Mr. Independent

With Baby's 14 month birthday just passed at the beginning of the month, I thought it might be a good time to document some of the amazing, adorable, occasionally challenging, but mostly wonderful skills that my son has started to develop, or even master, up to this point. Most of them are focused around how he wants to do EVERYTHING himself. He can't, but he tries so hard, and I love seeing the enormous personality growing within him as he grows.

While not talking yet, Baby will let you know exactly what he wants with an "Ungh!" sound as he points and reaches. Get it wrong, and he'll continue to groan. Get it right, and he's all smiles that his parents have at least enough intelligence to understand some of his communication. It's actually kind of fun to point to different objects, videos, etc. as we play a guessing game to try to figure out just what's on his mind. Sometimes it's difficult--he acted like he wanted a mini pancakes, so I gave him a pancake only to see him continue to point to the box as if I gave him the wrong thing. Turns out he wanted the box so he could select his own pancake himself! Usually it's easy to figure out eventually, however. Like if I left a water bottle on the counter he usually wants that so he can open and close it. He LOVES opening and closing any kind of bottle--shampoo, mustard, distilled water, drinking bottle, even the travel cap on his sippy cup--because he just loves cause and effect. He also wants to open and close doors, and is actually really good at shutting our pantry without getting his fingers caught. When carried, he reaches for door knobs and locks. He wants to turn his own pages when reading a book. He barely let's you feed him with a spoon anymore when he can "definitely" use a spoon and fork himself. He even wanted to try filing his own nails when I pulled out his electric nail file. Mr. Independent certainly has personality, and I am glad to see that he wants to try new things and learn about the world around him. Plus it was too adorable when he managed to pull a Gerber toddler meal out of it's cardboard package and bring it to me as if to say, "Okay, I'm hungry, can you make this for me now?" Once he figures out how to open his own teething cookies I'll be out of a job!

As Baby works on his motor skills (using utensils, pens, and more), he's actually pretty much mastered the whole walking thing. Aside from a couple of faceplants from running too fast, he's got great balance. He even regularly uses his strong leg muscles to climb upstairs (supervised extremely closely), and occasionally will use the wall and his hovering parent to carefully climb downstairs a couple of steps as well.

Other physical skills he regularly practice include positioning objects, like moving my cans of sparkling water from one end of the kitchen to the other, giving high fives, and clapping when he's impressed with something--even himself! Baby can now reach the bottom shelf of the fridge, and when I leave the door open, he'll often remove the light carton of almond milk, put it back successfully, and then applaud. He'll accomplish other chores on his own too--like using a Swiffer to sweep the floor as he waddles around pushing it. He continues to find new ways to move and especially new ways to dance! He stomps one foot almost in time to the beat of his favorite songs, he sometimes rises and falls on his toes, he's even waved his arms as if trying to swim to his favorite songs about water life (think baby sharks, swimming goldfish, 5 little ducks, and beluga whales...). His physical motion is not just entertaining, but can be helpful too. He raises his arms when it's time to take off his shirt and steps out of his shorts when it's time to remove his shorts when changing clothes for baths or bed. And let's not forget how he's figured out how to take off his own diaper....

His mental skills continue to show just how much he knows as well. He recognizes even more words, picking up on everything from kiss to keyboard to piano to phone to glasses. In fact, he even knows which glasses are Mommy's and which glasses are Daddy's, correctly pointing to the right one. He's long since recognized characters from his books or toys on TV like Mickey Mouse, Daniel Tiger, and Optimus Prime. We try not to let him watch screens too frequently, but he continues to want to steal our phones--and now instead of just taking selfies he actually brings the phone close to his face and wiggles his thumbs as if he's texting! He's accidentally sent his dad some texts with words like "pop" in them, so maybe he know even more than we think! Thankfully, he enjoys reading just as much as looking at screens, and will happily sit with his favorite board books like Llama Llama, Red Pajama.

Of course, not every new thing that Baby learns has a positive outcome. The more things he discovers he likes, the more he cries when he doesn't get them. Eventually we have to turn Mickey's theme song off. He's not allowed to eat choking hazards. And sometimes a little separate anxiety shows when he doesn't want to leave Mom's side so Dad can change his diaper. He's good at making a sad face when something really bothers him--usually when he sees something scary or thinks we're laughing at him (even though we're not). That face is real. But the crocodile tears he cries for not being allowed to splash water in the tub for another hour is definitely just whining, and usually distracted away.

There's a lot Baby still has to learn--like sipping from a water cup consistently without choking--but you can't deny how much he's growing and just how far he's come.

Mr. Independent does still like to cuddle my arm sometimes, and the other day woke up crying in the middle of the night seeking comfort. I came to his side and he grabbed my arm in his half asleep stupor, holding it for a few minutes until he rolled away from me, fast asleep. I feel like that's the epitome of my job as a mom: to assist when needed and then watch him be okay on his own.

I'm proud to be raising an independent little boy.