Nineteen Months

Oh my gosh, I am the Mother to a crazy toddler!!! Kieran still remains a pretty sweet kid, but boy does he keep me on my toes. I was looking back over his milestones for the month and realized why I feel completely exhausted lately. First off the kid is non-stop during the day. He is also very curious and pretty resourceful when figuring out how to accomplish something he wants. He's moved the bathroom stool around the house to reach light switches and figured out how to open doors. He'll get big bowls out of the kitchen cupboards, flip them over, and climb on top to reach things on the counter, and uses chairs to climb on higher up spots like tables and counters. He loves climbing on the edge of Reed's bed to reach the CD player and other things on top of his bookshelf and has absolutely no fear of falling as evidenced by himself diving off of beds and chairs purposefully quite often.

On top of all of these nerve wracking things, he is growing leaps and bounds cognitively. He knows so many different body parts and can point to them and say their names. He is also picking up words left and right and starting to mimic phrases other people say. Kieran is very opinionated and will say "no not dat" over and over and until something is presented he is actually wanting. His big accomplishment this month has been going poop in the potty four different times. He is far from potty trained and a long sickness that caused a lot of stomach upset has meant that we haven't practiced for the last week. All we've done is if we notice he is acting like he needs to go we ask if he needs to go potty, if he says "yeah" then we ask if he wants to go on the toilet/potty, if he says "yeah" we take him to the bathroom sit him down and I would say 50% of the time within a minute or two he is going. If the answer is "no" to either question we don't push it and let him keep doing what he's doing. I think we'll try to keep this up and see where it takes us, maybe adding in putting him on the potty before bath time too. I won't even let myself imagine what a diaper free house would be like, but man would I be happy if it came sooner than later!!!

Monthly Statistics
Weight: 23 lbs

Height: No measurement this month

Clothing Size:  Shorts are 12-18 months but his pants that size are too short so he's rocking 18-24 month pants that he's swimming in (thank goodness it is finally warming up and I can put them away for a few months), tops and pajamas are 18-24 months, but fit him well.

Shoe size: Size 6.

Teeth: 12 - 4 top front teeth, 2 top molars, 4 bottom front teeth, and 2 bottom molars.

Kieran likes: Doing anything with Dodger, including walking him, feeding him, petting him, and giving him lots of treats. K also likes snacking, playing with bubbles, bath time, climbing up or on anything, balls, trying to play with Reed, Legos, taking naps, playing in the tent, dance parties, reading books, playing outside, tickles, his play kitchen, opening cupboards, sorting and stacking toys, playing guitar with Dad, the salad spinner, digging and playing in the dirt, Signing Time DVDs, going down slides, his quilt from Auntie Amanda that he sleeps with, his special stuffed animal Gino the Gorilla, and his pacifiers.

Kieran dislikes: Diaper changes, long car rides, having his face wiped, being held when he wants to be doing something else, being told no, watching Mom leave, and getting things taken away from him.

Food: Favorites right now are avocado, cereal, crackers, most fruits, string cheese, quinoa,  yogurt, bagels, granola bars, snap pea crisps, raisins, pretzels, fruit/veggie purees, graham crackers, hemp milk, muffins, sausage, rice, fruit bars, pancakes, and smoothies. Kieran loves meat some days and won't touch it the next and the same goes for vegetables in general. Pretty much gust a carb and fruit junkie.

Nicknames: Kier, K, K-Man, K-Bug, Bug, Kier-Bug, Bugger, Kierito, and Goldilocks.

How Kieran is sleeping: Kieran typically goes to bed between 7:30 and 8:00 pm. He gets up for good right around 6:00 am. He takes one nap, going down around 12:15 and usually sleeping 2.5  - 3 hours. He sleeps in a sleepsack, with two pacifiers (one attached to a blanket and one attached to  Perrito), a stuffed Gorilla, and with a quilt.

Communication: This month Kieran has started to sing a few of the songs he hears on Signing Time or the They Might Be Giants' Here Come the ABCs CD. He doesn't sing along when they are on, but out of nowhere will starts singing the chorus. He loves his ABCs and can pick out a few letters. He also mimics Reed counting but usually just likes to say 2 and 6. At the end of this month Kier had a nasty stomach bug that gave him diarrhea and made him vomit a lot. While this was so horrible, before the first time he got sick he lifted up his shirt pointed to his belly and said "tummy ouchie" at the time I didn't know what was going on but in hindsight I was so impressed that he had communicated so well what he was feeling in his body.

Favorite Moment: One day I watched Kieran charge down the hallway and then stop in his tracks when he reached the entry hall. The light was on and was creating a shadow. He squatted down looked at the dark figure on the ground, studied it for a minute, then took off running back toward me watching his shadow "chase" him from behind the whole way. He was genuinely scared but it was just too darn cute not to smile at. I did manage to take him over and show how I could make a shadow with my hand and that it wasn't something to be frightened of.

Milestones:
05/08/15 Kieran figures out how to scoot the bathroom stool around to turn on lights
05/11/15 He manages to open a regular height door knob
05/16/15 The Bug participates in his first race out of the womb - the Dala Horse Trot
05/16/15 First attempt at singing a song "go, go, go, for G"
05/16/15 Kier develops a fake laugh
05/17/15 The Bugger successfully poops on the potty
06/03/15 First airplane ride

Favorite Photo Shoot Outtake: