Summary of Month 21

Does it just feel like I wrote a monthly post? I guess because I did! At least I’m catching up, I’m proud of myself 🙂

Words:

Kye says everything he did last month and has added the following words to his vocabulary:

moon, Woody and Buzz (remember this video?), “happy” (sings it like in the song “happy birthday” but it’s the only word he sings, here’s a video attempt to get him to say it but he just ended up saying “bye bye” instead), ice, dance, goodness, what that and what this (constantly asking “what that” or “what this”),

mama (for both Gramma and G-Mama, here’s a video of Kye showing off his naming skills), hush doggie, watch, beep beep, baby (whenever we hear one crying in public he acts very concerned saying “baby” over and over), words (meaning Your Baby Can Read movie), puffs, cookie, apple, and chew

Understanding:

Along with being able to communicate his needs better to us, Kye is also very aware of the things we do and say and can respond appropriately when asked a question.

I can ask if he wants something and he will tell me either no ma’am (which he says “no me”) or yes ma’am (which is says by nodding his head).

It’s SO wonderful to be able to communicate with him!!!

When he’s upset and I can get to the bottom of why it is much easier to help him fulfill his needs (or easier to tell him that he isn’t going to get whatever it is he’s wanting).  

Big Boy Seat:

As I mentioned last month, Kye’s very “big boy” now.

Once the potty training started, the high chair was for “baby.”

He enjoyed just sitting on a seat cushion until the booster seat arrived. (yes, he still loves Magic Breakfast!)

 First time eating as a family at the table together!

 Yes, this is how I normally look around the house on a typical day.

No makeup. And yes, that’s an Olympic Day t-shirt from Richard’s Middle School.

Isn’t my husband so lucky to come home to me each night? haha

We got a Babysmart Cooshee Booster Seat and we LOVE it!

Kye can climb up to it on his own without any issues and it wipes clean mega easy.

“Terrible Twos”:

I hate that saying. …But it’s true. And it’s arrived in the Parker Household!

Kye has become so whiney and pitches fits on the reg.

He doesn’t scream and yell really…he will just thrash around on the floor crying.

Then he’ll beg for you to pick him up and he’ll want to be carried around the house, pointing at a million different things he wants (yet isn’t allowed to have).

I don’t have much patience for this type of behavior so I typically won’t pick him up and do the walk around thing so he pitches a bigger fit on the ground.

Zach will discipline him for this whereas I feel like he needs to get out those emotions and that as long as he’s not hurting himself, his property, or someone else who cares if he rolls around on the ground crying?

I will ignore it and it’ll sometimes last up to 45 min. No joke! Typically the fits start because he got frustrated with something he was working on or doing.

Most of the time they end by me doing something else to get his attention or putting him in his crib to rest.

I try to hold him and help him calm down but it doesn’t usually work!

Another “terrible two” type behavior is testing his limits.

He will do something, knowing he isn’t allowed to do it, just to see my reaction.

For example as he was sitting at the table he looked at me and held his water sippy out in the air.

I told him that if he chose to drop it that he’d get disciplined and as he looked right at me he dropped it.

It’s a true test of my parenting and NOW is when being CONSISTENT is so, so vital. I love that I tell him “if you blank you will get disciplined, say yet ma’am” because then I don’t feel the least bit of guilt disciplining him.

He knew it was coming and he made the choice to do that thing anyway!

testing me by touching the keyboard

 testing me by playing as close to the street as possible

Sweet Moments:

ALL my life I’ve loved it when people play with my hair.

In Elementary school I had long, pretty blond hair and other girls enjoyed playing with it during movie times and such and I LOVED it.

My brother would also sometimes play with it and I would always get kids I babysat for to do it for me too.

Since I got pregnant I’ve been SO excited for my child to reach a age when they can play with my hair.

Of course I have a son so I know this stage won’t be long lasting, but Kye started to play with my hair this month! I let him use a brush, comb, etc and he played and played. I was in HEAVEN!!!

He’s also been sweeter in other areas too.

He likes for me to sit with him and watch his movie and he will cuddle up with me. I LOVE it.

And when he gets hurt he comes RUNNING to me for a hug! And he has started to pucker his lips when we kiss (and he also does it when he has other things kiss which is cute). It makes those kisses even sweeter 🙂 

Congratulating self:

Kye thinks he’s awesome. If you pass a mirror, he’ll smile at himself. If he does something he thinks is great, he will clap for himself and say “yay!” He is SO his father’s child…

He will say “Kye” a lot when he wants to be included in things and will say “ME!!!!” when asked a question (such as in this video and this video too where he’s a little more enthusiastic about answering when asked “who loves mommy?”)

Strong Man:

Kye has always been strong.

He could hold his head up on his own at birth and since then we’ve always been impressed by his strength (well, actually, other people have…he’s my only kid so to me he’s normal but I guess to others he’s stronger than the norm!).

For Christmas I got Zach quite a large, heavy gift and Kye enjoyed pushing it around the dining room, showing off his strength for Gramma and me!

 maybe he can help us out on moving day???

Dancing: 

Gramma has taught her little boy how to boogie down!

He LOVES LOVES LOVES to dance and the new nightly ritual is for him to dance naked after his bath and before he goes to bed.

He will remind us if we “forget” about the dance time and it’s hard not to take a thousand videos of it so here are a few of the many: video 1, video 2, video 3.

And he also dances in the car to music, in this video he was noddin’ that head to “bottoms up” and I think it’s funny that he quit dancing at all when that dumb Nikki chick was singing haha.

Kye’s favorite toy:

This month Kye’s favorite toys have been his Mega Blocks sets.

He LOVES them and plays with them non-stop all day long.

He has had the fire truck out since Sept and has had the construction guy one out to play with since last Christmas but he just started to play with them together and they are his bffs right now.

Gramma helped name the fireman (Freddy) and his dog (Spot) but Kye named the construction guy all on his own.

And guess his name??? KYE. What a shocker. If you tell him to go find Kye he knows exactly who you mean too! Here’s a video of Kye playing (I spied on him!).

 I catch him cracking up with his friends on the reg

 Kye giving Kye kisses

 when he’s done playing they are typically left in their driving seats, facing forward, with the trucks lined up beside each other

 He even likes to bring his friends to dinner with him (here’s a video)

 making Kye and Freddy kiss (which at this age is totally appropriate…if he is 15 and still doing this then we’ll talk)

 eating Spot for lunch?

 silly, silly boy

Singing:

I already mentioned that Kye can “sing” “happy birthday” but his favorite song is “I Believe I Can Fly” by R Kelly.

I live with two crazy people (being Mom and Zach, Kye and I are the normal ones!) and they were going around singing that song for some reason and Kye picked up on it.

It cracked us all UP!

He caught on that we thought it was funny and so he’ll sing it at random times to get a laugh out of us.

I’ve even heard him sing it in his crib during nap time all by himself. Here’s a video of him singing it (and a bonus video too of it!).

Dress up:

I have SUCH great memories of Brandon and I dressing up as kids and I want for my children to enjoy playing dress up as well.

For Christmas Kye might be getting a TON of dress up stuff (thank you after Halloween deals!) and I can’t wait to see all the fun he’ll have!

I did find a teacher dress up set at one of the used kids sales so I tested it out to see how he’ll like it…and score, he had fun 🙂

 being bossy

 he’d be that hott teacher every girl crushes on 😉

 Kye also LOVES to play with my sunglasses for dress up 🙂

 and Gramma got him his own goggles too

 Mommy still loves to play dress up, it never gets old 😉

Prayers:

We’ve prayed with Kye from birth and I’ve enjoyed seeing him develop in the area of his prayer life.

Recently I put him down for bed and said our prayers together then when I put him in the crib he put his hands together and wanted me to pray some more.

Then another day I put him down for his nap and he wanted to pray! All on his own he folded his hands, bowed his head, and mumbled a little prayer then said “amen!” It was the most proud moment I’ve had so far as a mommy. SO precious!!!

He gets embarrassed about saying his prayers so I never force it but I love to watch him talk to Jesus!

Bath fun:

Kye is still really enjoying bubbles in his bath and is getting more and more playful with his toys.

He doesn’t really interact with me at all during bath time, he is too focused lining up all his toys, making them talk to each other, and kiss each other!

Here’s a video of him playing in the tub and letting you know what Santa says 🙂

 making sure they all face the “right way”

 kissing ducks!

Dog Crates:

Kye’s “job” is to always lock up the dogs and give them their treats before we leave to go somewhere.

He’s passionate about his work and now enjoys playing with the crates non-stop. Thankfully in the new house the crates will be stored in a cabinet so he can’t get to them because he likes to climb in them and get stuck and completely take them apart.

 Notice who he put in the crate beside him! He says “Kye go bye bye” and then climbs in haha

TV:

Having a child who isn’t allowed to watch TV at home is great.

He doesn’t know all the tv characters so when we go places he isn’t asking for every toy under the sun.

He also is enthralled with tv so when we are in situations where we “need” him to be distracted, the tv is great!

Like when we go visit people who don’t have any children (here he’s at Aunt Karen and Barry’s house) or when we are stuck in a hotel room all day like we were over Thanksgiving (here’s a video of him begging to watch Cars…how could I not give in????)

 he will zone out in front of his YBCR movies too!

Cars:

Kye still enjoys playing with his toy cars and I don’t see this love going anywhere anytime soon. Do you like how I covered the coach with sheets just in case he has a potty accident?

Did you also notice how in almost all these pictures he doesn’t have pants on? Welcome to the world of a potty training toddler!

Night-Night:

Time change transitions are tttttttough with a child on a schedule.

It takes him WEEKS to get adjusted (did you know it’s actually bad for our health that we switch the time? Anyone on board to boycott it?). I can’t stand it!!!

Since the switch Kye’s been wanting to be in his crib more and more.

He does not like to get up in the mornings and we’ve gone from a 7:15 wake up time to closer to 8 now!

And naps? He goes down at 12:45 and often won’t let me get him up from the nap until 5!!! (here’s a video of him just in his crib talking, you can’t see the image but you can hear how much fun he has!) He will be ASLEEP solid that long at times too!!!

Then he still goes back to bed with no issues at 7:30 that night. Crazy huh?!?!

And when he is awake he wants to spend more time in his crib.

I think we’re going to have a tough time transitioning him to a big boy bed and getting rid of the paci. Gah I’m dreading it! Here’s a video of Kye enjoying his crib.

Zeke:

I mentioned last month that I wish I had a picture of Kye and Zeke and I made sure to take one this month!

They were cuddled up on the couch together watching Kye’s video. Is this not precious? Zeke is SO SO sweet and patient with Kye and I love him more for it 🙂

Colors:

I’ve been starting to work with Kye more on his colors and will always tell him what color things are. While he doesn’t name off colors, he can recognize them and if I say “hand me the red block” he typically will.

I think being around all the paint swatches is helping 🙂 Our new house is colorful enough where he could learn all the colors just by walking around in it right? haha

Personality:

This age has it’s negatives, like the “terrible twos” issues, but it really is so neat to see his personality continue to grow and evolve.

He does the silliest things and has his own little quirks.

He’s decided that he doesn’t like sunflower seeds anymore but I have already had many mixes made for his snack cups (I make a bunch of them and store them in little tupperware then just dump it in the cup and go…I put puffs, cheerios, raisins, pretzels, goldfish, dried fruit, and nuts) so it’s funny to watch him eat from the cup and see him eat a bite then throw the sunflower seed on the ground.

laying down looking at his unwanted treats

 He’s also started to be silly with his clothes and will purposefully put his arm through the head hole and walk around like this!

And since I’ve let him run around pants-free he now gets annoyed when I make him wear pants, oops!

Eating:

Speaking of Kye’s pickier eating habits, I’m over it.

I quit doing the one-bite-then-you-can-have-something-else thing and I just don’t give in.

He can eat what he has on his plate or he doesn’t have to eat.

I leave the plate sitting out until the next meal time and if he’s hungry he can eat that food anytime he wants.

This plan has worked well as he will be so hungry at breakfast that he scarfs DOWN on the magic breakfast creation that is PACKED with nutrients!

I don’t worry about him starving as if he’s hungry enough he’ll eat what is served!

The child will sit by the fridge and beg for a hot dog.

He LOVES them and would eat them every meal if I let him (guess what? I don’t!) but here’s a video of him wanting more hot dog.

Other Videos:

Here’s some extra videos that I took this month that just didn’t fit in an area above.

Here’s a video of Kye pointing out his body parts.

A video of Kye and I playing in the closet. A video of Kye going over animal sounds and a funny video where Kye lets me know that he’s totally ignoring me! Plus a cute bonus picture to enjoy!