Dear Nolan,

You are now more than halfway through your second year! You’re 19 months old, but you think you’re 12, the way you try to do so many “big kid” things. You so badly want to ride a bike, climb to the top of the playground structure without me hovering over you, and do whatever the older kids are doing. To be honest, this is causing you a lot of frustration and me a lot of anxiety. You and I are having a tough time with each other these days. I tell you “NO!” about 100 times a day and you’ve started saying it right back to me, before you burst into tears. You really aren’t interested in anything that’s not destructive or dangerous, and the tension this causes is overwhelming. However, just when I think you are going to finally send me right over the edge, you crawl into my lap and lay your head on my shoulder, and I’m reminded that you’re still my baby and this stage is just as hard on you as it is on me.

Nolan at 19 months you:

• Weigh 25 pounds, 1 ounce
• Wear size 12-18 and 18 month clothing, size 5 diapers and size 5 or 6 shoes
• Still only have 5 teeth
• Are napping really well these days, although most days you don’t sleep past 5:30 in the morning, no matter what time we put you to bed
• Still drink milk from a bottle, and I’ve lost motivation to wean you from it right now. We’ve switched you to almond milk from cows milk (cows milk was making you constipated- no fun) and you LOVE it. And you play with your hair when you drink your milk which is the cutest.
• Talk, talk, talk. Every day you are adding new words. You aren’t as articulate as your sister was at this age, but I can usually decipher what you’re trying to say, even if no one else can. The words you use the most are Mama and Dada, Char (Charlotte), G (Grayson), My Show (when you want to watch TV), Banana, Shoe, Ba (Bottle), Sna (Snack), Outside, and NO (with a whip of your head).
• You love to be outside more than anything else and you scream when it’s time to come back in.
• You hate getting into the car. You now have a big boy carseat which you liked for a few days, and now you are back to hysterics every time we put you in it.
• Have lots of nicknames. I keep forgetting to write about this, but our very favorite one is “CoCo Jane”, given to you by your quirky big sister. We have no idea where it came from, but it’s stuck. Charlotte calls you “Jane” about half the time and “Noley” the other half. I know when you’re a teenager you’ll love knowing that we called you “CoCo Jane” when  you were a toddler- ha ha!

 

 

Mommy