Luke at 15 Months + Life Right Now

It's hard to believe that Luke has left the baby stage and is officially a toddler! At 15 months old he runs and plays and babbles more than ever - but he's still as chill and pleasant and wonderful as always. 

He sleeps 12 hours a night, and takes a daily 1.5-hr nap. He's happy to play with others or on his own, and he's happiest outside, playing with his big sister, or roughhousing with Daddy. As far toddlers go, he's just easy!

He says "ooh ooh" ('woof woof') whenever he sees an animal, "Mama" allll the time, "BA!" enthusiastically when he sees a ball, "chss" (cheese), "dada" occasionally (even though he still calls Matt Mama more often than not!) and "baba" with varying degrees of emotion depending on how hungry he is when he sees his bottle. :) 

He favorite foods are milk, blueberries, raspberries, chocolate, and any drink I have in a can or water bottle. He'll fuss and jump up and down until I share. :) He also loves his daily banana/PB/whole milk smoothie for breakfast! Just like Lydia. They have the same breakfast every day. But he will not touch eggs, avocado, or meat. 

His favorite toy at the moment is... toothbrushes?! Maybe it's because he can grab them so easily? And I think he likes how the bristles feel in his mouth? He usually has a toothbrush in hand, sometimes two or even three! One day he refused to let it go for nap time so he slept with it tight in his little fist. :) 

Measurements from his 15 mo appointment this week proved what we already knew: he's a big, tall guy!

26 lbs - 91st percentile

32 in tall - 75th percentile

He's also off the charts for being good natured, fun, and adorable. :) We love him!

Our routine has been really consistent since Christmas and it's working great for us right now. Things with kids change so quickly and drastically that I know we'll look back, not too long from now, and realize everything has changed! 

So to remember in the future, here's a snapshot of our routine lately. 

These days the kids and I get up around 7:15 (Matt leaves the house at 6:30 or so), and I go into Luke's room to change his diaper. Lydia usually hears me get up (she'll hang out in her room quietly if she's up earlier - so so grateful she's finally old enough for this!)  Occasionally I'll get up 30 min earlier and do a little workout or yoga, but these days I'm usually so tired that sleep is more important than anything else.

After changing Luke's diaper, he's usually fussing for breakfast (since he hadn't eaten in 12 hours!) and Barkley is jumping around whining for his breakfast. So we all go downstairs, I feed Barkley so he stops bouncing around my feet, and then make Luke's smoothie. 

When he's started on that, I make Lydia's. She always says she wants it, but then it's a struggle to get her to eat it. She's still a super light eater... sometimes I have to play our family home videos (like the 30 second ones) from when she was little to bribe her to take each sip. It can be tedious. But it's a good opportunity to watch family videos I guess!

Then Luke walks around and entertains himself by pulling things out of drawers and cabinets (the ones we haven't baby-locked off) while Lydia dresses herself (slowly, with lots of reminders to keep going) and I get ready and pack Lyd's lunch.

At 8:25 my phone alarm goes off which means it's time for preschool drop off!

I feel like the drive there and back can be valuable learning time, so we usually play an audio book or listen to primary songs. Lyd also loves listening to The Nutcracker soundtrack. This week we're listening to Anne of Green Gables on the free Libby app which I love! The app and the book.

At preschool I get everyone out of the car, make sure she has her coat, mask, and lunch box, sign her in, drop her off at her classroom with a hug and a kiss and a wave to her teacher. Sometimes we stop to look at the big salt water fish tank and Luke points, gasps, and says "fsh!! fsh!!"

After Luke and I get back home, I usually tidy the house for an hour (dishes, vacuuming, putting toys away, laundry) while he entertains himself. Lydia rarely entertained herself at this age - she's always been so intensely social - so this still feels new! 

Then around 10 or 10:30 I'll put him down for his nap. He loves his bed and his blankie and sleep (both Lyd and Luke are great sleepers!) 

Then I get to work. I sit down with my laptop and spend 1.5 hours answering emails, working on projects, scheduling meetings, and whatever else needs to be done. I schedule most of my meetings for the evenings after Matt's home (since CoreHealth is on Pacific time it's the most convenient for everyone). 

Luke will sleep straight through until 11:55 when I wake him up for preschool pickup. 

After we pick up Lydia, we go to a playground. There are lots of nice ones in our area so we switch it up and usually go to a different one each day. It's been really sunny and mid-50s in the afternoons lately so it's perfect. We stay for an hour, at least. Luke loves being outside, exploring, climbing things, and putting rocks in his mouth, and Lydia usually finds friends to play with or rides her bike. Everyone gets their wiggles out in the sunshine without making the house messy! Win-win!

When we get home it's Lydia's nap / quiet time. We read a couple stories and then she either falls asleep or plays in her room for 1.5 hours. Luke used to nap at the same time, but he dropped his afternoon nap a few weeks ago. 

This is when I relax or start dinner or do any other project that needs to be done (order Instacart groceries? online shopping? There's always something we need to buy.) 

Eventually Lydia comes down, and she either starts an art craft at the kitchen table, or watches a show. If it's a bath day, I'll get both kids in at the same time. This is kind of unstructured time - usually we're just hanging out!

Eventually Matt gets home at 6:30 or 7. If we see him pull up, Lydia and Barkley will run out to greet him at the car. So cute. :) Luke also gets really excited when he sees Matt!

Then we eat, and he plays with the kids (this might be their favorite part of the day), I either escape to my room for some alone time finally, or start cleaning up dinner. If it's Monday we do FHE.

Finally Matt takes Luke to put him to sleep - they have the sweetest routine where Matt will rock Luke to sleep and they both love it. 

Meanwhile I put Lydia down, including bribing her into changing into pajamas (she loves making this into a game), brushing teeth, and reading stories. I really love reading with Lydia and am planning to get back into chapter books with her soon.

When the kids are finally down at 7:30 ish, Matt and I have been watching Victoria! We love it. It's SO good! I might also have a work meeting (then he'll try to come home a little earlier to hang with the kids) or catch up on extra work. 

And the next day we do it all again!!!

One day I'll look back and realize that everything has changed. But right now it feels like it's the same - same - same every day, which is great in some ways and less in others.