Last week, on Wednesday night, Toby slept for 5 hours without waking. That was the longest he has slept for a really, really long time. He used to sleep 5 or 6 hours when he was a newborn, but that hasn’t happened since he was 3 months old. As I said, until last week.

Normally Toby will sleep for 3 hours after getting him to sleep at night, and after he wakes the first time he sometimes wakes only two more times in the night, though mostly it is a lot more than that. I stopped counting a long time ago. When I say that he wakes, I don’t know that he totally wakes up, but he wriggles and calls out for me and wants milk, and if I don’t respond quickly then he wakes up properly and it is always harder to get him back to sleep from that state. Occasionally he continues to wriggle and then I put him on the potty, but mostly he settles down though he can suck for a very long time. Needless to say, I feel like I’ve been quite sleep deprived for a long, long time.

I hope that I am not jinxing the sleep situation here by writing about it, but Toby slept for 8 hours last night. Yes, that was EIGHT lovely hours. I wonder how long it will be be before that happens again. 🙂

Photo taken by Steph.

I’m already over a week late with Toby’s monthly update, but there isn’t really much to mention besides his rapidly expanding vocabulary. I am totally amazed at how many more words he has, and how much more understandable he is, from just a month ago.

I am really enjoying his language exploration. I remember Nathan doing pretty much the same things, so it is sort of a trip down memory lane as well. When we walk places, for example, Toby will walk for a bit and then say ‘stop’ and simultaneously stop walking. He will wait for a bit, then say ‘go’ and start walking again. Often he waits for me to stop walking as well when he stops. I had forgotten that Nathan used to do exactly the same thing.

Toby is now 18 months old. My baby isn’t much of a baby any more! He is turning into a very independent little boy. He is quite happy to explore both new and familiar places on his own, and he knows what he wants with enough words to make his wishes understood most of the time. He stands up to Nathan now when Nathan wants to take what Toby has, and certainly makes his wants known with a combination of words, pointing and crying (when we don’t understand or he doesn’t get his way).

Toby has many more words at 18 months old than I imagined he would a few months ago. I did a word list for Nathan when he was 18 months old, and I decided to do the same for Toby. The words are those he uses spontaneously and not those he tries to copy when someone else is talking. The problem is that every day he comes out with more words, and I never remember them all. I would say that Toby’s list isn’t as comprehensive as Nathan’s was. Toby is also putting words together into two and three word sentences.

Colours and number recognition are also coming along. When we count from one to ten, Toby says the first two numbers, and if we stop at the number nine then he will finish with an excited “TEN”!

Elimination communication is going really well now. Although Toby has been doing poos on the potty for quite a while now, catching his wee in the potty has been more difficult. The last few weeks has seen what seems to be a huge breakthrough in that he is more often dry than wet now. He is able to sit on the potty by himself if he has a bare bottom, and will occasionally on his own initiative for wees and more often if we suggest that he sit on the potty. He is able to answer us when we ask if he needs the toilet, and even tells us that he needs it sometimes. We still get quite a few wet training pants during the day, a few wet nappies at night though he is generally dry, but we definitely catch more wee than we miss and some days he is completely dry.

Toby loves playing with the animal figurines, loves books though he still doesn’t have the attention span to sit through an entire picture book (generally), loves playing with the saucepans and kitchen utensils, and is desperate to ride the balance bike. He is an absolute delight to be around.

Word map made using www.wordle.net/ (cc license with reference)

Toby is using more and more words, and has a really pleased look on his face when we understand him. He uses the word ‘stuck’ on it’s own, or calls out ‘Mummy stuck’ to let me know he needs help. It happens most when trying to get in the back door and the wire door closes on his leg.

Toby is sleeping 11 – 12 hours at night (he still wakes a lot) and 45 minutes to an hour and a half during the day. His day nap has been slowly moving from 10:30 am and is now generally around midday.

Toby seems to be becoming less destructive in general, and trying more to manipulate tools instead. His is much more aware of the things he wants, and will hold something and repeat “mine” if he thinks that Nathan is going to take it away from him…which is generally what happens anyway.