Life in the Fast Lane

I now realize there is no way I can keep up with Grady's monthly blogs - partly because I am exhausted, overwhelmed, overworked, etc. And partly because he is excellarating and learning new things every day that its impossible to keep up. Hence, life in the fast lane!

Grady's 13 months now, running, climbing, hitting his head on stuff, bruises on his legs, and all things boy. He's cutting 3 molars as I write this, my poor little guy. But he handles it like a champ. His hair is out of control so Dave and I decided even though we're not ready for his first real hair cut, we needed to do some damage control with the mullet situation. Unfortunately neither of us know what were doing and now the bottom back of his hair is uneven and a little sorry looking. Oh well, its growing so fast it won't take long to get long again and we'll have to take him to the professionals.

And we have quite the talker on our hands lately. His vocabulary is expanding every day with words like "baby", "thank you", "uh oh", "tree", "bye bye" and "beep beep". When we say our ABCs, I say "a" then he immediately says "b" and I say "c" and he says "d". Precious! He also counts to 3 now. Well, technically he only says 2 but he says it right after we say 1 - such a smartie pants. He points to everything, investigates everything, he's just such a little man now its incredible what he's learned in just 13 months. And this is why my level of exhaustion has reached an all time high. I thought I was tired during the newborn stage, but I was wrong. Still wouldn't change it for the world!

Just the other day Grady and I were playing in the family room - sometime after dinner and dusk because I had the lights on in the room versus leaving the curtains open for natural light. All of the sudden Grady started crawling and laughing hysterically. I just figured he remembered he could crawl and had a field day with it. Moments later he was walking around with his arms out straight like Frankenstein and again, laughing hysterically. It took me a couple of minutes to realize he had just discovered his shadow and was chasing it. Seriously - this may have been the cutest thing I have ever seen him do. He realized if he moved his arms the shadow moved. Then he jumped onto the floor like a frog to chase it. Melt my heart!!!

His favorite game is "I'm going to get you", but now he knows that means run the other way as before he would run straight towards me defeating the purpose of the game. We'll be playing with a toy and all of the sudden he will turn and look at me in a way that tells me its go time mom, you need to chase me around the house. So I do, and everytime he tries to cut it close by running past me I quickly grab him and tickle him til he's in a full blown laugh. It may be my favorite time of the day.

 

I think its safe to say Grady is good at life. The only trouble he gives us is with eating. He's a fantastic eater - as long as he likes what you're feeding him. While he's completely capable of eating all normal foods, he still prefers pureed when it comes to chicken, turkey, etc. However, he's my little carb-aholic. He'll chow down on any kind of cracker, chip, cookie, toast, basically if it cruches he can't get enough. I'm not giving up, I'm just surprised at his lack of enthusiasm with mac and cheese, chicken bites, etc.

19 months and counting

I've been meaning to post a new blog for months now. For some reason finding the time to do so is so much harder than it used to be. My advice to all new moms out there, you don't realize how much free time you have when your baby is little - trust me! Having a toddler is easier in the sense that they independently play longer, they eat on their own (sort of), they walk, talk, etc. But you have to watch them every single second. I've walked out of the family room for literally 5 seconds to come back and see Grady standing on the coffee table, or pulling out all 200 wipes from a new container, or shoving something foreign in this mouth. One thing I've learned about having a toddler is silence means trouble not peace! Now that Grady goes down for bed between 8 and 8:30 p.m., this literally gives me an hour of time to take care of housework, pay bills, watch tv, just whatever. This is why I say I have zero free time! I can't complain though, he still takes a 2 1/2 to 3 hour nap 95% of the time  and sleeps through the night (yes, I know I'm one of the lucky ones).

 

So, what's this little guy of mine up to these days? Well, about 3 weeks ago he decided it was time to jump ship and he climbed right out of the crib. I had been telling Dave for weeks I thought he was going to do this and he told me there was no way he could get his little leg up. Well, once again Grady has proved us wrong. He did it 3 times in a row and that was it, off came the front of the crib. He was so cute for the first week he never left his bed even though he had full access. Then he figured it out and went straight for the door. Now, hear me out before you judge me - but we locked his door. We just finished our addition and our master bedroom is literally on the opposite side of the house. I couldn't fathom Grady having full range of the house if and when he got out of bed. So I made Dave turn the door handle around and we lock it from the outside. I still have the video monitor so I can see everything he's up to. I felt this was safer than any other option. And considering he scaled the crib with no trouble I couldn't see how he wouldn't do the same with a gate. All in all it wasn't quite the crisis I had envisioned and we're all getting good sleep! Best Grady story yet, although its easier to watch me tell it then to read it, but I'll do my best. He woke up after napping for only an hour the other day - which was no where near long enough. I went in and rocked him back to sleep and laid him back in bed. I thought he was asleep until I headed for the door and he flipped over and smiled at me. Well then. I rubbed his back and watched him lay there in bed pretending to be asleep. After 10 minutes I walked over to the chair and laid there watching him. He stayed still as can be for about 20 minutes, but still did not fall back to sleep. He decided enough was enough and started singing and playing in his crib. He still had no idea I was in his room because the chair sits behind the crib. He got out of bed and headed for the door so I made a sigh sound as I sat in the chair with my eyes closed only one eye peeked open enough to see him. He turned his head and looked in my direction amazed to see that I was there - jaw dropped and all. He thought I was asleep so he tip-toed towards the door the whole time staring at me to make sure I didn't catch him in the act. Are you kidding me? How did he know to do that? I feel like I say that every single day!

 

 

 

At 18 months his vocabulary is outstanding. There is no way I could write down everything, but the few that come to mind are "awesome", "hi how are you?", "love you", "thank you", "yay", and "wash hands". He can say his alphabet unassisted from A-Z and can count unassisted from 1-10. He literally repeats everything you say so we're being very careful not to drop the "f bomb" and to use our manners. I'm so proud of this little guy and how smart he is! I love hearing what new words he'll say each day. He loves to sing all day. Favorite song - twinkle twinkle.

 

We've finally had a break-through in his eating. Up until now he would eat mostly pureed foods and any carb. Now he's eating raw carrots, chicken, some veggies, turkey dogs, and pasta. THIS IS HUGE!!!

 

Unfortunately no change in the ear infection territory so tubes it is :( I kept thinking he would grow out of it, but now that he's had 10-11 ear infections its time to put an end to it. Yes I'm scared but I think its best for him. Fingers crossed. Ill keep you posted after his surgery.

 

 

 

XOXO,

 

Court