Kyle is 14 months old today! I sometimes still can't believe this sweet boy is all mine (ok, half mine). The past couple of months I've been navigating the new world of "toddler mom" - which is MUCH different than "baby mom," by the way. When Kyle was born I knew the day would come that it would no longer be just about sleeping, eating and diaper changing... but I'm not sure I was fully prepared. Yes, it's still very much about those 3 things, but they now seem to be such a small part of my day. I'm now focused on teaching Kyle about the world and how to be a "good boy," while navigating the trenches of picky eating.
It's pretty crazy how much life changes month to month. Here are some highlights of what our life is like at 14 months:
- Kyle likes to go on the front lawn and blow bubbles. My independent boy is semi-interested when I do it, but he really likes to hold the wand and "blow" them himself.
- We just finished his 1st gym class through parks & rec. He absolutely loved it and we'll be continuing the next session. When we first started he could barely crawl up the "cheese wedge," but by the last class he was walking up and down! He loves being able to do the free play and explore.
- He's learning that he needs to stay by me and hold my hand outside (a big improvement from 12 & 13 months).
- He's also learned that there's things he's not allowed to touch, like the baby monitor cord and mommy's laptop. He's usually pretty good about the laptop, although he will still come over to me when I'm working and touch the keyboard delicately with his pointer finger. I think this is one of the cutest things ever so I can't get mad at that!
- He likes to throw trash in the trash can (yes - exciting times over here).
- He is getting better at cleaning up after himself... he understands where "things go" and will put things in their correct place. It's definitely not his favorite thing to do, though.
- He loves "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" and any other book where you can lift the flap.
- He has gotten time-out a few times for things like throwing blocks at me, throwing his sippy cup off his high chair or pulling on the glass table. He understands for the most part that these are not nice things to do and will point his finger and shake his head "no" at the table when he walks by :)
- Speaking of throwing, the girls at gym class all think Kyle is going to be a baseball player. He can throw a ball across the room, and actually has pretty good aim!
- He recently started to get excited when I put on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He loves the theme song and the Hot Dog dance!
- He loves to brush his teeth. I tell him that mommy and daddy get a turn, then he's allowed to do it himself if he sits down. He's really good at sitting and brushing... for a lot longer than I'd like, haha.
- He's great at getting down steps by himself! At grandma's house, he knows he needs to sit down and scoot down the step.
- He looooves stickers and tolerates coloring.
- He sometimes moves his mouth like he wants to form words, but no words come out. He looks like a ventriloquist dummy :)
- His favorite foods are apple bites (slightly cooked), avocado, cut up cuties, peanut butter on toast, strawberries, cut up grapes, pureed carrots, yogurt, sweet potato. He's pretty good about eating his veggie purees (since he doesn't like to eat veggies as finger foods), but needs some coaxing sometimes. He does not like the texture of meat (with the exception of tuna), so I've had to be a little creative to get some protein in him. I'll scramble eggs and put them in his oatmeal, or put little bits of chicken in his veggies and he won't usually notice. I wasn't prepared for how stressful feeding a toddler can be! Luckily he likes milk so I don't have to worry about that part.
