Let’s start this by saying #momlife got the best of me & I totally skipped Isla’s 10 month update.. oh well! I’ll catch you up on everything that has changed and happened in the last 4 months since her 8 month update!
I swear every month seems to get better. It is so fun seeing your baby learn, explore, and grow. The last 12 months were the fastest 12 months of my life. What they say is true.. The days are long but the years are short.
Milestones:
So much has happened in the last four months. The biggest being Isla is walking! She took her first steps at 10 months and by 11 months was walking all over the place. Sort of looking like a drunk person trying to walk, but hey it’s still walking! By 12 months she had walking down and was even starting to run! Isla started ISR lessons in May and finished those up in July. She now has 7 teeth! 3 on the bottom and 4 on the top. One thing with Isla & teething is that she goes weeks without popping a new tooth, but when she starts getting one she gets multiple at once. Luckily for us, teething isn’t that bad! She gets a tad irritable and more clingy to me, but that’s about it.
She is talking now a little bit! She says mama, dada, ball, & baby. I was shocked when her pediatrician told me that most girls typically have a vocabulary of 150 words by the time they are 24 months. I am excited for her to talk, but not ready for the talking back!!
Sleep:
If you have been following along with us for a while then you know we did sleep train Isla with the techniques taught in the Taking Cara Babies course. Isla has been a good sleeper from when we started the course around 3-4 weeks old. Isla has been on two naps a day since 8 months & is still on that schedule. I am going to keep her on two naps as long as she will let me! We are about to start MDO though so I will have to start going off of their nap schedule and she may end up dropping one nap naturally from that.
Isla’s Routine:
- 7:30 – 8:00 – Wake up
- 11:00 – 12:30 – Nap
- 3:00 – 4:00 – Nap
- 7:30 – 8:00 – Bedtime
Feeding:
Isla has been on formula since about 6 months. At 6 months we also started BLW (Baby Led Weaning) which is basically not doing puree baby food and instead letting her eat what we eat with a few exceptions. She is the BEST eater which I credit to BLW. Around 10 months she started weaning herself from formula and preferring food over milk. She went from having five 6oz bottles a day to barely drinking three 6oz a day. Because she was doing so well eating and eating three meals + two snacks a day, her pediatrician said it is okay for her to wean herself from formula earlier than 12 months.
As 12 months crept closer Isla was only having two bottles a day. She would have one 6oz bottle in the morning after waking up and one 5-6oz bottle at night right before bed. Around 11.5 months I started introducing Isla to almond milk. She loved it immediately and starting getting one cup of it with lunch. We have now stopped formula as a whole and aim for three cups (5-6 oz each) of cows milk or almond milk a day. We have gotten rid fo the bottle per pediatrician recommendation so she drinks all liquids with her straw cups.
As far as food goes, she is having three meals and two snacks a day. She is starting to get a little more picky and prefer certain foods on her plate over other foods. This is something her pediatrician said is completely normal and just to continue offering a huge variety of foods like we have been since 6 months.
Q&A:
- Isla’s Favorite Toys?
- Isla is going through this bored at home stage. Her pediatrician said that’s very normal for her age and starting Mother’s Day Out will help a ton because she will be interacting with other kids her age. So she isn’t super in to toys right now which is hard. She recently got a ton of toys at her party and so far her favorites are below…
- Wooden Puzzles – We have had these for months and they keep her the most entertained for longer periods of time.
- Play babies – She carries them around everywhere and thinks it’s so funny to give them hugs and kisses.
- Slide – She hasn’t quite gotten the climbing the stairs of the slide down yet. So when she wants to slide she either tries climbing up the slide part or runs to me to put her on there.
- Nugget Couch – Not really a toy, but she is starting to love climbing all over this.
- Balls – Basketballs, golf balls, footballs, whatever. She loves throwing them!
- Isla is going through this bored at home stage. Her pediatrician said that’s very normal for her age and starting Mother’s Day Out will help a ton because she will be interacting with other kids her age. So she isn’t super in to toys right now which is hard. She recently got a ton of toys at her party and so far her favorites are below…
- Anything you wish you would’ve done differently for a first baby?
- Honestly, no. I really can’t even think of anything that I can look back on and say, “yeah should’ve done that different than I did” when it comes to her. I’m sure once I have another baby there may be things I realize can be done differently. But that’s just what happens with baby #1. They are basically your test drive into raising humans haha.
- Favorite foods, favorite toys for long term, favorite book?
- Her favorite foods are basically everything lol.. She loves chicken, waffles, smoothies, salmon, tuna, broccoli, fruit, tomatoes, and pasta.
- Toys for long term I would say would be the nugget couch, Pikler triangle, slide, basketball goal, and play kitchen.
- She loves all books. She doesn’t prefer one over the other. She doesn’t sit still long enough for you to read an entire book to her though. She wants to hold it and turn the pages.
- Did COVID play a factor in her birthday? Did people not come because of it?
- I feel like COVID plays a factor in everything these days. Luckily we had the intention of Isla’s party being outside from the beginning before COVID even happened. Because of that, there was plenty of room to spread out if wanted or needed. I did cut down the invite list to out closest friends and family that way there were too many people there. We also had some people chose to wear masks which didn’t bother me one bit! If someone chose not to come because of COVID, they didn’t tell me that was the reason. But I respect any decision someone makes for themselves and their family!
- Tips on surviving the 12 month leap?
- Let me just say, I wish I had tips… Try to survive haha. Isla has truly never struggled during leaps. She may get a tad clingy, but that’s it. This leap has been TOTALLY opposite. But I have had lots of moms tell me their babies have gone through or are currently going through the same one and that is has been the hardest one. It hit probably a week before her first birthday and my app (The Wonder Weeks) says we still have 14 days left, but I feel like it has gotten a tad better already.
- How is the transition to milk going? We’re having lots of trouble.
- I’m telling y’all, Isla is the easiest child ever when it comes to food and drinks. She likes it all! The first time she had almond milk, she chugged it. The first time she had cows milk, she chugged it. So we stopped formula cold turkey!
- Does she still throw her food? I have such a hard time not saying anything.
- Yes she does. I feel like everyone gives different advice & I’m sure what works for one doesn’t work for the next. Some people say don’t give it any attention and it will stop, but if you react they continue. That doesn’t work for us. I have also seen people say that as soon as they throw food you tell them, “I see you’re throwing food. Does that mean you’re all done or do you want to eat more?” Then you see what they do. Sometimes she eats and sometimes she throws food again. If she throws it again I say, “Okay looks like you’re all done.” then move the plate onto the table where she can’t
XO, Kelsey
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