@ericguitarman My daughter is 15 months and I really like this phase. For me things got easier when we started sleeping better, she started walking, I stopped breastfeeding, when she dropped to one nap, and I went back to work.
(Ohh... and when I started anxiety meds)
@ericguitarman Every kid is different. Mine wasn’t too difficult as a newborn. Crawled, pulled up and walked pretty early so that was a lot to manage. Months 10-15 were absolutely brutal with frustration, teething, food refusal, screaming night wakings and self harming meltdowns. After that it got so much easier and more fun! But she potty trained and was communicating clearly/talking quite a bit at 15-16 months and doesn’t meltdown like that any more or tantrum much (2 now).
2 is just amazing. She’s so funny and talks about everything. But- she stopped napping around her 2nd birthday and doesn’t sleep well overnight still and that is it’s own challenge.
@ericguitarman With every physical milestone my kiddo got happier and less frustrated. He took steps at 9m which helped, and was confidently walking at 1yo. Now that he’s running and talking at 22m he’s heaps less frustrated and things are way more fun! Sleep has always been rubbish but improved drastically at 18m. The first year is absolute BS and I would probably have another kid if I could completely avoid it haha…
@ericguitarman I am also not a baby person, so I was super excited to get out of the infant phase. It is a very gradual process though, it's not like anything is going to change overnight when they turn one. For me, I found the 12-15 months very hard because he had the will to do more, but wasn't quite there yet so he would get frustrated. He also would not entertain himself. He finally began to walk at 15 months and I felt things got easier as now we just spend all day after him as he just wanted to explore (tiring, but more manageable). Now at 22 months, it's still hard, but it's a different kind of hard from the early months and I 100% prefer this hard. He is curious, observant, smart, and affectionate. He is a little delayed in speech, but I know he'll get there. I feel like we are close to the phase that I like, which is when we can do activities. I'm so excited for summer because now we'll be able to go outside and he'll enjoy more a water table/liitle pool.
@ericguitarman My son is 18 months. Around 9-12 was the hardest after the newborn phase. He was so needy but semi mobile and it was a rough combo. I was convinced I was just destined to hate motherhood. Since 15 months it’s been SO fun! He learns new things everyday and his little personality is so funny and sweet. It gets better!
@ericguitarman You get more in tune with each other, she learns my quirks and I learned hers. It makes the days easier. Also since being able to walk and even crawl she’s been more independent.
@ericguitarman I actually thought after 6 months (after we sleep trained) was the milestone for our lives becoming easier. Between 12-18 months, it’s gotten harder only because she is running around all over the place. (Oh and the terrible twos are smacking us in the face, both figuratively and sometimes literally…)
(Oh and the terrible twos are smacking us in the face, both figuratively and sometimes literally…)