Thirtysomething

Months 13 & 14

Rolo turned 14 months old last week. Now he's walking, running even, albeit a little like Frankenstein, so it looks like I've got a full blown toddler on my hands. I'm sort of amazed that he started walking at 13 months old, because several of his other gross motor skills, while not "delayed", have occurred on the later side of the spectrum. I'm thrilled that he decided not to wait until I had a panic attack about my he wasn't walking to start doing it. Most of the time, he walks around without any big hoopla, but if you crouch down low across from him and put your arms out, gesturing that you'd like him to walk towards you, he beams, claps and proudly shows off his new walking skills.

His fine motor skills, which have always been somewhat advanced, continue to develop. He loves taking things apart and trying to put them back together. He loves puzzles, buttons, and LORD KNOWS any sort of electronics.

Rolo's big into mimicking right now. He'll copy us as we blow on his food to cool it, or he'll copy a face we're making. His language skills aren't so great yet, he basically only says "mama", "dada", "baba" and "DAT" (everything is "DAT"). If you ask him to say something, he'll "sort of" repeat it. He'll get the tone right, but not the sounds. Like if you ask him what sound the cow makes, he'll say "Oooo" in the same tone that I previously said "Mooo" a couple of days earlier. We've been working on "please" and "thank you", but of course, he just looks at us like we're nuts.

Rolo seems to be a lot like me when I was his age, according to my mom. He's able to entertain himself for periods of time. When he wakes up in the morning, he doesn't cry; instead he talks to himself, sometimes for 45 minutes or so. He loves, LOVES, books. He'll page through a book (and I don't know how he know this, but he always knows which way to hold the book--if he ever picks one up upside-down, he immediately turns it rightside-up) for a good 15 minutes. He's able to point to any babies, dogs, cats, monkeys or frogs in any book upon request. I have a feeling, with the right guidance, he may be a fairly bright kid. I hope so.

In the last two months he's gotten big into stuffed animals. He never paid any attention to them before, but recently he seeks a few of them out. He loves tackling them and giving them hugs. So far we're kept all his new "friends" out of his crib, although it may only be a matter of time before he wants to sleep with one.

Next up is Operation: Kill Binky. I'm not sure exactly when, but we'd like to cease the use of his pacifier soon. He only gets it at naptime or when he's going to bed. Actually, they discontinued using it at daycare entirely, so really, he's only getting a binky when he's with us. I'll feel kind of mean, taking it away from him but I know it'll only get harder as he gets older.

Speaking of harder, with toddlerdom, the attitude problem is beginning to emerge. He does things just to see my reaction. The other day, I took something away from him, a course of action he did not like, and he pinched me in retailation. Fresh, that boy. So far, I've spoken nicely but firmly to him each time he does something he's not supposed to, but I definitely need to read up on discipling a toddler.

There have been several times when I've quickly looked at Rolo, walking around, wearing jeans and a polo shirt and thought "Wow, I have a little boy now."

Labels: Rolo

posted by DJ Heavy D @ 9:14 AM