Outfit details here

Good morning! It seems weird that I went almost 6 months between Zain’s last update and only waited a few before this installment. I have been getting a lot of questions about his schedule and he also seems to be changing so much so I thought this may be fun. 

When is he sleeping? 

He is totally transitioned to one nap although when he was recently sick I gave him two in a day. He naps between noon and 1pm everyday and it ranges from 1 1/2 hours to 3. I wish I knew when those long naps were coming so I could be more productive but doesn’t it always feel like you are paralyzed when they are asleep? 

He is still going to bed between 6:30 and 7pm and wakes up between 6 and 7am. He’s recently been sleeping later and I don’t want to jinx it but it’s amazing when he makes it till 7am. There are also obviously nights we go to friends or he has something fun planned and stays up till 9pm but it’s rare. 

He also went through a period where I think he was having night terrors or just nightmares. He would wake up in the middle of the night crying and when I would go in there he would be face down seemingly asleep and never even notice me walking around his crib. I generally would just wait for it to pass and he would go back to sleep. Have you guys experienced this? 

What is he eating? 

Much of the same but we have been trying to do more of what we eat. We used to eat much later than Zain and would wait till he went to bed to cook. Recently, Trevor and I have both been wanting to eat earlier so we have been doing family dinners. Trevor usually gets home in time and it’s easier to get Zain to eat things when we are eating them. If I try to feed him broccoli, salmon or something new on his own he’s very hesitant. However, if we all sit down together to eat he gobbles it up. 

Current favorite snacks are Cliff Kids Bars, Pretzel thins with hummus, bananas and really any fruit! 

Is he talking? 

Much more! Thank you all for all your helpful suggestions after my last post. I actually ended up scheduling an evaluation with a speech therapist to see if Zain may need intervention. We went for the eval but he didn’t qualify and I was assured he was on schedule. I felt a little silly after and asked the therapist if I was over dramatic haha. I guess when it comes to Zain I would always rather be safe than sorry.

We also started parallel talking and describing everything we saw or talked to him about. Slowly but surely he’s picked up a lot of words and also seems to have his own language 😉 He’s also recently started combining two words which is great! 

Are you still using a pacifier?

No. So, we took away the pacifier (besides sleep—naps and nap time) when he turned one. I didn’t want him using it during the day or always having it in his mouth. Then when we moved to Louisville I took it away during naps. He was sleeping fine at school and at home during the day but was still giving it to him for comfort at night. 

A few months ago I started letting him pick out a few stuffed animals to sleep with since there is currently nothing in his crib. Once he was doing that I just took it away cold turkey. He cried for a few seconds that night and then just went to sleep and we never gave it back. We went cold turkey with bottles too and that seemed to work well so it was my go to. My friend Jenna who is a pediatric dentist also said you can cut the end of them so they are no longer able to suck and they will lose interest. 

I think it went relatively easy because he wasn’t super attached to it but I know every kid is different! 

Current products you can’t live without? 

Day to day there are a few things we use regularly that I would recommend and I tried to round those up below. I have been using our Uppababy Minu much more regularly since it’s just so light and compact. We also are still so happy with his high chair. When we all eat together at the table it’s the perfect height to take off his tray and just push him up to the table which is wonderful! I also included his art supplies since people have been asking and let me tell you, the spill proof containers are actually super helpful!