Summary of Month 17

Here’s what’s been going on with Kye this month!

Peek-A-Boo Bath: Kye’s new favorite game in the bathtub is peek-a-boo with the shower curtain. Here’s a video of it.

We’re still working on the swimming survival skills in the tub like we were last month too. 

Teeth: I feel like the whole month was filled with TEETHING. Yuck. Kye has never been an easy teether. He gets fussy, misbehaves more and doesn’t sleep or eat well. Kye currently has 10 teeth total!

Here are his four bottom teeth

The two middle bottom ones make me nervous b/c they are so close together and seem to get plaque build-up mega easy.

You can see the discoloration from the plaque in this picture (double click on it to make it bigger)! Any tips on what to do about it?

Here’s a pic of Kye’s 4 upper teeth and 2 top molars. They are both all the way through (which means the bottom ones are probably on their way soon boo!)

Silly Boy: Kye’s personality is really starting to shine through and I LOVE it! He’s so fun!

He has really started to realize how eyes work this month and he’ll make all these funny eye faces and does the whole if-I-close-my-eyes-you-can’t-see-me-thing.

Here’s a video of him making a goofy eye squished face (he gets fussy towards the end of it, sorry!).

He has been spending more time at Mrs. Charlotte’s since we were doing all that moving and he really loves her toys over there. Here’s a video of Kye stomping like an elephant and dancing to the songs.

While we were over there one time he went over and picked up a little Bible and starting patting it so sweetly. Come to find out they have taught him to do that in Sunday school!

Here’s a video of Kye patting his Bible like a good boy.

Couch Climbing: This month Kye has learned how to climb on the couch.

Here’s a video of him climbing up. AND he’s taught himself how to get down from the couch as well and here’s a video of him doing that.

I give Zach credit for teaching him how to get down from our bed and the couch because since he was little Zach has always said “get down like a big boy” and showed him! Yay Daddy!

He looks SO grown up in these!

Climbing, Climbing: Kye is still a climber. He’s learned how to climb on the couch and other places as well. I was in the kitchen cooking dinner and looked over and found him like this!!!

I love taking pics of all his climbing achievements as it’s pretty humorous!

Praying: We have always prayed before meals with Kye since he started eating solids. We don’t make him do some special thing during prayers, we just typically say “ok let’s say a prayer” then say it.

Lately he’s started to fold his hands during prayer which is ADORABLE and he will also do it during night-time prayers too.

He really enjoys praying and now during meals we catch him folding his hands, bowing his head, and saying a prayer randomly (of course he’s talking in Kye-tongue which we have no clue what he’s saying).

It’s hard to catch him on video praying on his own but here’s a video of how he says the prayers. If we forget to pray he has even reminded us like he did in this video at Olive Garden on our beach trip!

Fear: I feel like my child is fearless. He runs to the ocean, runs towards animals, runs towards strangers, etc, etc.

For the first time this past month I saw him be scared of something and it was RANDOM. I was in his room putting away his clothes and he was getting toys out of the closet. He picked up the toy airplane Mrs. Charlotte and I bought him in Cancun as a souvenir of his first flight and he pushed the button on top of it.

It makes sounds like an airplane at take off and he freaked out! He dropped that junk on the floor, made a little sound and ran to hug my legs! No joke!!!

It was pretty adorable and I sat down and showed him how airplanes fly and now it’s a favorite toy (and he loves looking at the sky and pointing at airplanes when we hear them pass over). It made me feel good that he wanted Mommy when he was scared 🙂

“flying” the airplane

Favorite Toys: Something I learned from Toddlerwise that I love is the idea of cycling out toys.

I actually have NEW toys from Christmas that I still haven’t opened for him. I just like to feel like he gets new things throughout the year instead of being stuck with the same old stuff or having to buy new toys (which we know Zach wouldn’t allow to happen much anyway!).

This idea has been working great and this month his two favorite toys have been ones he’s had for a long time but just didn’t know it. He has loved hammering the pegs through the holes (here’s a video) and playing with his farm set Gramma got him (here’s another video).

I love concentration face pictures

no worries, he likes the toys but he has no goals of being a farmer 😉

Boo-Boo: It’s pretty much a miracle that Crazy Boy Kye managed to make it 17 months without needing a band-aid! But this month he needed his first one.

I’m not 100% sure of how he got it but he hurt himself on the concrete in the driveway somehow and had a red scab on his pinky (you can probably notice it in several pictures from this month).

Zach got a little nervous about it so we went to put a band aid on it and realized we didn’t even have any kids ones. We found a little adult one and it worked fine but he was waaaaay too obsessed with playing with it and wouldn’t sleep so we ended up taking it off.

checkin’ it out

High-Fives: Kye is beyond obsessed with giving high-fives. He LOVES it and gives pretty hard ones! He will still do a low-five too and has even given a double-five (a tenner?).

It’s such a “boy” thing to do and I really, really like it. I love when he gives kisses too, of course, but the high-fives are just so fun.

Here is a video of Kye and Lorelai giving each other a high-five and a video of Lorelai totally straight up rejecting Kye!

Dippin’: I had an earlier post about feeding Kye bigger pieces of food and with that comes the opportunity for Kye to dip his slices into stuff.

I’m not big on condiments as I feel like if my child will eat something plain why have him start liking stuff that isn’t even good for him?

But I have used yogurt as a dipping “sauce” for his apples and he really likes it! I haven’t tried anything else yet…any healthy suggestions?

Roomtime: Ugh, it’s been a DISASTER! Since he dropped his morning nap I’ve just been struggling with it and it seems like he’s miserable for the whole thing.

I don’t really know how to make him enjoy it more and I realize that it’s not productive if he’s just screaming so I’ve started (a badddd habit) letting him have the paci during that time as it seems to help him relax and actually PLAY. Without the paci he spends the ENTIRE time standing at the baby gate or at his crib just crying.

Someday, when we move into the new house, we’ll have a playroom where he will do roomtime and I think that will help a lot b/c there won’t be a crib in there for him to sit and cry for!

The problem with giving him the paci during roomtime is that he’ll sometimes fall asleep. Hey at least he isn’t crying 🙂

Corn Boy: We’ve gone to the Smokin’ Pig a couple of times lately (when Mom visited, for Father’s Day, etc) and Kye now LOVES corn on the cob!

It’s really cute to watch him eat it and see how much he enjoys it. I know corn is a starch but it’s better for him than a lot of other foods right?

AND it keeps him very entertained and when you’re out to eat that’s really all that matters! Here’s a video of him chowin’ down on some corn at the Smokin’ Pig and another video of him eating it at home.

First time with corn on the cobb

Tall: I’m not sure of Kye’s current stats and since we don’t go to the dr. until mid-September it may be awhile before I know how tall he is but I can tell he’s for sure growing UP!

He used to be able to walk under our dining room table and clear it (we have one of those high ones) and now the top of his head hits and he has to duck.

He can also reach doorknobs and close doors (thankfully not open them) and he can reach up on his high chair from the floor AND the counters (NOT good).

I thought as a parent I’d be able to hide junk on the counters for yearrrrrs…this seems too soon for him to reach up and grab stuff.

Songs: We have started to sing a lot of songs around here and most of them we picked up from Kye’s Your Baby Can Read videos. “If your happy and you know it” is probably Kye’s favorite and he can do all three things (“hooray” is probably the toughest for him). Here’s a video of him acting it out and busting his butt on the floor (for some reason I’m “that mom” that thinks it’s hilarious when my kid falls…).

We also sing “head, shoulders, knees and toes” a LOT. He can touch all the things in the song but the song is a little too quick for him to keep up so I typically sing it in slow-motion.

I also just love tickling him so a lot of the time I tickle all the body parts in the song rather than have him point them out 🙂 Those are his two favorite songs but we’re going to be learning some more next month so he’ll add on to the favs I’m sure!

Imagination: I feel that Kye may not excel in some areas (vocabulary!) but that he does in others. He is very good at imitating things we do and also using his imagination for pretend play. He is still very much in love with hats and with NO prompting from me or copying he realized that some plastic bowls we have would make good hats 🙂

Curiosity: Something else I read in Toddlerwise was about curiosity in a toddler and how it’s important as a parent to allow them to explore those curious moments in an appropriate setting.

Kye has always had a drawer with plastic kitchen stuff in it (like the bowls above) so he can play while I cook. I threw some leftover baby water bottles I had in with his stuff and he’s always just played with them too.

Now he’s figured out how to open them and started to squeeze the water out everywhere! I thought that was a good “curious moment” to allow him to explore so I sat in him his highchair and let him go crazy.

I think Zach thought I was a little nuts for letting him do it but it’s JUST water so why not? He really enjoyed splashing…and drinking…

Talking: Kye talks constantly, but doesn’t say many words that I understand. We joke that he speaks German and here’s a video of him talking and talking.

After watching Dumbo he will say “choo choo” when he sees a train (like in this video). He will also roar like a lion but that’s really his only animal sound.

He says both “golf” and “car” and I think anyone on the street would understand him. He does say “Zeke” and “doggie” but only we can tell he’s saying it.

Also I feel like his “shoes” is probably something only we understand.

He is VERY stubborn and will NOT say something if you ask him to say it. He will not, will NOT say please (he will occasionally say “thank you” or “thanks” though).

I spent a whole day practically tearing my hair out trying to make him say “please” and he never did. He bawled his head off for over 20 min wanting something but he never would say “please.”

So I decided he must just simply not be able to say it yet and I’ve moved on and allow him to have something when he points as long as he doesn’t whine.

Since he isn’t clear with his words yet I don’t play games that require him to tell me what something is.

I work more on comprehension with him so I’ll say “hand mommy the cow” and he will and that tells me he knows what a cow is ya know?

I don’t want to put pressure on him to talk before he is really ready but at the same time I don’t want him to think he can just whine and get his way so it’s a juggling act for sure.

He will randomly say words that we recognize and often they are in the right context but I don’t know if we count him as saying a word unless he uses it on the reg? We have stopped saying “yes” when he just jabbers in his own language because I think sometimes he’s for real talking to us and we are saying “uh-huh, yes, mmmhmm” in response so he thinks he’s allowed to do whatever he’s just talked to us about or that we agree with him or whatever and I’m sure that if we understood him our response wouldn’t always be yes. So I’m trying to not just agree with him all the time 🙂

Tan Lines: I am mega hardcore about sunscreen. I know that most of the damage to our skin is done when we are children and feel that it’s my responsibility to protect Kye the best I can!

Seriously, he doesn’t go outside to play without it. Ever.

He knows it’s part of the lets-go-outside routine (followed by putting shoes on) and so he’s pretty well-behaved for it. I use Coppertone Waterbabies and feel like it works well.

If we’re outside a lot (like at the beach) then we re-apply often. So my question is…how does my kid have tan lines? Straight up farmers tan style too! Below the elbows and the back of his neck are TAN!!!

Body Parts: Kye knows most of his body parts (and the ones on others too) including: eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hair, head, belly button, shoulders, tongue, knees, hands, toes, teeth, feet, legs, arms, elbow, chin.

I think he’s about got the entire body covered huh? His favorite is still nose and eyes and whenever he’s in a little trouble he’ll point to his nose and say “nose” because he knows it’s adorable.

I think it’s funny when he messes up when I try to get him to point to everything on demand. Here’s a video of him pointing to his ears instead of eyes. This video is a little more accurate (and of course I laugh again when he falls!).

Bracelet Buddies: I know a lot of parents get hardcore when it comes to gender stuff. Their sons will never touch a baby doll or play dress up and their daughters will never touch a GIJoe or athletic equipment. I am a little that way and I think Zach is too (remember his specifications for a nursery?) but neither of us are mega hardcore about it.

Kye is home with me ALL day so naturally he wants to be like mommy…and that’s not a bad thing at all! It’s normal to admire who we’re around and I like that he copies me in the things I do.

Lately he’s been into jewelry wearing (here’s a video of him wearing some of my bracelets) and I was shocked when he took apart his set of links and put them on his arms! He did it 100% on his own and everything (here’s a video).

they even matched his outfit!

Bracelet Buddies!!!

This month I really did great on my goals from last month of spending more quality time with Kye AND creating a new schedule.

I’m devoting an entire blog entry to it so I’m not going to list it here, but I LOVE it and I really owe it all to Toddlerwise for sure so I highly recommend picking it up!

Kye is 100% adjusted to being on one nap a day and I think it’s going to soon be shorter than 3 hours.

Eventually it’ll only be two hours long but I think it’s going to take him awhile to get to that point as some days he will sleep 3 1/2 hours! For this month I want to just stick to the schedule. Now that school is back in there are less playdates and such going on so it’ll be easier to be in the routine of things. I need to get more serious on MYSELF this month.

I need to get out of my funk (I’ve been semi-depressed about this whole house situation) and start eating better and walking regularly and laying out more often. Danielle‘s wedding is like 50 something days away and I wanna be a hott bridesmaid duh!