About the Kiddo: One post at a time: 17 Month Old

Today, Nolan turns 17 months old.

I've had a very reminiscent mind lately. I've caught myself thinking back on the day I had Nolan quite often, and remembering those first few weeks of having a newborn. The day I had him is crystal clear in my memory, the first few weeks after are somewhat of a blur (ha!). For this reason, I am glad I write about them.

So, 17 months old! I feel like a lot happened this month.

Just when I thought the tantrums had improved, last night Nolan sat himself down roughly only to slam himself the rest of the way back. Then, stood up just so he could collapse again face down. Why? One might ask. Because daddy had taken away the item that he kept throwing behind a shelf.

The manner of this fit is what really caught my attention. It wasn't just the random screaming/flailing. He had such a little attitude in his actions.

I usually count these things off for him and say something like, "You have 5 seconds to get it together and then we're done. We're moving on." I'll count it down pretty quickly (no pauses or stops - it's not a warning, it's a time frame), explain what has happened and why, then we move on from it whether he's ready to or not. At a minimum, most of the time this is a distraction and he does move on pretty easily. I know he doesn't quite understand the fullness of this type of redirection just yet, but he will soon enough.

He's still bouncing back and forth between stranger anxiety and easily accepting new people, which is actually a good thing. Stranger danger really should remain intact until he hits the 2 year mark. He loves other kids, he might be a little shy about it, but usually he'll jump right in with them. Sorry, adults, you've gotta earn your smiles ;)

This little boy is so cuddly and I hope it never ends! He's always been a cuddle bug, but it's just too much when he grabs a blankie and runs to you with his little 'aw-a-aw-a-aw.'

Of course, I will drop whatever I'm doing to squeeze him for as long as he wants to be hugged. He lays his little head on my shoulder and will sometimes even pat me. Melting. Yeah, he's got me right where he wants me.

His eating is still so-so. I still put the foods he protests on his tray everyday, because I want him to learn that they aren't going anywhere and that they're important. As a result, we're back up to eating green beans, carrots, corn, and sometimes peas. He eats meats fine most of the time. I give him little grilled chicken pieces pretty often, and sometimes sliced turkey. He eats turkey dogs pretty well, too. He'll eat most of the fruits we offer without whining about it.

He stills gets milk with four of the five sit down eating times and water or pedialyte with the other. Then, I usually have a cup of water available to him pretty much whenever he wants a drink. To be 17 months old, he's got no problem drinking water.

Sleeping habits are still the same, I don't plan on trying to change them until sometime between 18-24 months. At which point we'll try to wean down to one middle of the day nap, instead of a morning and afternoon nap.

We tested the limits of how flexible he'd be with getting out of schedule on the 4th of July weekend. Some friends were visiting from Arizona and we had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with them and their amazing hosts while they were in. Nolan's bedtime routine usually starts around 7:30(ish). But, one night we didn't get home until 9:30 and Nolan tolerated it really well. He started to whine a bit right as we were leaving to come back home. Then, he went to bed fine, slept through the night, and got up on time the next and was his usual self the next day.

This might seem like a 'so what' acknowledgement, but Nolan is very scheduled. So, it was a big deal that he just went along with it so easily.

He's gotten very good at feeding himself with a fork. Not s'much with a spoon. He can do several bites with a bit of guidance using a spoon, but then he gives up or gets frustrated. But, a fork, he can do that. Of course, even with the fork he often times just uses his hands instead. Gettin there, gettin there.

He's still a little copycat. He watches us do things and of course he wants to do it, too.

Recently, he's started trying to 'help' me do chores and stuff. Ya know, like balling up that wash cloth and placing it on top of my neatly folded stack of other wash cloths and then clapping at his efforts. Or handing me spoons out of the dishwasher to put away. He hangs his jacket up after coming inside (well, he has to be lifted up to the hooks, but still).

Someday, his wife will thank me for the self help and cleaning skills I will instill in him ;)

Just a few days ago I started working with him on putting his books up. Just books, we'll work on these things one at a time. It's a bit hit and miss, but I'd say half of the time I point to a book in the floor and say, "Nolan, go put your book up" he'll do it.

I always really like to acknowledge these things as a part of his character too. Like thanking him for being a helpful person. Or telling him that he's nice for doing that, etc. Cory had recently read something about treating good things that kids do like the attribute is a part of their characteristics as a person (i.e. If a kid does something helpful instead of saying 'that was helpful' it's better to say 'you're so helpful'). And treating bad things as isolated things that stand alone. I agree with this entirely. It's a terrible thing to tell a child that they've been bad or anything similar. When disciplining a child, you should isolate the behavior separate from them so that they can see it as a bad thing that happened, and not see it as they are a bad person for doing it.

He will correctly point to his own head, ears, nose, toes, and belly button. He will still point to our eyes and mouth, but not his own yet.

I think there might actually have been some improvement made in the shrinking of his umbilical hernia this month. But, it's so hard to tell.

He's not that into coloring/writing at all. I keep trying, but he's just not interested beyond making a couple of marks. I'm thinking of getting a glow doodle or something to see if it'd be more exciting then.

He's getting better at pulling the lids on/off of things, picking really small items, trying to stack blocks, etc. Workin those fine motor skills!

He can sort of run. It's not quite the appropriate gait to be called a run, but he does have a little toddler run down these days... and wants to run everywhere we go.

His little legs are so short, he can't do stairs by himself (unless he's just climbing up them). Speaking of, he will or will try to climb on anything and everything.

He's still wearing mostly 9-12 month clothing, but is finally outgrowing them! :) He can wear some 12-18 month clothes in shirts, but nothing that big for pants... and shorts for this kid are impossible to find. He still wears a size 3 in most shoes, but is at the awkward size where 3s are starting to seem too small and 4s are too big. The size 4 in Target stores are working out for us right now. They're a bit big, but workable.

For language... I will say that the amount of things he's trying to say shot up this month. However, his ability to actually enunciate them is so terrible. I know this can be normal. It's a common joke that parents are interpreters for their kids. Still, I really feel that his should be much improved from where it is.

Having said that, here are the words he's saying:

mama
dada
duhs (ducks)
whoa
uh-oh
bah (ball)
buh (book)
d'oh (dog)
sahs (socks)
shuhs (shoes)
eat
heh-woa (hello)
bye
eh-woa (yellow)
puh-puh (purple)
ew (blue)
oje/oge (orange)
kerkle (circle)
tar (star)
ah-gon (octagon)
gah-gone (all done)
die-der (diaper)
saints-su (or someone other terrible spelling for the way he says 'thank you')
sye (side - as in outside)
buh-buh (bye-bye)
neh-gluh (necklace)

See what I mean about enunciating?

Then, this kid straight up knows him some letters! He can spontaneously pick up the following letters and name them himself, pick them out when asked to, and say their names when asked:

ay (A)
be (B)
see (C)
eff (F)
aitch (H)
eh - with a sorta slight 'el' at the end (L)
ena (N)
oh (O)
ah - with an accent lol (R)
es (S)
tuh (T)
ets (X)
zuh (Z)

Sign language is at: all done, eat, diaper, more, and a very sloppy performance for 'help.'

The big 18 month mark is when we've decided to tackle the potty training task. I wanted him to have enough language first. I want him to understand how to ask us to take him to the bathroom or tell us that he has to go, and not become dependent on us just running him to the bathroom every 30 minutes. I'm going to start reading up on it this month and deciding on some solid strategies to implement. It's not a thing I'm looking forward to, but I think we're fast approaching the time of being ready.

Here's our bug :)