Ziv, lately

Ziv turned 14 months old yesterday! He's still not walking but he's got a lot of tricks up his sleeve.

He can now follow simple instructions such as "Help mommy put this in the dryer." He loves to be involved in some (everything?) of the things I do so I let him. It's way easier to make use of his curiosity than to resist and put a damper on it.

Ziv loves the playground. He thoroughly enjoys going up and down the steps, crawling around and climbing the slide. It's quite difficult to keep up with him though so I prefer having ze hubby around when I let him play there.

Crawling on the park is another thing he loves to do. The surface there isn't smooth at all but he doesn't seem to mind. When the bumpiness gets too much for him to handle, he raises  his butt, straightens his knees and uses his feet and hands to go around.

One funny thing he does is hand me the stuff he discovers while crawling around, from a grain of rice to a piece of meat from yesterday's lunch, to fallen twigs and cracked tree barks. I don't know why he does it but I find it so amusing!

Ziv has also learned about the magical powers of the remote control. He knows that when he presses a button, he could make snowflakes appear on the TV, and he knows that when he points the remote on the AC, it will turn on. Amazing how much kids could learn simply by watching.

 

Things have improved in the food front. Ziv tries everything we offer him--from sweet and sinful ice cream and chocolate chip muffins to uber healthy blueberries, strawberries and dragon fruit. I'm very happy with the way he eats.

We also got him his own table and chair because I want him to be able to walk away when he's full and/or no longer interested to eat. It was difficult but I've learned to trust him when it comes to hunger and fullness. I believe he knows how much food he needs and that he knows when to stop eating. I don't want to override his body's cues just because I feel he hasn't eaten enough or because we have to stick to a schedule.

On the other hand, things aren't going as smoothly as I want to in the snooze department. Ziv's transitioning from two naps to one and it's been a rough couple of weeks. He sleeps really well in the morning but he refuses his afternoon nap with vigor so ends up being very tired in the afternoon. 

The boy even had disrupted sleep a couple of nights ago but I was relieved that he was able to sleep well last night. I guess putting him to bed early helped. He slept ultra early yesterday (6PM) and he woke up for his morning bottle around 5 today. To my surprise, he went back to sleep and got up for the day at the fabulous, sunny hour of 8!!! 

We don't get to sleep in very often in this household so me and ze hubby were so happy. I know that wishing it would happen everyday is shooting for the moon but I do hope the sleeping situation will get better soon!

It's amazing to see Ziv become his own person little by little each day. A child growing up is indeed the best show on earth, and we're extremely lucky to have been blessed with front row seats.