I’ve decided to continue to monthly update trend for at least the next year until the individual months stop counting! Here’s what’s been going on with Kye the first month of his 2nd year!
Stroller: Now that the weather is nicer we have started back to our morning walks. I LOVE this time and enjoy that Zach has started going with us most mornings as well. I’ve noticed that Kye has started putting one foot up while in the stroller. It’s pretty cute. When Mom was here she said that she used to do the same thing as a girl! Must be a family thing 😉
First “Chore”: Zach and I both really want our children to be independent and feel it’s important for them to contribute to our home in order to help fosture that indendence. This month I’ve started working with Kye on what will be one of his “chores.” We keep our dogs in small crates whenever we leave the house so Kye will be in charge of locking them up before we leave to go somewhere! He really enjoys holding their treats and has an understanding of handing them their bone before I shut them in. Yes, it takes quite a bit of extra time to get out the door but I think it’s important to teach him to help out with responsibilities. Kye loves this task and has become obsessed with the dog crates…although this was a first for sure (what kind of parent am I that my kid gets stuck and I grab a camera?!?)
locking Levi up
testing it out for himself…
and getting stuck! lesson learned!
Sippy with Teeth: Kye has started holding the sippy cup and drinking from it with no hands. It’s pretty humurous and so funny how quickly things change! Just a couple months ago we were trying to get him to hold the sippy and drink from it and now he’s a pro! I tried to get a good picture of it, but it’s kinda tough to catch. Here’s my attempt!
Clapping: I’ve never really worked with Kye much on little hand skills…I leave that for the grandparents haha! Mr. Rusty takes the credit for teaching Kye “bye-bye” and Mrs. Charlotte gets it for clapping! While at the wedding she taught him patty-cake and he took to it right away! Here is a video of his first time clapping and another video at his skills now. For awhile he’d clap all the time. He’d crawl a little bit, stop, look at you and clap then crawl a little more, stop, and clap some more! Too cute!
Faucet: I love that you can really see Kye age through his abilities with the faucet in our tub haha! Last month the big thing was that he liked for me to get him water on the spoon to drink from the faucet and this month he can now reach his own hands in the water!!! BTW I’m always careful to make sure the cold water is running so if he turns on the hot water he won’t get burned 🙂 He loves doing this and I love that it keeps him busy while I get ready!
Hand Signals: Kye has gotten very good at several of the hand signals from his Your Baby Can Read
video, books, and flashcards. I don’t really know if he’s reading the words or not but the hand signals are fun! I tried and tried and TRIED to get a good video of him doing them all in order…it was tough! Here’s a video of them all other than bye-bye, one of him doing all of them, and another of him doing them all! Here’s another video of him doing them while reading his book before his nap! He was a good sport but he did get a brain-overload and this video makes me laugh 🙂
Water cups: Stacking cups
are a GREAT toy! In the bath Kye loves to pour water in and out of them and he’s started to drink it too. Zach cracks up at this as it’s pretty gross that he enjoys drinking his own dirty bath water haha. Here’s a video!
Brushing Teeth: I really have the routine down of brushing his teeth twice a day (which was a goal for the year so yay me!). He does well with it and it’s so cute how yummy he thinks the toothpaste is. Here is a video of brushing his teeth in the morning time!
Piggy Back: Kye can now get piggy back rides from Daddy! I know if I was a kid it’d scare me to be up that high but Kye loves it. Of course it’s tough for Zach to do it in the house because Kye would hit most of our ceilings haha
Frustrated: Kye has a little temper issue and gets frustrated with things rather easily. I feel like right now the best way to handle it is to let him work it out on his own. I will also ask him if he’d like some help if I can tell he’s just struggling with something that he’s not old enough to do on his own yet. I was taking a cute video of him playing with this tractor and it turned into a video as a good example of his frustration!
Bubbles: For the first time Zach used a little of Kye’s body wash to make some bubbles in the tub! He was a little freaked out at first but did enjoy hiding things under the bubbles so you couldn’t see them. Here’s a video of Kye saying bubbles while playing in his first bubble bath! (We won’t be doing this often as bubble baths actually aren’t good for the skin!)
Silly in the Crib: This month we have really cracked down on the paci (post to come!) and Kye has found more enjoyment in his crib. He really loves it which is a testament to Babywise 
for sure! Even during his awake time he’ll often ask to go in his crib to play. He is so silly crawling around all over the place and giggling. He’ll sometimes stay in his crib playing long after his nap is over! Here is a video of my silly crib loving boy.
Bending Over: Kye is really mastering his standing up abilities and he can bend all the way down and back up without holding on to anything. While I think he probably could have been doing this awhile ago, I think he likes the comfort of having something to hold on to…and that’s fine! Here’s some pics of him doing this on his own 🙂
Tag: It seems like Kye has always become attached to things that are very small and not what I’d consider very cool. He LOVED (and still does) his yellow link remember? This past month his big thing that he loved was a tag from his drum toy. He wanted that thing every time he was out of the crib! He chewed on it so much that the nasty cardboard started to fall apart and I was finally able to toss it!
Lights: Since birth Kye has always loved lights. He would just stare and stare at them as an infant and as a toddler he loves to say “lights,” point to them, and turn them on and off. Here is a video of him turning them on and off in his room as well as a video showing off his knowledge of where lights are!
Running: No, Kye is not walking yet but man can he go! He now loves to push his Tonka Truck
that Gramma got him! He goes and goes and goes and I’m so glad that he’s finding joy in being able to walk! Here’s a video of him pushing the truck! Gah he’s getting SO OLD!!!
Coloring: One of my goals as a parent is to raise a well-adjusted, independent, well-behaved child. I feel that during the years I am home with him it is important to prepare him for school (there is a post to come on this belief!). One of the things we’ve started doing together is coloring. I bought some jumbo crayons
and some stamps
and let him try it out! I was surprised that he actually kinda got the concept. Of course we’re still working on keeping the crayons out of the mouth but it’s a work in progress! I bought some Tadoodles Crayons
that are supposed to be easier for him to hold (and harder to eat) so we’re going to try those out this month and see! Btw I don’t plan to keep every piece of artwork that my child makes…I read of an idea where you just have the kid hold up the artwork and you take a picture of them with their picture then toss the actual art (other than a couple to keep or display or whatever). I think it’s a great plan to minimize clutter but still keep the memory! I am keeping his FIRST ever picture though 😉
Independent Playtime: As I mentioned in an earlier post, Kye’s independent playtime has been kinda suffering lately since he hasn’t been feeling so great. When times were better with it though I realized I can no longer leave the pack and play right next to my front foyer table!!! He can now reach the lamp and pull it down haha. It is funny though to watch him because he will stack his little toys up on the table while he’s playing which is cute!
Talking: I think the biggest change in Kye when he turned one has been that he talks SO MUCH. Seriously, the kid never stops talking. I love hearing his little voice and his little gibberish sentences. Zach always jokes with people that he speaks fluent German and it sure does sound like it! While he still does mostly just speak his own language we can understand him better and better each day. He says clearly: lights, bye-bye, baby, duck, dada, mama, more, please, thanks (or thank you), car, zeke, dog, shoes, good, toes, bubbles and outside. Here is a video of his favorite word of the moment, car!
Tops: Kye is such a boy! He’s very into how things work and taking things apart then putting them back together. This month the big thing was taking tops off stuff and putting them back on. My mom was pretty impressed with this little skill as it does take a LOT of concentration! He’s figured out in my bathroom that he can’t open the drawers (baby proof latches) but that he can fit his hand in and take some of the bottles and such out. He got a hold of this hairspray and had a blast with it. I didn’t let him put it in his mouth, but I did enjoy watching him take off the top. put it back on then spin 90 degrees and do it again then spin another 90 degrees and do it again over and over. So silly! Here is a video of his new found skill!
Clothes: I’m proud of myself!!! If you’ve noticed my child is dressed in the majority of pictures and videos! It only took me 13 months but whatever 🙂 Our new routine is that right when he gets up in the morning Daddy puts him in a t-shirt before breakfast then I put on his pants either before our walk or before nap. He sleeps and plays in the same clothes all day and then we change him before leaving to go somewhere. If I know I’m going somewhere then sometimes he’ll sleep in his cute outfit in order for him to be ready to go when he wakes up. I guess I was just always afraid of having him sleep in his clothes. The times I tried it in the past he didn’t nap as well so I always avoided it but now he’s fine with it! So I actually went out and bought play clothes for him to wear all day on the days we don’t go anywhere. Aren’t you proud?!?! I know my mom is! haha!
Having a toddler is a really fun experience (so far!)!!! I LOVE seeing how fast he changes each day and seems to be literally growing up before my very eyes. This month has had its challenges though and I’ve done a little tweaking to the schedule. I hope by next month to have a more clear-cut schedule including more structured activities during his awake times but here’s what we did during his 13th month!
7:15: up, new diaper, dressed, breakfast (milk and usually oatmeal mix which I will post on soon!), brush teeth, vitamins
after breakfast: video time
after video: walk
9:00-9:15: new diaper if needed, Your Baby Can Read book, nap
11:00: up from nap, new diaper (usually pooped), lunch (rest of milk from breakfast and solids)
after lunch: independent playtime (40 min if he will stay in that long)
after independent playtime: free time
1:00: new diaper if needed, Your Baby Can Read book, nap
3:00: up from nap, new diaper (usually pooped) snack (water in sippy and some finger foods)
after snack (or during) may have independent playtime part II if didn’t last 40 min earlier
in the afternoon we typically play outside and stay active or run errands
5:00: daddy home, his time with Kye until dinner
6:00: dinner (milk and whatever we are eating)
6:30ish: bath time, brush teeth
7:00: out of bath, lotion, playtime as a family
7:15: pjs on, story with daddy, prayers and in bed for the night!
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