Kian update

Kian is doing cool new stuff lately, so I thought I'd just throw up a quick post, mostly so I don't forget! I am not too good about putting it in his baby book either!

He isn't walking just yet (this is weird to me as I walked at 9 months and Kevin walked at his first birthday, I was so sure he would walk early!). He is taking 3-4 steps at a time, throughout the day, and loves to walk with hands held. He still realizes that crawling is much faster at this point, and when he needs to go somewhere, gets down and crawls fast. There is a block table (holds blocks, but has a top to build the blocks on) and he throws all the blocks out of it and climbs in there. Or he'll climb in with the blocks and throw them out one by one. Recently, he's started to put things back in their containers. First steps to cleaning up! He climbs on and over everything, would rather walk down stairs than crawl down them, and throws a ball really well. He's also started kicking at a ball.

I feel like I am writing my progress reports on one of my clients... I think Kian has good fine motor skills. He is able to use a spoon with oatmeal and yogurt. Other foods don't stick well to the spoon or fork, so he has trouble. He knows a fork is for stabbing food and stabs it repeatedly in his bowl or at his food, which he thinks is very funny. He's been turning pages of books since 8 months, but now has great control over just getting one single page, even really thin pages!

If I was writing an update on my client I would just make a run-down of all the domains (cognitive, social/emotional, self-help, motor, language) so I might as well just continue on down the list right? (I do plan on doing a little mini-series on EI, as many don't even know what it is) The boy's cognitive skills blow me away. His problem solving is amazing. I show him something once and he's got it down, just like that. He tries so many different ways to do things, get to things, get things to him, make them work, etc. He is figuring out puzzles, just needs some help getting them properly in place. He has a lot of pretend play skills coming out. Every toy can become a phone or a cup, but he chooses toys that resemble those shapes. So smart!

Receptively, he understands everything we say. If I ask him where something is he gets it, or points to it. He points to pictures in a book when I ask him "where's the cat? where's the cow?" etc. Expressively, he tries to imitate what we say. I have scolded Kevin for saying "huh" all the time (drives me nuts!) and having him say "what" or "I didn't hear you". And of course Kian did it yesterday, Kevin said "huh?" to me and then Kian said "huh". Ugh! He says: bye bye, uh oh, cat (cah), a cat sound (doesn't really sound like meow, but it's his cat sound) dog (ahg/og), woof (woo woo), mama, dada, daddy, boom (for fireworks), thank you (dake-oo), all done (aw DUH!) and he tells the cats 'get down' all the time! It sounds like "eh ow!" or "eh dow!" And he points to them, it's too funny. He's recently started trying down, go, no, book-these are all approximations, as obviously he won't be perfect with sounds for a few years yet.

I think he's going through a tiny bit of separation anxiety all of a sudden. He never had it when all the books said he would around 9 months or so. But, lately he isn't thrilled about being left at daycare and keeps an eye on me when we're around people he's not too familiar with. He hugs and kisses us all the time. He waves and says bye all the time and today I got him to say hi to me when I picked him up. He used to say it, but then got focused on everything else.

He loves to open all the cupboards, sometimes taking things out, sometimes not. One cabinet is all our plasticware, big bowls, lids, etc. He plays in that while I cook or clean in the kitchen. He turns the bowls over and creates a big drum set for himself and just bangs away. Sometimes I give him some spoons for drumsticks. Kevin thinks I'm crazy when he comes home to the noisy concert, but Kian loves it. He likes dancing to music too, it's so cute. His body just kind of jerks back and forth, with a big grin on his face. He also loves pushing things around now. First it was a book, then he realized he could push anything across the floor. Finally his truck has a purpose now! He'll spend forever pushing it around the house. Puts people in the back, books, whatever he can find, pushes it back and forth, dumps it, comes back for more. It's too cute.

We've been done with bottles for awhile now. He only had them for 3 months at daycare while I pumped and after his birthday they were gone. He's used the sippy cup for awhile--I love the Nuby ones-great trainer cups. He prefers the old style ones though. You know, the ones we all ahd as kids from Tupperware, no valves, just a pinched spout. He loves open cups and drinks really well from them--something I've noticed in a lot of breastfed kids, for whatever reason.

There's jsut something cool and amazing he does everyday. We're always telling each other to "come look" at whatever new trick he's just learned or something he figured out. (Like when we took him fishing and he touched the fish and thought it was great and said "ish) It's so fun. This is a great age. We are loving it. I do miss the snuggly newborn feel and smell and smallness, but Kian's so interactive and fun right now, we just love it. I'll have lots of new pictures from his camping adventures this weekend! His new things will include: paddle boat rides and so much more!