14-15 Months

Cole's 14 month birthday came and went, so I figured I'd do a midway post. I'm sure you don't care that it's late, since I'm rarely on time with these anyway.

I've learned recently that this is actually the "Terrible Twos" phase. But instead of saying "The Terrible Twos" I've decided to try and refrain from calling this time terrible, because it truly is something to cherish. It's a wonderful, fun, and innocent age, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Cole is a gift. He is gentle with the cats, loving towards us, and generally a happy baby who plays well with other toddlers once he gets to know them.

That being said, our job as parents just got so much harder. We thought the first year was hard. Ha! Someone was playing a joke on us. Because once Cole turned 1 year old, our lives changed.

Case in point - we watched a DVD by Dr. Harvey Karp called The Happiest Toddler on the Block. For those of you who gave birth at the Neugarten Birth Center, you probably watched his first DVD called The Happiest Baby on the Block. This is its sequel. It's a very helpful DVD. According to Dr. Karp, when a child enters his second year of life, THAT is the official beginning of the terrible twos - NOT when they turn two years old. His advice is extremely helpful on how to deal with tantrums and the like. So helpful, in fact, that I borrowed the book (with the same title) from the library.

Some of the bigger challenges we've been facing in the past month:

Climbing: We don't have stairs in our house, so Cole was a bit of a late bloomer in terms of how much he climbed (not much in the first 12 months of life). It's funny because his doctor said Cole would be an early climber. But I digress. Cole has been climbing lots of things he shouldn't over the past few weeks. I don't want everything to be off limits because then he won't explore his environment, which is what helps him learn. So Keith and I have been good at coaching him on how to get down from high places properly.

Tantrums: When he doesn't get what he wants (a toy, a fruit in its entirety instead of cut up, to climb on the glider, to bang on a window with a toy, to play with the telephone, etc, etc) he throws a tantrum. He literally lays face down on the floor and cries. Sometimes this lasts for a few minutes, but most of the time by following the directions Dr. Karp gave, we can usually stop it pretty quickly. So, although this doesn't seem to be a big deal, the amount of tantrums he has a day is pretty high. He gets upset about just about anything (hence the long parenthetical list).

Not listening: I guess this is just the beginning of childhood, right? But it's a challenge to say the same thing five times and still he doesn't listen. He is really starting to understand directions, so I know that he understands me, he just chooses not to follow my directions. That's just hard to swallow. I try to be patient and use my calm emotionless teacher voice, but it doesn't always work. When he's doing something he's not supposed to, or about to do something he's not supposed to, and I give him fair warning, and he doesn't listen, then I have to physically remove him from the situation or an object from him. And that is not fun. That ends up in - you guessed it - a tantrum.

Throwing things: He doesn't like to just drop things (although he does that too). No, he likes to throw things with full force.  Every once in a while this ends badly. Read: he accidentally hurts mommy or daddy or one of the cats. Or he breaks the object he threw.

Separation anxiety: Although this is easing up a bit, for most of July Cole had a strong attachment to me. This meant I couldn't go anywhere without him breaking into hysterical tears. He wanted to only be held by me when he needed anything, and

While there have been challenges, there have also been some victories in the past month:

He does listen sometimes.
I'll tell him to pick something up and bring it to me, or I'll tell him to bring me a book to read to him. And he'll do it.

His separation anxiety is easing up.
I can now pee and take a shower without worrying he's going to be near hysterics the entire time. And he asks for Dada and Grandma Carolyn to hold him. Those are huge victories!

He can keep himself occupied for longer periods of time.
He loves to drag/carry/push things throughout the house. He'll walk around with items and bang them against the wall, floor, doors, etc all the while babbling to himself.

He can communicate more clearly what he wants and doesn't want.
He point and will smack his lips if I ask him if he's hungry. If he wants the "doo doo" he'll simply pull down or up my shirt. Oh the fun times!

He is curious about how things make noise (hence, the throwing).
He likes to drop and throw items, and the dragging and banging also help him understand the noises these objects can make.

He has been sleeping for longer periods of time at night.
This is one for another post. I haven't written about it in detail because I don't want to jinx it, but I will fill you in soon.

His naps are fairly regular and generally around the same time each day.
This is true for his morning nap - right around 10 a.m. But his afternoon naps are much more unpredictable - namely because he fights them so much.

His love for the pool helped him develop an appreciation for all things water.
This includes the bath (which has made bath time that much more bearable!) Only downside is that now that he can communicate more clearly, when we're in the pool or the bath, if he wants something or to go somewhere he won't let up until he gets it. Once this kid sets his sights on something there is no stopping him!

He can sit for longer periods of time.
Not too long, but longer than he used to be able to do (like 2 seconds).

He likes to be read to.
He used to only have the attention span for books that had about two words on each page. But now, he'll sit for longer books. And he will often pick a book and bring it over to us. He'll also climb onto the glider with a book. Very cute. Sometimes he'll climb on the glider only to pull down all of the books from the adjacent bookshelf. Not as cute.

He likes to look at books for longer periods of time.
We can sometimes get through a whole book with him.  I remember when this first happened. Keith read almost all of Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss to him. He's like - wow  I got to page 38! We were stunned. It's amazing and wonderful. I have almost the entire Harry Potter series in our garage waiting to be read to him.

He still loves to breastfeed.
While it's not always fun to have a toddler breastfeed, the benefits are still there - we still get that bonding time, he gets nutritious breast milk, and I can comfort him when all other teethers fail. As he's about to nurse, he says "doo doo," giggles with glee and makes a sucking noise. It's funny and strange at the same time.

He really likes to be worn.
He sometimes gets really excited when he sees me take out the carrier. I can use babywearing for a number of purposes: to calm him down before napping (when Keith is not around to help me out); to get things done around my house; or to carry if he's too tired or overwhelmed to walk, and I'm too tired to hold him. Again, if you remember my struggles to wear him when he was a newborn, this is another huge victory.

Dragging one of my shoes around

At his great-grandparents dragging a work boot he found

Eating a frozen fruit pop I made him (this is great for the teething!)

In his morning galoshes looking at the fan

Chewing on ice chips (another great teething remedy)

Reading with Grandma

Another new toy found in the kitchen

This kid loves to hold flowers!

Double-fisting the apricots

Banging kitchen utensils on the door (he loves that spatula!)

Shaking the "toys"

Dragging the wooden spoon