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Hi there everyone! I realized that I haven’t posted a “Josie update” here in awhile. A few people have asked me how Josie is doing nowadays, so I figured it was the perfect time to fill everybody in.
Josie is 20 months old! I can’t believe how quickly time is flying by. It feels like yesterday that she was learning to crawl. Now she is running around the house, “reading” books all day, playing pretend, and even helping clean up her toys.
Unfortunately, due to the ongoing pandemic, Josie’s annual cleft palate clinical appointment in May was cancelled. This appointment would have been with all of Josie’s specialists who continue to monitor her health and development.
Instead, we had a virtual appointment with Josie’s craniofacial surgeon and a speech language pathologist. I sent the surgeon photographs of Josie’s jaw and palate.
Believe me, taking a photo of the roof of a toddler’s mouth should be an Olympic sport!
And no, we were not torturing her in the photo below! Just making her lie still on the couch, which is clearly cause for a tantrum!
Based on my photos, her surgeon said everything looked perfect. Josie’s speech is a different story though.
At 18 months (her age at this appointment) Josie was babbling a lot but only making a few different consonant sounds such as “mama” and “gaga.” She was not saying any words consistently, although she was able to sign several words like “all done,” “more,” “milk,” “eat,” and “up.”
Now, at 20 months, Josie has not progressed much. She makes more sounds (dada, nana, caca) but still no words. She is a lot better at signing than she was just a few months ago, though! So we are planning to take her in for a speech evaluation next week. We will find out what our next steps are from there.
We were able to take Josie into her ENT’s office for a checkup. The doctor took a good look at her ear tubes and said that everything looked good there too. Thankfully, Josie has not had any ear infections since before her palate repair surgery. It definitely seems that the tubes have helped her.
Aside from her speech, Josie is truly blossoming. She is leaving all of her “baby-ness” behind and is rapidly transforming into a typical toddler. She observes everything and absorbs new information like a sponge.
I am constantly astounded at the things she notices and the connections she makes. Lately she loves to read books that are related to her own life in some way – for example, if a book has a ball on one page, she will eagerly wait for me to reach that part in the book, then run and go get her ball to show me.
Josie still loves to drink milk and is obsessed with her honey bear straw cup. I actually attempted to teach her to use a 360 cup a few weeks ago. She had a meltdown because she wanted her bear cup. Maybe we’ll try the 360 again in a few months! Silly mommy!
Josie is also becoming much more picky with her eating. I think this is pretty common among toddlers. She’s not into green vegetables so much anymore and would prefer to eat meat and fruit all day long.
Currently, Josie loves to chow down on cheese, black olives, breakfast sausage, scrambled eggs, grilled chicken, bread (especially turkey sandwiches or grilled cheese sandwiches), beets, steak, pork chops, raspberries, blueberries, Veggie Straws, Annie’s cheddar bunnies, bananas, avocado, yogurt, peanut butter, pears, and carrots.
She can eat with a fork like a pro! But give her a spoon and she’d prefer to use it as a miniature food catapult instead of an eating utensil.
She also currently has THREE molars erupting and a fourth about to push through! That could have something to do with her pickiness – although I think most of it is really just her being a toddler. It is DEFINITELY causing her to be very fussy and clingy, though, which is taking its toll on mommy and daddy too. Can’t wait for those dang teeth to come in fully so we can all chill out a little bit!
We recently bought our first home – more updates to come on that later! Our new house is very close to the park. Josie loves playing on the playground more than pretty much anything else. Unfortunately, we still have to limit our time there because it tends to get quite crowded with kids and it’s impossible to get a 1-year-old to social distance.
I can’t wait until I don’t have to worry about coronavirus so much anymore. Hopefully that day will come sooner than later. I worry about all the experiences and socializing that Josie is missing out on right now. I desperately want her to be able to run around on the playground with all those other little kids. I know Josie really wants that, too.
For now, we stay home most of the time, just like most of the rest of the world. I have been trying to make life at home more interesting for Josie with new activities, games, toy rotation, and a bit of Disney+ on occasion.
Since it’s so hot out, we love to fill up the baby pool and splash around in the cool water.
Josie is still ALL about letters, numbers, and books. Therefore we spend a good portion of our day reading. We even do an “alphabet scavenger hunt.” Basically, I tell Josie to find a letter, and she searches for that letter on the covers of daddy’s board games.
We also purchased a kitchen helper stool secondhand on Facebook Marketplace. Josie loves to stand in it and see what’s happening on the kitchen counter. I definitely recommend purchasing one if you’re the parent of a curious toddler!
I think that’s about it! How are you all faring during this crazy pandemic? I hope you are staying safe. If you have any questions about anything I didn’t address here, please leave me a comment. I’ll be sure to get back to you!
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