Kyler Update - Almost 26 Months

It's been a while since I did an update on Kyler and what he's been up to. He's almost two years and two months old now. Time is just flying by and we are amazed at how big he is getting every day. It seems like he is doing a new "big boy" activity each day.

We haven't gotten back to potty training since the move. We have some stuff going on this weekend and next so maybe at the end of the month I will be able to refocus on this. I think the reason I haven't been all over it is because it really limits us being able to go places and do things. So even though summer is a good time to be pant-less, it's not that realistic if we ever want to leave the house. I'm pretty confident that he will get it if I just spend the better part of a week on it, but then I have to make sure we have a bathroom all the time so he doesn't slip.

Ky is sleeping in his big twin bed pretty much all the time now. The past several nights he has been waking up in the middle of the night and I have to go in and settle him back in. Hopefully it's just a short phase and we will be back to peaceful sleep soon. He has also been waking up much earlier than normal which is probably not a bad thing (or it wouldn't be if his pregnant mama would go to bed a little earlier). He sleeps with his stuffed monkey and giraffe most nights.

Something new that Kyler has started is a lot more singing and dancing. He sang a pretty good "Happy Birthday" to his grandma at the beginning of July. And he can be found singing "Wheels on the Bus" quite often, hand motions and all. He also likes to sing that silly name song where you sort of rhyme different peoples' names into the song. It's pretty cute and amusing. He can count (sort of). He starts off with one, two, and then goes to seven, eight, nine, ten. We are working on the missing numbers.

Ky can run pretty fast, he does a great job driving his tractor (rarely hitting anything), and he's started sitting on the seat of his Strider bike when riding it rather than just standing and straddling it. He has been able to jump with both feet on the ground for a long time now (since early spring I think). He's gaining interest finally in playing with balls. He likes to throw and kick but hasn't figured out the catching part yet.

Kyler's speech is one area where he is probably a little behind. He talks a ton but it is very difficult to understand what he is saying. Since he's been saying more, there have been a lot of frustrating times lately where even I don't know what he's saying. Another thing we are working on is this bad habit he has of putting his fingers in his nose. He will stick a finger in each nostril and suck in. It is so weird and not something that you really want your kid walking around doing all the time. My plan of action for now has been to tell him "fingers on your tummy" to redirect the behavior. I don't think it's really working but I feel like I have to do something. He throws the typical fits and terrible two tantrums but probably not as often as I would have expected. Hopefully that doesn't change.

This big boy loves his step stool. I originally purchased it so that he could stand and potty in the regular toilet. Now he uses it most often for washing his hands. He loves to turn the water on and use a bar of soap. He isn't very good at remembering to rinse the soap off his hands though. It's pretty funny to watch him try to climb up to reach the faucet. The stool is often found in other places around the house too. He gets Baxter a dog treat from on top of the dryer and stands up to my desk to write with pens and pencils sometimes.

Ky loves to "hep you" with anything and everything. He's been my little cooking partner quite often lately. When I start something he pulls a chair up and stands up ready to help out. He is pretty fascinated with cutting with a knife or scissors. I let him cut is play dough or sometimes his food with a butter knife. We finally bought kid scissors for him but they are even a little big for him to be able to open and shut correctly while cutting. He also helps take Baxter out, sweep, throw trash away, and whatever else we can come up with.

He is constantly asking questions or repeating things. I should try to keep a tally of how many times he asks "What's that?" someday. A lot of times it is something he knows so I will say "What is that?" and he will just repeat me. During the fireworks show, all he cared about was where the firemen were. Even when we would say something about the pretty firework he would just ask "Where's fireman?" This went on for over 40 minutes during the show and he even mumbled it half-asleep when I put him to bed. Other times he will just repeat anything and everything we say. Once in a while we have to laugh because it may not be something we intended him to hear and repeat. One of my favorite things is when he will walk up to me and get pretty close to my face (and this happens multiple times throughout the day) and say "Hi Mama. How you?" It's so sweet.

Last night was the newest "big boy" thing. He tried dressing himself when it was time to put pajamas on. He got both legs into one hole so I had to assist briefly with that. And he did fairly well on the shirt, with just minor adjustments by mama. It really is hard to believe how fast this kiddo is growing up, especially since he looks and a lot of times acts much older than he is.