McKenna Pre-Toddler Summary: 13.5 Months Old

A full summary of life for this 13.5 month old. Find out what daily life was like and find a 13.5 month old sample schedule to follow.

13 month old McKenna

McKenna is almost 13.5 months old, so I am doing this a bit early, but not too much.

EATING

McKenna still eats a lot of food. I mean, a lot of food.

She loves to eat and is a great eater. She likes everything we eat, and if it goes in Daddy’s mouth, both of them think it can go in McKenna’s mouth (something I contest often, like in the case of sweets. I like to keep sweets away from my kids for a long, long time. Brayden was 18 months old before he had his first taste of candy).

Anyway, after having Kaitlyn who had reflux and understandably hated and still hates certain foods because it caused her pain, it is so nice to not worry about food at all.

Purees

I love that fruit is all around us these days. I pretty much give McKenna purees of her veggies, but give her slices of most fruits.

I still give her applesauce because she can’t eat an apple yet. And some veggies are okay to eat in my mind for non-molared children, like peas, chunks of squash, and sliced, baked yams.

Also, if carrots are cooked well, she can eat those easily. I just don’t always have those things nicely cooked for her.

With Yams, I cook it before she eats it and smash it up like mashed potatoes, but my neighbor slices them and bakes them with some seasoning to make “fries” and McKenna LOVES them like that.

>>>Read: Solids: Dropping Babyfood and Moving to “real food”

PLAYING

McKenna isn’t as messy as she was a couple of weeks ago. That phase seems to have left her for the moment.

She loves to wrestle her siblings. She will crawl over to them and suddenly pounce them like a little cat and knock them over. She laughs and laughs.

Independent play is still great and blanket time is going really well. She had a few days of testing blanket time again, but she is back to playing nicely on her blanket with me not paying much attention to her.

>>>Read: Blanket Time Full Guide

SLEEPING

Everything is still great and continuing on as usual.

STRANGERS

McKenna has come out of her stranger danger mode. She will now choose certain people who seem friendly enough and go sit on their laps at church. She is warming up to people other than mom and dad holding her.

>>>Read: How to Manage Separation Anxiety in Babies

COMMUNICATION

Often while children are learning new words, they find a word they love and they say it over and over a million times.

McKenna’s word is “Hi.” She says it constantly. During church, she loves to look at the people right behind us, say hi with her cute smile and cock of the head and stick out her hand to “shake” theirs.

She gets many “you are so cute”s throughout the day, which only brings her total joy so she does it more and more.

She will climb onto my lap, get a couple of inches from my face, and tell me ‘hi’ over and over again. She is cute and she knows it.

13.5 Month Old Schedule pinnable image

DIAPER RASH CREAM

I got some Lansinoh diaper rash ointment and it works really well on her. It is my favorite we have tried. It isn’t like Lansinoh nipple cream; the diaper cream is white but rubs in clear. I mean, this stuff is WAY better than any other we have used for McKenna.

MINI-FITS

We have had the pre-mini fits happening. She isn’t quite ready to throw the fit yet, but she is thinking about it. She sometimes starts it but I get her off of it before she gets going.

SCHEDULE

We are still on the same schedule.

McKenna is at a point where she could stay awake longer than she does and still sleep just fine, but then her sleeping would be weird and running into evening hours.

So I just keep her on the same sleeping schedule. At this age, you need to start being on the lookout for signs of readiness for dropping the morning nap since that can start at 14 months old. However, the average is 18 months old.

Also, those who start at 14 months can seldom just drop it all together. They usually need to do a situation where they have it one day, don’t the next, do for a few days, don’t one day, etc. We are nowhere near this milestone, but I thought I would point it out for those who might be.

8:30 AM–wake, eat (prunes or peaches/apricots mixed with yogurt, oatmeal, milk). This is when we do a bath (four days a week) and independent playtime.
10:30 AM–nap.
12:30 PM–wake, lunch. She then “helps” me put Brayden in rest time (which just means telling him to go) and Kaitlyn down for her nap. We then do blanket time followed by free play with me in the same room and/or outside play.
2:30 PM–nap
4:30-5:00 PM–wake, milk, solids (yellow veggie and bananas or pears). Then time with Daddy.
5:30ish PM–dinner with family. Finger foods and what we are having. Then time with family, which is typically outside these days.
7:30 PM–PJs, story, prayers, bed.

GOOD BOOKS/WEBSITES

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15 thoughts on “McKenna Pre-Toddler Summary: 13.5 Months Old”

  1. I am still so amazed at how much she sleeps. My DS (13 months) doesn't sleep near as long for naps or during the night. How do you do it?

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  2. I have a 17 month old and made all her baby food too. I still cook veggies, beans and meat in bulk for the freezer for her in case we're eating something she can't have and for lunches when I'm just having a salad. It's been a lifesaver! I just steam, bake, roast whatever it is in portion size pieces. After they've thawed or been microwaved I cut it up in bite size pieces for her. some things I've done are- meatballs, black beans, sweet potato, broccoli, carrots, and green beans.

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  3. Cernas, Hmmm….I think there are a couple of things that work into that. One is that I look at her firmly and tell her she isn't getting whatever the fit is starting about. I am structured enough at home that she knows I am serious. Her little fits don't ever acheive anything for her, so they aren't worth it to her.Another is distraction. When she starts to have a fit and I have told her now, I find something else for her to have/do. This usually works really well for children her age. She is really tenacious, so it isn't a shoe-in for her, but it at least helps her recognize I mean no.

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  4. It just blows my mind that she is only awake for two hours and then sleeps for 2 or 2.5. WOW!! My 11 mo is up for 3-3.5 hours and only sleeps for 1.5 hours. And believe me, I've tried shifting waketimes and naptimes. In fact, for the past couple weeks she has been playing in her crib during her second nap (on random days) with no sleeping at all! I think she might be preparing to drop down to one nap. Yikes!!Lynne

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  5. hi Val :)what are the signs that our baby should be ready to drop morning nap?My baby is also 13.5m and I'm going back to work when he is 16m so if there's any chance he will be having 1 nap only, I'd like to know so I can plan ahead of what's coming on his routine.He is still taking 2 naps, 1.5 hours each..and can stay up for 2-2.5 hours in the morning, 3.5 hours between nap and 5-6 hours before bedtime!!! I am worried if he drops his morning nap but only takes 1 nap for only 1.5 hour..that doesn't sound good right?

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  6. Lynne, you might find you like one nap. I actually enjoy one nap a day best. I was also thinking it would be nice to have only one nap during the summer…but alas I doubt that will happen 🙂

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  7. Novi, see the blog label "dropping naps". There are several posts on the topic. There is one on the transition of going to one nap, and then some that outline basics of dropping the morning nap.One nap at 1.5 hours wouldn't be good long-term. If the child is ready to move to one nap, naps should settle in at a minimum of 2 hours with most taking about 3 hours and some 3.5-4.

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  8. my little one is a month away from being 1 years old. he still does two naps anywhere form 1 1.2 in the am after 2 hour wake time and a 1 hour nap in the evening after a 3 hour wake time. will his WT increase at 1 years of age ? are there any sample schduels for 12 month olds

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  9. I have sample schedules for one year and up.Waketime usually changes again closer to around 14 months. You might have a couple of months of peace 🙂

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  10. Hi! My son is almost 13.5 months old. In the book it makes it sound like they will not drop a nap until at least 14 months. He has always been a great napper! Goes down immediately without a peep. We were sick a few weeks ago and he was teething but now he seems to be back to his normal self besides naps. It is stressing me out and I don't know what to do! The mornings he literally refuses to take a morning nap (will leave him in bed for at least an hour if not longer) he sometimes will be fine before lunch but even after a good afternoon nap he is so grumpy and clingy in the evening after his nap. This is totally uncharacteristic of him! He always been very happy and content. And the other days he doesn't take a morning nap he has fits even before lunch. According to the book this means he still needs two naps due to his behavior but how can I make him sleep? 🙁 thank you!

    Reply
    • Try having him go down a bit later. Also try having him get more physical activity before the morning nap. It might be a wonder week, so look that up and see what wonder week is close to his age and see if that might be the cause. See the dropping naps transition time post, too.

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