Kingston at 20 Months

A few days ago Kingston was officially 20 months old. I can't believe we are counting in the 20's now! Pretty soon he will be 2 and we can drop the months totally and just stick to years! So much easier and non-kid-having friendly.

So what does this particular 20 month old do, you ask? Well.

Kingston's consistent vocabulary includes words like:

Bye-bye (which sounds very cute and very southern. Oops.)

Hat

Ball (over and over and over again)

Milk

More

Dad or Dada

Mama

Nana

Grandpa (or some version of that)

Pappy (which sounds more like Popeye)

Truck (which sounds more like cruck)

Banana (which sometimes gets confused for Nana)

His occasional vocabulary includes tons of different words. One day he will point to something and identify it clearly and other days he acts like he has no idea why you are trying to get him to identify something that he has absolutely no idea how to say. He still uses the occasional bit of sign language but it is usually pared with the verbalization of the word as well. One more reason for being in favor of teaching at least a few signs early.

Kingston loves to stack blocks and is really good at it! He likes to build with his Mega Blocks and drive trucks around the floor. He still loves a good book and Nigel and I have enjoyed describing books for him to retrieve for us. He always comes back with the book we have described. For instance, we asked him to get the book that had the owl on the back page and sure enough he came back with the lift the flap train book that shows a night scene on the back page. He came over "whooo-whooo-whoo"-ing, quite proud of himself.

I will admit that my kid really likes to watch movies. We are guilty of having the TV on most of the time and it is often tuned to a kid-friendly station. We need to get better at turning on some music and turning off the TV. After all, Kingston loves to dance and pretend to sing to music of pretty much any kind. I'm sort of impressed (in a slightly defensive way used to justify our slackness) that Kingston can pretty much sit through a full-length cartoon movie with only a few distractions. At least he has a good attention span, right?!

As much as he likes to watch movies, Kingston also loves to play outside. He can play on playground equipment by himself now, without me worrying that he will simply step off the side that is open. He is more aware of his surroundings and is fairly cautious in his movements most of the time. He loves to swing and go down the slide. He really wants to be able to climb trees so I feel a few heart-stopping jumps from branches in the near future!

Kingston is not so much a picky eater as a finicky one. Saturday night he ate steak, rice and broccoli like it was going out of style. I'd bet money he wouldn't touch any of that tonight for no apparent reason. He seems to eat loads of food at daycare but not as much for me. My general rule is to put whatever we are having for dinner in front of him and if he eats it, great. If he doesn't want to touch it, he just might be a bit hungry later because I don't usually fix him something else. I think he may have more of his father's attitude toward food (eat to live) than my own (live to eat) attitude! That is a good, if not totally frustrating for me, thing.

Pop? Did you say pop? Be it a lollipop or a Popsicle, Kingston is totally obsessed with anything sweet and on a stick! Oh, add "Pop" to the list of things he likes to say. He does not get pops daily as we try to save them for special occasions and shopping trips! But don't say popcorn or use the word pop in any other context or his ears will surely perk up and he will smile and say, "pop?".

I think that about sums Kingston up in a nutshell. Anyone want to know anything else about my 20 month old baby boy? I'd be glad to tell more. Or "Mo? Mo? Mo?" ask Kingston likes to say.

As for right this minute, he is napping. After lunch he was so tired he laid his head down on the carpet while he was playing. I asked him if he wanted to take his Choo-choo blanket that Nana made him and go take a nap. He got up, grabbed his blanket and headed to his room. In there he reached up for his crib. The boy was tired. Obviously he still takes an afternoon nap and is a big fan of it.

Please sleep for hours, Kingston. Mama wants to finish the trashy novel she is reading and needs to do the dishes from Saturday night's steak dinner. Oops.

A First

We experienced a first tonight. Together. The Family Haynes.

It was the first time, in all 19+ months of Kingston's life, that he caused us to have to box up our 1/2 eaten fried chicken salads at Kill Devil Grill, pay the bill quickly, and hurry out with a kicking and screaming child under my arm. We were trying to get out of there before all of the other customers started passing judgement. You know what I mean. "I would never take a baby out to dinner at 8:00 at night. What were they thinking?" Or, "That kid needs an a$$ whipping." Or perhaps, "My child would never act like that." Even better, "What do they expect? They are feeding him ice cream. Hello? Sugar?" Yeah, I know. I was that person about 19 months ago. Until I became the mother of an unpredictable toddler.

The salad was just as good when we got home. And the company was still stellar, once the offender was put in bed and we got to finish our meal. The atmosphere left a little to be desired and the entire house needed a good deep cleaning but overall it was fine.

The frustration. Oh, the frustration. Something I could have lived without this evening. Hopefully this was not the first of many such outings. We knew better. It was too late. He was too tired. I hope we've learned our lesson.

Before You Ask. . .

. . . the answer is "No." Just ask Kingston. He has just started saying no to everything.

Come on, let's go brush your teeth. "No, no, no"

It's time to go night-night. "No"

Stop taking your diaper off while you are standing in front of the TV watching Curious George. "No. No."

Oh, here we go. Next he will be asking me, "why?" Funny sometimes, but really not-so-much other times!

I can't wait to spend this rainy day in the house with Mr. No. Will we really spend the day in the house? I will take it upon myself to answer an emphatic, "NO!" Not if we all want to live to see another day. . .

No News, But Fun Video

No news on the baby yet. Maybe she will hold off until Monday, which happens to be a very important day. It happens to be my birthday.

But what I do have, however, is video of Kingston walking! Enjoy.

The Climbing Monkey

Kingston can climb up on his activity cube all by himself and he tried to stand up on it tonight. Great! And he can almost get his knee up on the side of the bathtub. Double great! The climbing monkey tries to climb and stand on any and everything he can manage. He is such a typical boy!

Kingston took a few more steps this evening after I got home from an early movie with my friend Nicole. We went to see Bride Wars and it was really cute. Total chick flick (duh!) but worth the matinee price. I had buttered popcorn and Diet Coke for dinner-can you tell I'm excited about that? Sad but true. I've been trying so hard to eat healthy and save money recently, so it was fun to spend a little money on myself and get a good snack, too! And then to come home to a really cute baby boy, half-naked on the changing table, after having spent the evening with his dad. Man, I love those boys! I would pay the $16.00 I spent at the movie theater to watch the two of them together any time.

The weather has been horrible the last 2 days. I'm ready for some sunshine! It is supposed to be really cold for the next few days but I'm hoping for no more rain. We have spent the mornings at the YMCA, which has been fun, but I'm ready to get out and about a little more. Hopefully tomorrow. . .

23 Steps

For my college friends (AKA The Core 4 and Kers), some of whom lurk obsessively but never comment, some of whom maybe sometimes remember to check my blog but never comment, and some of whom never check it because they aren't as obsessed with blogs as I am, I named this post for you. Remember 23 Steps on Franklin Street? I think we spent several fun nights there, probably studying while drinking hot chocolate. (I'm not sure if The Core 4 and Kers' parents read my blog :)

Now for the real reason for this post:

Kingston took his first steps tonight!!! And his entire family was here to witness it! He walked from me to Nana a few times. Maybe 3-4 steps in a row, unassisted, before he collapsed or fell. We were so proud!! We will practice more tomorrow and I will attempt to get some steps on video. Stay tuned!

Granted, it probably didn't add up to a total of 23 steps, but give me credit for some creative titling, anyway, please. If you don't, it's just because you're jealous that you never went to 23 Steps. So there. My kid can walk.

A Bathroom Sense of Humor

Someone in my family was once told by a teacher that he had a bathroom sense of humor that he should have gotten rid of by the 3rd grade. I'm not going to say who that was, but it wasn't me, my mom or my dad.

Apparently, Kingston is a big fan of the bathroom and I am sure he will end up with that bathroom sense of humor mentioned above. I mean, this episode cracked me up. But then again, I have been known to loose it when watching the bathroom scenes in movies such as Along Came Polly and Dumb and Dumber. (I'm giggle right now just thinking about it!)

Kingston heard Nigel say something to me from inside the bathroom so he went to investigate. He decided to stay a while. While Nigel was still in there. You know, going to the bathroom!

Today Kingston went back in the bathroom (you would think he would be scarred for life but apparently not!) and started playing with a rubber ducky near the door. I checked on him a few times and he was just playing innocently. Then I stopped hearing the ducky squeak as he was slammed against the floor. I walked in and saw this:

Isn't this a typical picture? Who doesn't have a picture of their first born with a puddle of toilet paper at their feet?! And loving every minute of it!

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Kingston can stand alone these days! He likes to stand and then plop down on his butt. I think he will be walking by his birthday. He is so close!

He is also getting pretty snuggly, much to my excitement! He puts his sweet little head on my shoulder and as Grandpa said, "I melt." Today he fell asleep. This is how Nigel found us when he got home from surfing:

Kingston was dead asleep for 45 minutes. He would have slept longer but I was loosing feeling in my lower back. Sweet boy. He melts me on a daily basis!