I cannot believe how amazing being a mother is, I just FRICKIN love it!! I absolutely love the stage that Leo is at right now, I heard you tend to love every stage but I think so far, this one is my favourite as he is like a little sponge right now and we are having so much fun watching him learn, grow, and develop, day by day!
First of all, I’m loving how much his vocabulary is progressing and how much he LOVES books! Every night before bed he says “book, book, book” and he grabs one of his favourite books and we read it to him, when we reach the end of one book he says “all done” then puts the book away and grabs another! Before he goes to bed we will have read him around 3-8 books … we could honestly sit there and read him 14 books and it wouldn’t be enough. LOL!!
There are a few books that are his favourites right now and one of them is “Up, Up, Down” by Robert Munsch and to be completely honest, it’s my LEAST favourite … LOL!! Have any parents out there hid one of your child’s favourite books so you can get a break from it?? Asking for a friend … lol. But in all seriousness, this is the one book he can’t go without each night … he’s even starting reciting pieces of the book throughout the day! For example, when he’s climbing something, I tell him “Leo, don’t climb” and he will respond with “ouch ouch ouch” which is a line in the book! LOL!!
So I mean, even though I don’t LOVE the book, it’s obviously teaching him some things so I suppose we will keep it around … LOL! A few more of his fave books include:
- Be Our Guest (This was gifted to us by Kristy Wicks and he LOVES the images!)
- Because I’m Your Dad
- The First 100 Box Set (He loves pointing things out in these books, like the animals!)
- B is for Bear (Shay bought this for him when he was born!)
- The Gruffalo’s Child (He is too young for this book but he still can’t get enough of it!)
- Little Owl Lost
At this stage, Leo is also understanding almost everything even though he can’t fully speak! He’s starting to use more and more words and I believe he is up to at least 30 words now (however, he still can’t say Nacho … maybe it’s because of their love/hate relationship?? ?). He’s also repeating almost EVERYTHING we say which is cute but I tend to have a potty mouth which includes some (not so cute!) 4 letter words … thankfully he hasn’t repeated any of those yet! However, I’ve noticed that I have a bad habit of saying “oh god, oh god, oh god” if something breaks or spills and Leo has picked up on this! ? Whenever he is trying to put on his shoe or if he is struggling with something, he will say “oh god” … so I’ve started trying to get him to say “oh gosh” instead. It’s a work in progress to say the least. We have also taught him to use the word “help” so whenever he gets into a situation that he knows he can’t tackle on his own, he asks for a helping hand!
We also believe that it’s important to teach Leo confidence as well and to encourage him to try new things. I think it’s so great to teach kids that they are more than just “cute” but that they are strong and kind too! We have these great little affirmation cards from Love Powered Co that are perfect for helping your little one recognize that they are courageous, loved, and so much more!
Leo has always loved music and recently he has been infatuated with the Baby Shark song … which I’m sure MANY of you have had stuck in your heads, thanks to my Insta stories! LOL! Can we all agree that it’s slightly addicting though?? When Leo was first born, up until now, I’ve always sung “You Are My Sunshine” to him and now that he has learned some more words, he is able to sing a few words with me and finish it off … it’s the cutest thing ever!
I know this is a controversial topic and everyone frowns upon TV time – before Leo, I would tell myself “I will NEVER let my kid watch TV or play with my phone” HAHAHHA … ok, Jill… You know what, sometimes I feel a bit guilty but I KNOW that I’m a good mom … there’s lots of balance in our home and we aim to give Leo as much “real” learning time as possible … but when it boils down to it and you just need to get shit done, sometimes this comes in handy!
One thing that we have been struggling with lately is the fact that he is territorial of his things and he doesn’t like to share … which should prove to be interesting when we have our second babe! Currently, he’s not the nicest to his baby cousin, Hayden, when it comes to play time. We’ve been trying to teach him how to take turns, give Hayden hugs… and he is getting better but he still needs some work! At the moment he will just say his name and go grab the toy without waiting for approval to get it.
Up until now, he has never had a “favourite” toy … in fact, he doesn’t really love toys (unless Hayden, his coursin, has them! LOL!), typically he would prefer to be outside digging in the garden or hanging out in his helping tower in the kitchen and “cooking” … aka making a huge mess … but I would rather him happy and making a mess than tugging on me! Anyway, back to my point, he has never been one of those kids who has had one special material item but I’ve noticed in the last few weeks that he likes holding on to his stuffed bunny and he carries it around with him and tries to give him some milk. It’s pretty cute watching him take care and nurture something.
I could go on and on forever because there is so much to talk about at this stage but if I were to leave you with one piece of advice from everything I have learned so far as a parent, I would say to slow down, enjoy, and be present. Even though our lives are always on the go and a bit crazy at times, some of my favourite moments with Leo are the times when we snuggle up and read a book or when we’re getting covered in dirt in the garden.
If you were to offer one piece of advice to a new parent, what would it be?? Make sure to comment below!
xo
Jilly
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