Calling all moms!

I have an 18 month old son named Lucas. He is our first & only baby (aside from raising my niece/nephew who are older).

From the start he has been a very temperamental baby, it’s been a rollercoaster. He would cry alot for no apparent reason to us (fed,changed,etc). Fight sleep at nap time and bedtime needing all the sun moon & stars aligned to go to sleep. Woke up for hours on end at night, all of the things. Very few things calmed him however we discovered my lord and savior Moana and any Moana songs.

He’s always had a love for a few certain movies & soundtracks (trust me I know it’s frowned on but I do limit and he loves it so much). A lot of times I can play music and he will totally change temperament but this doesn’t always work.

He has always wanted to be on the go, he held his head up from the day he was born and always had a strong will. I always chalked it up to “once he can do more he’ll be happier, sit/crawl/walk etc.” While each of these milestones have helped he has an agenda of his own and will throw tantrums like no other. For example I took him to a little fair today and he became temperamental so I tried to let him run around and he just wanted to cry. It’s so hard even going out in public to the grocery store because his temperament won’t allow, he will cry and scream. I try to soothe with snacks, bottle etc but sometimes it doesn’t matter. He just cries. He loves to be outside in the yard and playing.

He’s very advanced with his strength, motor skills (climbing etc) but communication is limited. His Dr isn’t concerned as she said babies who tend to do everything themselves as active as he is tend to talk later, they can get what they want/etc. Hes very busy and plays all day. He signs for milk and more and says dada, dog, baba, wawa. He understands a lot but we have no real way of communicating aside from the few signs, we don’t truly know what he wants. We really try to teach him more signs and use miss Rachel as a learning tool. He seems to understand a lot of stuff.

I keep telling myself “it will get better when he can _____) at this point I’m telling myself once he can talk it will be better and I really do think that but worry.

We have a cruise planned for a family vacation and I’m starting to worry I won’t even be able to get through a line at the airport let alone flight/cruise. He will be 21 months when we go and I so desperately hope that these days/weeks/months we have major developments.

I know every baby is different and I can’t have too high of standards. I know a lot of people say this stage is rough especially with no communication. I just want to know if anyone who has maybe had a baby like this has any tips of what I could be doing to help him and his temperament?

Considered trying to take him somewhere daily like the grocery store etc to see if it helps him adapt to this. He does a lot better at home now but it’s his way or the highway (expected).

Thanks for reading & appreciate any tips 😩❤️❤️❤️