I was beginning to have contractions when I nursed Enoch since I was so far along in my pregnancy with Karis.)  First we cut out the nursing sessions after naptimes by replacing them with sippy cups of milk and adding in some car rides/distractions.  (This worked well for Enoch because he loves going places.)  After that was standard practice, we cut out the bedtime nursing session.  Hugh took over the bedtime routine for a while until Enoch forgot that nursing used to be a part of bedtime.  The last nursing session to go was the early morning one.  At around 17 months, we decided to pull the plug.  Hugh took over doing awake time and breakfast, so Enoch didn't see me until he was already fed and full.  After a few days, Enoch didn't even seem to miss it (I think he was pretty upset the first time Hugh woke him up and took him straight to the dining room instead of bringing him to me, but then he was easily cheered when he realized that there was food waiting at the table).  To be honest, I think that at the very end, our morning nursing time was more for snuggling than anything else, so when I knew we were about to fully wean Enoch, I soaked in those early morning nursing times as much as I could.  It almost makes me cry just typing about it because weaning was definitely one of the first "real" signs of my firstborn son growing up into a big boy.

Overall - Little Man is still such a blessing to us, and he absolutely has this mama's heart won over!  Hugh and I are so thankful for him, and we are continually seeking the Lord to help us raise him in such a way that he will learn to treasure Christ above all else.