16 months is a strange and incredibly wonderful time
for us. It's only been a year and 4 months since I've given birth to my
precious angel, yet, it feels like ages ago that we brought Tuff home for the
first time. I can't imagine our home ever without him.
Now for my man's update... When mom's
say it happens fast, boy does it! Here are my top 5 milestones for 16 months:
1. "What's that?" I
have heard this phrase for a month a million times a day. When I pick him up
from school, he immediately starts pointing and wanting to know what everything
is... The flip side is that he also wants to show mommy everything.
"Mommy, 'yook... 'yook mommy..." Another question that is
specifically clear is "Where’d it go?"
Of course, adding to the dramatic faces
that I receive with each question (not sure where he gets that from???) is very
extravagant hand gestures. The pointing finger, big arm circles (when
explaining something very important), clinched fists (when something really
exciting happens) and a little bit of sassy-hands (imagine Bon-Qui-Qui at 16
months old).
2. "Do you want to help
mommy..." Never did I know it would be so much easier to get a toddler
to do what you want them to do if you ASK, rather than TELL, them to do it.
Nugget-man loves to follow directions, but he gets an attitude when he is tired
or isn't into what is going on. However, I've noticed that if I ask him to
"help mommy wipe your nose, please" he stops refusing and actually
takes the washcloth or Boogie Wipe and wipes his face and nose. Instead of
fighting with a tired baby to put night clothes on, I ask him to put in one
foot or hand at a time, and he stops crying and lifts one leg… then the other…
and then slips his arm into the sleeve, and when his fingers pop out it cracks
him up every time.
Watering plants and herbs
Swiffering the kitchen
Yes, I know, simple concept... and
while in extreme conditions this doesn't always work, it's about
95% effective
which is about 95% more than I expected. I'm positive the first time I asked
the question out loud, it was directed to Jesus in prayer... maybe he gave me
my answer! "Ask and you shall receive"
3. Chow hound! I can't help but
be so proud of my kid’s eating habits. He eats everything but white potatoes (and
that's just fine with me).
He loves to eat. The biggest milestone
with meal times is probably his determinedness to use the spoon/fork to feed
himself (and anyone else sitting within utensil-reach). He will actually pick
items up with his hands and put them back in the bowl so he can try to spoon
them out again. If he’s really hungry, he will let you spoon feed him… but most
times he wants to do it himself, or all hell breaks loose!
He totally fed all those fries to the dog, and opted for avocado instead :)
Water day at school
4. Sparkler Free Zone! July 4th was a fun day for us. We played in the pool outside, drew on the walls with chalk, ran through the sprinkler, cooked on the grill and popped fireworks… that last activity was not Nugget’s favorite. My husband was so excited to get him some sparklers and was overly confident Tuff would be AMAZED (me, not so much, but what you gonna do).
Brock started out with the little smoke
bombs and whistling chickens, Keegan was not impressed. Out come the sparklers,
and while my hubs face was alight with joy, my sons face was flooded with tears
of fear! As long as he was sitting on someone’s lap, we were cool. Otherwise,
he wanted nothing to do with the fireworks. He much rathered trying to fix my
car with his toddler pliers or spraying the dog with the hose!
5. Ascent!
I’ve read so many stories and seen so many pictures of toddlers climbing, but they
do not prepare you for the moment that you turn your back for 5 seconds while
your child plays quietly on the floor with a dinosaur, only to turn back to
find that he has fashioned an entire step pyramid out of toys so he can reach
atop the back of the couch to get the remote control. He has also started to
climb in and out of the bath tub, and will any day be able to seat himself in
his highchair.
I love how much fun he is getting to
be. Watching his personality evolve amazes me every day! He picks up on things
so quickly (good and bad) and sometimes I think he teaches me more than I am
teaching him.
Food and crumbles are all over the kitchen floor. On the
refrigerator, you likely will see a little green handprint… most definitely
from the avocado the night before (or last week). Walking space in the living
room is restricted due to a car crash between a tricycle and a fire engine that
has also produced several fatalities, including one of the 20 TV remotes and a
monkey named Nana. There are 7 rolls of toilet paper in the bathroom, none of
which are on the dispenser. In the guest bathtub, the walls resemble an ancient
Egyptian ruin… vibrantly colorful with my child’s first works of art (and maybe
a list of groceries I thought of while giving the Nugget a bath). There is
cornstarch powder on the mirrors, bespeckled with splashes of water which
remind me of some kind of cheetah skin. When you sit on the couch, don’t be
surprised if it squeaks violently at you (or if you are thrown out of the way
by a little person who has been eagerly waiting to find the source for 4 long days).
The kitchen table is a collection of diaper bag items, snacks, ingredients for
homemade potions, several pairs of shoes and a couple phones of which I am sure
my Nugget has pilfered from friends and family (if you are missing one, my
bad). There are tiny little socks in every corner, and the ones on my sons feet
probably don’t match. If you would like your beer or any other beverage cold,
then you need to bring your own ice chest because all 3 of our refrigerators
are chock full of milk, eggs, empty Tupperware, miscellaneous jugs, pureed food,
a couple deer, half a hog, a truckload of veggies for mommy’s juice fast and some
mason jars that I’m not positively sure of the contents. Yes, the milk is separated
and you will have to shake it first because it’s raw… Oh, and if you find a
little person hanging from the lamp shade or tangled in the mini-blinds, please
remove him and place him on the floor so that he can retry whatever it is he
was set out on accomplishing.
Yep, my house is a circus… and surprisingly, I don’t mind. 2
years ago, I could not fall asleep at night if I knew there were dishes in the
sink, or if I suddenly remembered I didn’t wipe of the counter after cooking.
The yard was always cut, the clothes were always laundered and put away, and
the bathrooms were scrubbed weekly from head to toe… I had time to relax and
watch a movie (on the same day)… I could work out or grocery shopping after
work without worry. The winds they are a changin’ and for the better. Honestly,
I hardly remember my other life. There was Kelli BC (before children) and Kelli
AD (after delivery), and I like this Kelli much better, however big of a mess
she may be!
Yes, that is food on the floor, this still kills my husband.
That is what happens when a child is learning to feed himself with a spoon and
mommy is brilliant enough to fix impossibly transportable foods like small
field peas, corn, ground turkey, peaches, blueberries or pasta that roll and
slide or can be wedged in the sides of his diaper (for a snack later) and the
cracks in the floor. It’s funny, because he is so set on using that damn fork
or spoon. If food spills outside the bowl, he picks it up with his fingers and
puts it BACK IN THE BOWL! God forbid the husband switches on the table saw or
starts the lawn mower at the exact moment li’l Nugget finally scoops a spoonful
of veggies, his face lights up like a Christmas tree and his spoon hand
instantly flies in the directly of the commotion, flinging whatever was on the
utensil across the room and into vases, baskets and other random objects. You
can sweep twice a day and still have a smorgasbord of food items in the most
random places in your kitchen. If the hands are not immediately washed (which
we are trying to teach him before and after eating), then little handprints
litter the walls and cabinet doors. It’s impossible to spot them all until you
go to get something from that specific place. Then most times I forget to go back
to wipe that area because I am being dragged by little hands for a game of
Ittsy Bitsy Spider, being begged for a horseback ride or am wopped over the
head with the Clorox toilet wand.
We take turns picking up toys, but don’t really see the
point on days when we are hanging out around the house. As far as the kitchen
table goes, I have no idea what is on it. It’s layered like lasagna with tools
and shoes and phones and articles of clothing and diapers (clean, I think) and
I can’t keep it clear to save my life… and if it is empty for some special occasion,
please do NOT go in the extra bedroom! Another area I can’t keep free is
the sink. It always has dirty dishes because we cook and prepare every meal,
and to be perfectly honest, I’m to the point of using all throw away dishes and
utensils until after the age of 2 to free up some of our time.
It’s not like I’m wearing my underwear inside out and have
mold growing in the ceilings, but I have relaxed many of my OCD ways as my
Nugget man ventures further into toddler-hood. It’s really too much fun, who’s
got time to worry about all that other crap. My husband and I work 50 hours a
week… We get up at 5:45am, home at 5:30pm, cook dinner and feed ourselves and
watch the toddler propel chunks across the room, clean up and play for 30
minutes, bath time and put him to bed. By this time it is after 8:00pm. We do a
little more picking up, put a load of clothes washing and watch So You Think
You Can Dance or Mountain Men while posting a couple pictures of the kid on
Facebook so family can see what a lovely mess he is and then it’s snuggle (bed)
time!
No complaints here, so don’t get me wrong. I am just not
sweating the small stuff as much as I used to. Watching him explore and imitate
and problem solve completely fascinates me. If my husband is hammering away,
you better believe that Keegan is right there beside him trying to do the same
thing. If mommy is sweeping, Keegan is right there waiting for his turn to push
the dust mop around for a while. He can’t reach the light switch, no problem
for li’l KeeKee, he spent about an hour figuring out that he could move the bag
of blocks right by the coffee table so he can climb onto the chair and over the
back to reach it (he’s also realized that this is a comfy place to take a
breather).
He is blossoming into this absolutely brilliant human. While
I know our house may be a little messier than what I consider usual, it works
for us right now. It’s interesting that Nugget-man wants to help us do a good
bit of the cleaning too. I like taking the extra time doing chores because I’m
also teaching Keegan how to do them. He thinks they are fun and entertaining,
and I’m hoping he continues to think so. If not, at least I would like to teach
him the value of picking up. I also like to let him get a little bored so he
entertains himself. That is most of how we grew up… no TV or video games for
hours on end every day. We played outside, inside, and would make believe we
were in far off places or in different worlds. Making a mess and getting dirty
play huge parts in play time and in getting creative. I like to think I am
being reintroduced to my creative side through my son. I have become too
comfortable with all of this new age technology and it truly makes us lazy humans.
While I appreciate the technology and the convenience it brings to life,
especially when it creates more time to spend with my family, I find keeping it
a distance makes our family so much more happy…
1. "What's that?" I
have heard this phrase for a month a million times a day. When I pick him up
from school, he immediately starts pointing and wanting to know what everything
is... The flip side is that he also wants to show mommy everything.
"Mommy, 'yook... 'yook mommy..." Another question that is
specifically clear is "Where’d it go?" 
