From 1 – 2 years of age is where I really started to worry, but the doctors kept reassuring me that everything was fine.  Nicholas was never into books, bedtime stories, etc.  He was still not pointing or really waving.  He did not care if anyone left the house, the room, the planet for that matter – I thought I was getting away with not seeing any separation anxiety.  Looking back, I can see how clearly he was in a world that was all his own.  Still not responding to his name.  At the 12 month mark, we tried to introduce milk – he hated it.  He would hand the bottle right back to me.  We tried strawberry milk, chocolate milk, you name it, he hated it.  I even crushed cheerios in a blender and added the milk and that didn’t fool him either.  We tried soy, lactaid, you name it – nothing worked.  When I started mixing 1 oz milk with 7 oz formula, that did the trick, but the poor thing was so constipated all of a sudden, that it took lots of prune juice to get him to go.  I gave up and switched to the Isomil 2 toddler formula.  I spoke to the pediatrician about him possibly being lactose intolerant or allergic to the milk; he blew me off.  Big surprise there.

He did well with feeding himself with a spoon.  His favorite foods were French fries, bananas, crackers, apples.  Much of this year is a blur to me – mainly because he was always moving, getting into everything – and I felt like a prisoner in my own home.  We stopped being able to go anywhere and take him with us – it became pure torture.  (“boys are very active, this is normal” – “welcome to the terrible two’s” – everyone told me.  Yeah, thanks.)

His babbling at some point slowed down to almost non-existant.  His babbling before sounded like actually baby talk sentences – we thought any day now, he’ll talk in full sentences.  I mentioned this to the pediatrician constantly and he told me to wait it out, boys usually explode with language around 2.  When we were home and he had stuff he was interested in, he was the best child in the world.  People always remarked about how quiet he was and how nicely he was playing.

He would pull his grandparents up into his room to play, sitting each one where he wanted them to sit.  Then he would play while they sat there, never involving them in his play.  We tried and tried to change the pulling into the word, “come” – but he would just grunt and pull.
Still, no toe-walking, no flapping – nothing to be worried about said the ped, even after I flat out asked about autism.

Birth: HepB, Vitamin K and Eye antibiotics

2.5 months: prevnar 1 & hib 1 

3 months: pediarix 1 

4.5 months: prevnar 2 and hib2 

6 months: Pediarix 2

7 months: prevnar 3 & Hib 3

8.5 months: pediarix 3

12 months: flu shot

18 months: dtap 4 & MMR1

21 months: prevnar 4 & hib4

PSA to any pediatricians out there….   This statement gives parents of boys false hope that their sons don’t have any developmental delays.  Like any statement, it can be true some times and not others.  If a child does have delays, you’ve just been very successful in wasting precious time that the child could have received Early Intervention.

Another statement I’d like to add to this are:

– Boys are more active than girls  (Yeah, sometimes.  First time parents might not necessarily know what is considered “more active” or “hyperactive” and using a blank statement like this doesn’t do anyone justice.)

Have any to add to this list… drop me an email. 

He never started pointing or waving hello/goodbye.  We tried to get him to say hi and bye – and he never caught on.  I was not worried at this point because everyone said it was a boy thing to talk later.  He always played really well by himself – and not knowing any better at the time, I never intervened.  He never looked to have anyone join him in his play either.  He enjoyed the same toys children his age were playing with and his fine motor skills seemed to be advanced for his age.  He also loved to climb – we called him our little monkey because he just loved to climb.

I really wanted to stop the vaccinations completely at this point, but I did not listen to my instincts and I regret that every single day of my life.  It’s too easy for you to listen to a doctor when they tell you that he’s fine, he’s normal, he’s a typical boy, etc etc.    “Boys ___  later than girls” is one of our former pediatrician’s favorite statments.  As a parent, you’re reassured that everything is ok and you continue on with life with that reassurance – and it’s not always correct.  Trust your mommy instinct.  It’s there to protect your innocent children.

At 6 months, we started introducing baby foods in addition to his formula.  He loved all kinds of foods, applesauce, rice cereal, peas, barley cereal and peaches.  He was drinking from and holding a sippy cup at 6 months.  He stared pushing up at 7 months, said “dada” for the first time at 7 months.  He recognized his name at 7 ½ months.   Started crawling at 8.5 months and wanted to explore everything he possibly could.  He loved his baby Einstein time – he had such a ball watching it.  He even wanted to try climbing up the stairs!  He sat up from lying down at 9 months, stood alone at 10 months, took first step at 11 months and stated walking by himself at 12 months. 

Nicholas started paying attention to the TV, so we would play an occasional Baby Einstein video for him once every few days or so.  He loved them.  He would smile and coo and make noise – he really enjoyed them.  He started babbling right around 3 months.  He started drooling and teething at 3 ½ months – and started laughing at the same time.  Rolled from back to front at 5 months.  He stood up with help at 5 ½ months, although we think he could have done it sooner.