And So It Begins . . .

Kieran is twenty months now, which seems crazy!!! We have so much fun together and have lots of inside jokes and activities but man is this kid a handful. His climbing has reached new heights (pun intended) this month. He's managed to get on pretty much every counter and table, uses cabinet knobs to scale drawers, he can also get on top of the play kitchen, and has recently been attempting any bookcase he runs in to. As if that's not enough, much to our horror, he figured out how to climb out of his crib this month. He was doing swan dives off of the top rail and after 24 hours of trying to figure out how to stop him we realized he was only going to take anything we did as a challenge and figure out how to get around it. So we gave up, bought a twin mattress, and he's been sleeping on it on the floor ever since. Around the same time he figured out the crib he also figured out how to open door knobs (not pulls, regular knobs at regular height). The combination was brutal and meant he would go running through the house at any given hour opening doors and running into any closet or room he felt like. The solution we've come up with is to lock his bedroom door when he goes to bed. He tries to get out for a minute, gives up, and goes back to bed. I unlock the door before I go to bed and unless we have a problem in the middle of the night it remains unlocked. It feels pretty strange to lock a toddler in his room, but it's working so we are going to stick with it until he figures out how to unlock it on his own!

The other big event for the month was getting rid of his pacifier. I'd slowly been cutting tiny holes in it each week and one day he decided he just didn't need it anymore. This would have been awesome but it was on our flight to Washington which meant his ears really suffered during the landings and also having something to soothe him during the long nights would have been great. All in all though, I'm so happy to be done with it, and all pacifiers have officially been removed from the house!!!

I think the thing with Kieran is that if he decides he's going to do something he just does it, or works at it until he can do it. He wants to sleep in a big boy bed - done, he doesn't need a pacifier anymore - done, he doesn't want to use a sleep sack anymore - done, he wants to sit at the table and not use the tray with his booster - done. It's kind of awesome when I think about it, as long as he uses this power for good not evil that is. I'm really hoping potty training follows suit and he just decides one day that he's done with diapers!!! One can hope right?

Monthly Statistics

Weight: 24 lbs

Height: No measurement this month

Clothing Size: Shorts are 12-18 months while tops and pajamas are 18-24 months.

Shoe size: Size 6, but they are getting a bit snug

Teeth: 15 - His canine teeth have finally started to come in! He has one on top that is fully in and two on the bottom that are just poking through but I'm counting them - 4 top front teeth, 1 top canine tooth, 2 top molars, 4 bottom front teeth, 2 bottom canine teeth, and 2 bottom molars.

Kieran likes: Doing anything with Dodger, including walking him, feeding him, petting him, and giving him lots of treats. He also loves our new kitty "Sneakers" and is constantly obsessed with going outside to see him and throw balls for him. K likes 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, 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, looking at pictures on my phone, his special stuffed animals Gino the Gorilla and Max the Monkey.

Kieran dislikes: Diaper changes, long car rides, having the car seat strap touch his neck, 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, 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, deli turkey, 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. Since moving to the bed his wakeup time has been all over the place but most mornings it is between 5:30 and 6:00am. He takes one nap, going down around 12:15 and usually sleeping 1 - 3 hours. He sleeps on a mattress on the floor without a sleepsack and no blankets or pacifiers, but with a couple of cuddly guys and usually a few books.

Communication: Kieran has had a lot of words for awhile but I feel like this month he is starting to string more and more together. He also loves to narrate what he or anyone else is doing. "Dad work, Dodger sleeping" is one of his favorites. He loves feeling included in decision making and usually replies with a very purposeful "yeth" "no" or "o-tay" when posed a question. Kieran refers to himself as "Keer-naa" and can also identify most close family members in person or in pictures. The Bug has started to use "too" quite a bit and I think he knows how cute it is because he usually gets what he's requesting - "mash-ma-yo (marshmallow) too?" is a common snack time request. Lastly Kieran is really getting good at identifying colors and usually gets red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple correct.

Favorite Moment: I kind of forgot how amazing the stage is when kids still only know how to tell the truth. Last week I had to take away the toddler tower in our kitchen because K was using it to hoist himself up on the counter. This meant about 10 minutes of uncontrollable crying and then him crying "tow-wa, tow-wa" over and over again. I finally asked if he wanted the tower back and he said yes. Then I asked if he was going to use it to climb onto the counter and he say yes to which I replied that he couldn't have the tower then and more crying ensued. It was a little heartbreaking, but I just couldn't get over how honest he was being.

Milestones:
06/05/15 - Kieran stops using a pacifier
06/08/15 - The Bug is identifying colors well
06/19/15 - Unprompted K tells me he needs to poop before he actually goes
06/20/15 - Kieran can now open any door knob in the house
06/21/15 - Kier figures out how to get out of his crib
06/27/15 - K insists on using his booster at the table without the tray
06/30/15 - The Bugger is officially sleeping on a big boy mattress
07/03/15 - K attends his first yoga class (out of the womb)

Favorite Photo Shoot Outtake:

As we have in the past, we again hosted both sides of the family for Father's Day this year, Aunt Di Di even made the drive over from the coast to be with us. Earlier in the day when we were telling Reed who was coming and that all of the guys were Dads and who was who's Dad I realized just how lucky we are to have so many generations of amazing men in our kids' lives. All night long I was looking around watching how comfortable the boys were interacting with their, Grandfathers, Great-Grandfathers, and Tio and I couldn't help but feel so much love for the family and support system that the four of us have. We had everyone come over before dinner so they could spend time with the kids, then had a lovely dinner, dessert, and a few presents were opened. It was a great night!