Raffi’s 13 month update
Now that Raffi is officially a toddler (he is, right?) things are changing fast. From one week to the next he learns so much and changes incredibly. Lots happened this month, so let’s get right to it.
13 things about 13 months:
1. Raffi started daycare. He only goes 2 days a week. He has never cried or had trouble at dropoff, but the first few days he cried a lot at naptime. He also didn’t nap well. Today was the first day he had no tears at naptime and slept for 1.5 hours. I still can’t believe he can sleep on a little cot with other kids right next to him. His room only has 3-4 other kids on average which is great for a daycare newbie. Trig usually picks him up, but the other day I picked him up early for Halloween. When he saw me he came flying toward me, throwing a giant basket out of the way to get to me. Nothing stands in the way of Raffi and his mamma!
2. Halloween was so fun. After the first 2 houses Raffi really got the hang of going up the stairs to a door, knocking, taking one piece of candy… and then giving it back. He would take one, give it back and then clap for himself. We went to about 10 houses in our neighborhood and handed out candy to a few kids. The morning after Halloween he grabbed two wrapped mini 3 Musketeers and was running around the house with him. I didn’t think anything of it until I noticed something funny around his mouth. The little punk bit right through the wrappers and was sucking out the candy! Whoops. I’m glad he enjoyed his first real candy at 9 AM. Raffi was a lobster for Halloween and surprisingly loved his costume. He cried every time we had to take it off him.
3. Bedtime and naptime are truly lovely right now. We had a rough couple of weeks where Raffi clinged tightly to me and screamed bloody murder for a solid 10 minutes before sleeping, but that miraculously stopped after moving bedtime a little later. He now goes to bed around 7:30 PM and sleeps until 7 AM or so. Actually, he wakes up about 30 minutes before that since daylight savings but we are trying to train him to stay in his crib until at least 7. He plays for awhile and doesn’t get cranky for a long time, so it works for now. He is on 1 nap and usually sleeps between an hour and an hour and a half.
4. Raffi knows where things belong. If I ask him to put something back where he found it he can often comply. He loves going to get his own shoes when it’s time to leave, and he loves helping me clean up toys.
5. Music is now a very big part of Raffi’s life. He loves listening to the toddler tunes channel on TV and looks at me while chatting when the music stops. He doesn’t like the 3 second break between songs. Trig played this Armenian instrument for him this month and Raffi loved it. It’s similar to a clarinet or recorder. Raffi took the instrument from Trig and made sounds into it pretending to play. Now he goes into the drawer to take that instrument out all the time to pretend to play it.
6. Raffi also loves books all of a sudden. Many times a day he will bring me a book and ask me to read it. He has favorite pages and insists on having me read the same page about 100 times. I can recite certain books by heart right now and definitely know – “On Saturday he ate through one piece of chocolate cake, one ice cream cone, one pickle, one slice of swiss cheese, one slice of salami…” – yes I typed that from memory. That is Raffi’s favorite page in his favorite book.
7. We have no new words, but Raffi can now go WOOF WOOF if you ask him what sound a doggy makes. I didn’t realize how well he understood what a doggy was until we were in IKEA and he kept saying “WOOF WOOF” “WOOF WOOF”. There was a stuffed dog up high in a tunnel and he had spotted it. What a smart cookie. And by the way, woof sounds like FFFFFF when he says it. It’s adorable. He also thinks that other animals make the same sound. Raffi’s grandma taught him how to make the doggy sound so now she is in charge of teaching him the other animals. I’ve been working on cow for 2 weeks and have gotten nowhere. Meanwhile she taught him dog in about 2 hours. Impressive.
8. Climbing is still Raffi’s favorite activity. Well, climbing and also carrying objects while running around the house (both big and small). Oh, and putting things in containers and taking them out. Anyway, we put a step stool next to the couch so Raffi can climb up himself. He likes to slither off the couch (belly down) and then clap for himself before doing it again.
9. Yes, we have to clap for everything. Raffi claps for himself all day long and doesn’t understand when other people don’t clap too. When he opens the garage, presses an elevator button, opens or closes a door, puts his toys away, eats his snack, or basically does anything he claps for himself happily. He is very proud of himself for everything. He also loves to wave to everybody all day long.
10. Raffi loves putting the cap on the water bottle. He will hold the cap and practice putting the bottle on and taking it off for a long time. He also pretends to drink water and is so thrilled when I leave a little in the bottle. We have lots of bottled water from Hurricane Sandy preparations, so he has practiced a lot. I think he will be disappointed when I go back to exclusively using my reusable Thermos bottle.
11. Hide and seek is a favorite game. Raffi’s uncle Kiki babysat him while Trig and I went to a work event, and Kiki said Raffi stood at the gate to the stairs shaking it and crying for awhile after we left. As soon as Kiki hid, however, Raffi started laughing and chasing him. We all play hide and seek every day and Raffi loves it. Bonus points if you play while he is on the couch.
12. I’m afraid to say it, but here goes. I am fairly certain tantrums have started. When Raffi doesn’t get his way he makes this adorable scrunchy face while bending his knees and looking me straight in the eye. If that doesn’t work it sometimes turns into an all out cry fest. I try to redirect his energy to another activity, but kids’ memories are better than we think at this age.
13. In the same regard, NO is still Raffi’s favorite word. When I was him to please take something out of his mouth or to put down something dangerous he will do it and then yell “NO!” Other times when he is about to do something prohibited, like go into the trash, he stops himself right before doing it and yells “NO” to himself. I only use that word when he is about to put himself in danger, but he somehow knows what’s what.
Bonus: Raffi absolutely LOVES toddlers in training at NEST this semester. It is by far both of our favorite parts of the week, and he knows his little friends. His favorite activities are playing with the mini barn and animals they have, trying to eat bubbles, climbing the different structures and watching everyone sing the wheels on the bus.
Random facts about 13 months:
Weight: unsure – at 12 months he was 19.5 lbs
Wears: size 4 diapers, 6-12 month pants from baby GAP, 12-18 month sweatpants, 12-18 month pants from other stores but they fall off until he is pantless, size 4 shoes
Teeth: 4 on top and 4 on the bottom!
Loves: clapping for himself, throwing food off the highchair when he’s done, saying NO, picking up leaves, watching me vacuum and unplugging the vacuum while waiting for my reaction, bathtime with his baba, when baba comes home from work, opening and closing doors and gates, stabbing his food with a fork, playing any type of music, riding his potty like a horsey, sitting in his new kid-sized chairs
Hates: having his diaper changed, being thirsty, being thirsty for his cup of milk, being put down when he’s not in the mood
Foods he loves: eggs, grapes, any type of pasta, shredded cheddar cheese, animal crackers, whole peeled Persian cucumbers, yogurt, apple slices, pear slices, pumpkin pecan pancakes, bananas, peas, pomegranate
Foods he hates: anything when he’s not hungry, chicken, most meats
Foods I keep introducing hoping he will like them soon: broccoli, cooked carrots, grilled eggplant
Favorite toys: all books, his little cars, his doctor’s kit
Previous updates can be found here.
11 Responses to “Raffi’s 13 month update”
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these pictures are just TOO GREAT – especially that first one. love the dinosaur (monster?) hoodie!
oh my gosh, he is too precious. i adore the lobster costume!
That lobster costume is ADORABLE!!! 🙂
So funny! I felt like I was reading Micah’s 13 month update! The clapping is pretty hilarious…turning off a light, putting things in the garbage, all things worthy of a clap 🙂
He is so adorable! With the animal sounds, my 17 m/o is finally doing multiple, but I THINK he got stuck on thinking that “say” was the key word, not the animal? Like…”What does the cow SAY?” “What does the dog SAY?” Which, for us, everything said “Vroom”. Ha!
I think hr cried whenever he had to take the lobster off because he knew how adorable he was wearing it! Ellie and I are in town the next several days. Do y’all have time for a play date?
He is so cute! I love the way his hair is curling, adorable!
He looks so much bigger in the pictures but you said he was 19.5lbs at 12 months. My Molly turns 1 on Saturday and she is right at 19.5lbs. She seems so tiny compared to him in the pics.
And I totally hear you on the tantrums. We have those too. Drama!
He is so big and cute! Can you mention how the transition to milk has gone? How many times a day he drinks it? And what his typical meals are like? I remember a few months ago you wrote that you were worried he didn’t eat enough, and now that he is exclusively on “grown-up food” I wonder how that transition has been? I have an eight-month old who has been very slow to warm up to solids and I’d love to hear what worked for Raffi. We offer her everything (three days apart, of course) and she finally, after months and months, actually likes (not just merely tolerates) a food. YoBaby banana yogurt for the win 🙂 She’s on the smaller side, also (10% for weight), and I just find it so hard to believe that she could be done with bottles in four months. Any advice would be great. Thank you!
Too cute for words. Just adorable!!
Being a grandmother and having gone thru these stages five times, I can really appreciate your joy in Raffi’s accomplishments. He is certainly a very cute little boy. I enjoyed your photos as well.
Super cute! I love that he makes the same animal noise for every animal. My boyfriend’s niece does that!