Twenty-Three Months

Kieran continues to be such a fun kid. His laugh is one of my favorite sounds in the world and sometimes I can get him to laugh just by giving him a look, clapping my hands, or saying a couple of words. We have a lot of fun together and I love the Little Boy he is becoming. I see glimpses of me in Kier too. He is stubborn and independent and will spend 30 minutes trying to figure something out rather than letting someone help him. To his credit he usually does accomplish what he sets out to learn and now demands that he get his own snacks, climb from the street to his car seat on his own, get in and buckle his booster seat at the table, wash his own hands, open and close gates and doors, and try to put on his clothes. His motto is "my do it" and you know when you hear that you better give him some room. Obviously there are times when something is dangerous for him to try to do, like cut paper with a pair of my scissors or something Reed wants to do like shut the gate after Dodger's walk and they need to take turns. This results in a tantrum and they are epic. He will flail on the ground crying, kicking, and screaming with a red flush covering his face and body. After a lot of experimenting we've found offering help right away, being told no, asking if he wants to be left alone, being told yes, and leaving him for 5 minutes is the best approach. Sometimes after that he needs more time but usually you can talk rationally with him, explain your reasoning, and get an "okay" and he's off to his next thing.

I don't really like to call it potty training because at this point we are doing nothing to train him except asking him to try to go before nap and bedtime. Other than that if he wants to try we say yes and if he goes in his diaper we change him and say nothing. I have a feeling this will be a long process but maybe after his Birthday I'll bite the bullet and try the three day no pants/diaper method and see what happens. One of the more curious things with the whole potty thing is that Kieran hates the idea of training pants even though he would be able to take them on and off himself. I've even brought up underwear but he wants his diaper still at this point. What's funny is that about every other day he decides that on top of his diaper and clothes he needs a swim diaper and swim trunks. I have no idea where this came from and he doesn't want to go swimming at all, just walk around and play in this ridiculous get-up. It got so bad the other night we let him sleep in the ensemble knowing asking him to take them off would have created a major breakdown.

Monthly Statistics

Weight: 25 lbs

Height: Didn't attempt this month

Clothing Size:  Shorts are 12-18 months and 18-24 months, I'm a little worried about the pant situation as we approach fall because 12-18 month pants are way too short but a lot of the 18-24 month and 2T pants are swimming on him.

Shoe size: Size 7

Teeth: 16, still waiting for those last four molars to show up.

Kieran likes: Doing anything with Dodger, snacking, playing with bubbles, bath time, climbing up or on anything, balls, trying to play with Reed, Legos, playing in the tent, dance parties, reading books, playing outside, tickles, his play kitchen, making silly faces with Dad, digging and playing in the dirt, doing "airplane" with Mom, hanging out with Lyla, going down slides, looking at pictures on my phone or that hang around the house, his special stuffed animals Gino the Gorilla and Max the Monkey.

Kieran dislikes: Diaper changes, being told no, and not being allowed to do things for himself.

Food: Kieran loves fruit and all carbs, he tolerates meat and some vegetables.

Nicknames: Kier, K, K-Bug, Bug, Bugger, Kierito, and Bug-a-boo.

Favorite Color: Yellow

How Kieran is sleeping: Kieran typically goes to bed between 7:30 and 8:00 pm. After a long month of early wake-ups he's finally making it until around 6:00 am most mornings. He takes one nap, going down between 12:30 and 1:00 and usually sleeping 2 - 3 hours. He sleeps on a mattress on the floor with a couple of cuddly guys, usually a few books, and a sound machine.

Communication: Kieran is really stringing words together now and will tell us full stories. The other night I was changing his diaper and he requested I put his swim diaper on then he told me "swim diaper, kick kick kick, swimming with Morgan (Reed's swim teacher)." It's really fun to see what he gets excited about and how he communicates it to us. He says "good morning Dodger" every morning and will say "I can do that" if we ask him to do something. He also loves to sing along with parts of songs he knows.

Favorite Moment:
When I tuck the boys in at night I usually say "I love you so, so much." Apparently one night I told Kieran "I love you" and started to walk out of the room. He called after me "so, so much?" It really choked me up that he was so aware of those words and what they meant to him. Now every night we say it together and it means so much to me.

Milestones:
09/27/15 Kieran gets his haircut by a professional for the first time
09/27/15 After working our way through most tree nuts, and with an epi-pen close by Kieran tried peanuts for the first time and thank goodness had no reaction.
10/02/15 Kier has his first public tantrum - flailing on the ground outside of Reed's school and then kicking and screaming while I tried unsuccessfully to put him in his car seat.

Favorite Photo Shoot Outtake: Kieran is a little obsessed with Jon's hair gel and tries to sneak into the bathroom and put a huge handful in his hair whenever he has the chance. This means I'm usually left scraping his hair clean as much as I can and trying to brush it into some reasonable do, this rarely is successful, but the aftermath is always pretty amazing to look at!