The Zorio Family: 20 Months & A Toddler Bed!

On Friday, January 14th Dawson turn 20 months old! I know I say this every month, but I still cannot believe my baby is 20 months!! Someone recently asked me how old Dawson was and when I responded in months, they laughed and asked at what age parents stop counting age in months....I think 48 months (4 years) or 156 months (13 years) or, better yet, 216 months (18 years)! I am only kidding, but Dawson still feels like our baby, so it's easy to talk about him being 20 months rather than 1 1/2.
Who knew that the 20 month milestone would be such a big one?! In the week leading up to Dawson turning 20 months, he did several things to show us just how big he is. The first of which caused us to sadly pack the highchair away to the attic. Over couple of months we have been allowing Dawson to eat at a booster seat at the table with us, and he likes to sit at the table with us. So for the past few weeks he wants nothing to do with his highchair if we want him to sit there to eat. If I ask him where he wants to eat, he always runs to his booster. Other than putting him in his highchair when we played with dirt last weekend, we have not used it in a few weeks. We decided it was time to take it to the attic since he has outgrown it.
On Wednesday morning something happened that I knew would happen eventually, I just did not expect it to happen so soon! As you know, Dawson loves loves LOVES to climb, and I have known it would be only a matter of time before he climbed out of his crib. Well, Wednesday morning he decided the time was right, and he went up and over the edge of his crib and was free! He was thrilled at his escape and didn't get hurt at all. John and I were not so happy with our little Houdini. Now that Dawson knew how to get out, there would be nothing stopping him, and I was very worried about him getting hurt while climbing out more so than what he would do after he got out. So Wednesday night before bedtime I converted his crib to a toddler bed with Dawson's "help." He thought it was hilarious when I took the front side off of the crib, and he continued to climb in and out of his bed while I took the front pieces off and attached the pieces for the toddler conversion. At one point he even ran to the playroom, got a book, and brought it back to read in his bed!
I was very concerned that Dawson would not sleep at all knowing that he could get out of bed on his own. This concerned me even more since it was a night that John was working until not just 2am but 4am! I was wondering what I would do if Dawson wouldn't stay in his bed all night and it was just me to fight this battle with him. Thankfully, I should not have worried at all. My sweet little boy did GREAT! I put him in his bed and closed his door. He got out, yelled "Mom" and knocked at the door for a few minutes. I went in and put him back in bed and he went to sleep. Now he has been staying in and not getting out at all until he wakes up in the morning. When he does wake up in the morning, he stays in his room and knocks on the door until we let him out. With all of the sleep issues (ie not sleeping through the night until he was 13 months) we have had with Dawson, I was beyond surprised at how well this went. I love how excited he still is about his bed and that he loves to take books to his bed to read.
At 20 months (we know from his recent trip to the ER) that Dawson weighs right at 28 pounds and is still tall for his age. In fact, he is the same height as some of his friends who are 7 and 5 months older than him. It seems that Dawson is at an age where he is learning a new word a day, at least. His favorite word now is "octopus" which he pronounces "oct-pee." In his A-Z Alphabet books for "O" it says "Octopus with Oars," and this is where he learned the word. Speaking of books, Dawson still LOVES reading which makes me very happy.
One of his new favorite things is dinosaurs. He likes his pjs and shirts that have "dinos" on them, and he likes to talk about dinos saying "roar." The PBS show "Dinosaur Train" can keep his attention for about 5 minutes which is longer than anything else. We got him a Borris the Dinosaur from Target which is a character from the show and it roars and talks. He can also say Borris, but it sounds like "bo-re."
Dawson has warmed up to his Power Wheels that we got him for Christmas, and when it's not too cold we back the cars out of the garage and let him ride it in there. We also let him ride it in the house (crazy, I know, but he loves it!). So he's had time to get used to riding it, and is not afraid to push the button and ride for a minute or two.
I love to quiz Dawson at this age, and usually he likes to play along. We do quizzes about what sounds animals make (snake, dino, dog, cat, bear, bird, sheep, donkey, and many more) and about where various body parts are (nose, eyes, ears, hair, smile, teeth, mouth, tongue, belly button, arms, hands, fingers, arm pit, diaper, bottom, knees, legs, feet, toes, etc). Dawson still LOVES music and LOVES to dance. His favorite cd (other than GT and the Halo Express and Veggie Tales) is one of my old Jimmy Buffett cds which we listen to on repeat all the time since he enjoys it so much.
20 months is such a great age because Dawson understands A LOT of what we are saying and we can explain things to him like what we are doing or why he has to be patient. He is also very affectionate and loves giving kisses, hugs, and blowing kisses. His personality is starting to show more and more each day, and he has a sense of humor. He will do silly things and then look at John or me to see if we are going to laugh. When we laugh, he loves it! Sometimes John and I will be laughing about something, and he will just join in the laughter; he is such a happy boy!
I could go on and on about Dawson at 20 months, but I'll get to the good stuff...I've posted a few pictures below of Dawson with his toddler bed. Enjoy!!

Above: My sweet boy in his toddler bed!

Above: I removed the front of the bed to convert it, and Dawson

hopped right in and was very excited to find a pacifier!

Above: On his own, he ran to his books and picked
this one out (it's the one with the octopus) and brought
it to his bed to read while I was still working on assembling it.