The Nature of Curiosity

Recently the little man has become increasingly curious. Not just nosey - opening every drawer and cabinet in sight; but actually curious.

If he sees a shoe he'll try to step into it and walk in it. He now feeds himself well with a spoon or fork, but hasn't quite mastered the art of the stab or scoop. Still needs some work there. When we put a coat or jacket on him, he races to grab the two sides of the zipper so he can try to zip it up by himself before one of us takes over.

Just recently, he will occupy himself for a while at his booster chair where he eats. He's most curious with his little buckles that keep him firmly buckled in. Standing beside the chair, he'll try over and over again buckling the two sides together. Once he gets them all properly fastened, he doesn't quite get the fact that the job is done, nor does he know how to undo the buckles, so he throws a little min-tantrum in frustration. We have to go over and unfasten the buckle so he can start over again. Looking forward to seeing him explore and be creative with blocks, drawing and so forth in the coming weeks and months.

Photo: Learning the finer details of how one little clip snaps and buckles neatly into another one.

Something To Say

For some time now Kole has been able to identify things by word. If you say "where's your ball?" he'll go get a ball. Even if you ask for a hug or a kiss he will respond accordingly and affecitonately. But, he's been slow in getting the actual words out himself. As stated in previous posts around here, "Daddy" and "bye" have been the earliest first-words spoken, and been fairly exclusive ... until recently. In the last week we've noticed a couple of familiar words (or close affiliations) to certain objects. Most notable is "shoes" (or as he says with a heavy-tongued lisp: "Soos" almost "thooth"). He does this whenever you we put our shoes on, or when he sees his own shoes - which he instantly wants to put on. He probably spends a good hour or more a day attempting to put his shoes on, and will spend a good half-hour slogging around with a just his toes sticking inside a shoe.
The other word is "ball" ("Bah") which he now most frequently says when he has a balloon in his hands.
I know, I know, I know ... once he starts he'll never shut up again. But, for the time being we're anxious to see some verbal skills as some real cues to proper development and growth.

18-Month Dr. Visit

Kole had his 18-month doctor's visit today - he now is with Dr. Ann Nelson of Arlington, in the same office as his previous pediatrician, but we thought we needed a change for a handful of reasons.
Anyway, Kole weighed 27 pounds 4 ounces, which is just about in the 55 percentile for his age (50 would have been a dead-even bullseye average) so he's essentially average and right where he should be for his age. However, his length (they still measure him laying down, foot stretched out, head to heel - not standing up) was 35-and-1/2 inches. This puts him above the 97 percentile. On the chart it's obviously around the 98th percentile. Either way, it means that only 2-3% of 18-month-olds in the United States are taller than him. In the doctor's words, "he has the body of a 3-year-old", but with his weight on balance, he's extremely normal and very healthy - just tall for his age. We mentioned what a ravenous, two-fisted eater he is - especially compared to his little friends Noah, Sara and Meisha. The doctor's reaction was, "he obviously needs it". She complimented him over and over again on his temperament as she examined him. He was curious of everything, but agreeable to all her prodding with a stethoscope, tongue depressor and little lighted ear-magnifying scope-thing. Then came the shots. He had to get Hep-A, D-Tap, IPV and chicken pox. Two of them were combined somehow so there were three needles total. The nurse would grab a pinch of fat on one of this thighs, poke and depress. One after the other after the other. He gave one small groan after the second ... but amazingly, no tears, no screams, no fit whatsoever. After the doctor had done nothing but rave about how big and healthy, well-behaved and wonderfully curious and temperamented he was, we were sure he was going to douse all those compliments out with a big bucket of rage. All he did was suck it up and make his parents look good again. ATTA BOY!
We will watch the development of his speaking. Right now his discernible vocabulary consists of "daddy" (not Da Da - a distinctive hard-E on the end, "Da-dee"), and a couple of times in the past week he has said "Bye" while waving bye. Kathy had a play-date at the house yesterday with Kole's pals Noah and Sara (whose moms Kathy went through child birth classes with), and as one was leaving, grabbing her purse and heading for the door, Kole waved and said "Bye!". The word is the recent addition, as for several weeks he will wave goodbye to me when I leave for work and walk out the door. So, some things are coming along. The doctor was alarmed by nothing and complimentary of everything. She reconfirmed that Kathy is doing everything right and is a wonderful mother.
Unforeseen illnesses aside, his next scheduled doctor's check-up will be when he turns 2.
Attached is the pic of him in his little gown they had him put on. Hilarious.

Kicking Off 2010

2010 was welcomed with a happy house. Kathy and I were able to go out to dinner together while Kole played with his neighbor friend Meisha. We were home by 8:00, Kole in bed by 9:00, Kathy and I watched a movie (Paul Blart the Mall Cop - pretty funny) then were in bed by the time Dick Clark counted down the Eastern time zone to midnight.
Kole was fighting a bit of a cough as he went to bed, one that made us consider taking him to a doctor since he was going on 5 or 6 days with it, and it was a very wet and phlegmy cough, but he appears to be on the rebound and mend. Overall, 2009 had lots of answered prayers and Kole was a very healthy boy, as were Mom and Dad, for the most part. We braved the Swine Flu scare of the Fall, which may have been the toughest time of all in hindsight. Otherwise, Kole has been introduced to more bruises and scratches as his mobility and reach increase, as does his mischief. He bravely scales chairs and couches and it has become somewhat of a favorite hobby. Only twice to my memory has he miscalculated the stability of his seating and taken a tumble onto the floor. Those are tough lessons for him, and even tougher for the parents. He has an amazing tolerance for banging into walls and tumbling off of toys.
His vocabulary is extremely vast, the problem is that we don't quite know what words he's saying. But, he can carry on an entire conversation, or sing an entire Itsy Bitsy Spider tune mouthing words of some kind in rhythm. 60% of his time spent awake and not eating, he is in a song of some kind. It's a great way to snap out of a crappy day ourselves, just hearing his happy babble around the house.
He loves going outside, and when you appear with shoes he will gleefully hop up on the couch and put his dogs out ready to be suited up. When you put one sock on, he'll sometimes grab the other and attempt to put it on the other foot. When his own shoes aren't on, he loves finding our shoes and putting his feet in them and sliding around the house.
He has graduated past pushing doors shut, and can now grab a doorknob and pull it shut. When a telephone rings, he immediately goes on a hunt for a phone. He has a great understanding for what things will bring scorn from Mom and Dad, but won't quite avoid them - instead just approaches them with caution. Just a few moments ago he approached the Christmas tree again, stuck out his finger and slowly crept it towards a shiny ornament ... all the while with his head turned directly towards me, as if waiting for the bark of disapproval. Once I fire off a stern "NO NO!" he seemed satisfied and merrily went on his way. I believe all the baby books and common sense label this practice "Testing the Parent".
He eats 2 scrambled eggs eagerly with both hands churning like a machine every morning and also loves waffles with syrup, plus Chef Boyardee ravioli (at 17 months old he once finished off an ENTIRE CAN in one sitting!), grilled cheese, and also luckily likes mashed up peas and sweet potatoes. We're normally taking a chance with anything else - including chicken nuggets and hamburgers. He'll gladly gobble them up some time, others he donates them to Maggie. One way or another, he eats like a horse and is still way above average length/height for his age and all appears very normal.
Potty training is not far away, and we've taken some of the prescribed early steps - including putting his training potty out; using the words and associating them with the act of the result (as he's leaning over the coffee table red-faced and grunting "Are you going poopie?" changing the diaper "Pewwie!! Kole made poopie!!", etc.); then maybe most uncomfortably, we are allowing him into the bathroom with us to observe and learn and make the connection himself. Nothing more amusing than letting your kid watch you stand there and pee while he looks up and down, up and down, in studied amazement. All the while, I have to keep a hand free to keep him from playing in my stream. During this entire process is a running play-by-play to further associate the verbal cues. It's a very humbling rite fatherhood, bear to cub : "Daddy's going to tee-tee in the potty! Let's go potty. Okay ... Daddy's going tee-tee ... into the potty. Okay, all done going tee-tee! Yeah!" then I clap and congratulate myself on being a good boy, and for remaining sprinkle-free. I always wonder what precisely is going through his head after he sees what he just saw.
There are days when I come home from work and Kathy is working a glass of wine and has obviously shed a tear or two - while the boy maintains a sly grin of innocence. As is par for his age, he can be a handful. But, Kole is as healthy and happy as can be. He associates well with other kids his age, and after a 5-minute grace period of hesitant shyness he quickly acclimates to any crowd in any setting. He's a voracious eater, a sound sleeper, and engages in toddler horseplay with unabated tenacity. He laughs 100 times more than he cries. He's as healthy as a horse. Some of all that can be attributed to DNA and the blessings of God, but the influence of a wonderful, strong, effective mother cannot be denied. Kathy not only refuses to give herself credit, but just as worse she is in constant doubt of whether what she's doing is the right thing. In my book, and in Kole's I'm sure, she is the Mother of the Year for 2009.
Looking forward to all of what 2010 has in store for Kole, Kathy and myself.

Scenes from Christmas 2009

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

A wonderful semi-white Christmas morning at the Fletcher house, full of all kinds of wonderful toys for Kole ... to play with, or play in.

Another Santa Visit

At least for the time being, Kole isn't affraid of Santa Claus. This photo went, for the most part, without incident. Kathy had it taken at The Parks Mall in Arlington, which is where he had last year's photo taken also. She said they have all sorts of little nick-knacks and do-dads for kids to poke and prod while standing in line - and Kole had a mini-meltdown being taken away from a little toy to go have the picture taken. But, the sight and presence of Santa himself didn't seem to bother him.

Early December update

I realize I've been sloppy about updating things here, so I'll try and catch up as best as possible.

Last week Kole actually had a quick doctor's visit to check on a rash, or hives that he had been developing on his back, chest, arms and legs. He did not itch them or seem bothered by them, but he had them nonetheless. We had not changed laundry detergents, nor could we think of anything that his skin had been in contact with that was out of the ordinary or something he hadn't been in contact before. We couldn't think of anything. Then Kathy read something online about strawberries and that struck a cord. Kole had recently been watched for a couple of ours by our neighbor Macko, who has a little 17-month-old girl Meisha, who is actually just one day apart from Kole (born the day before or after, I can't remember). Anyway, she gave him strawberries and said he loved them. We bought some - and indeed he did love them. He already has had strawberry yogurt and strawberry jam on toast. But, Kathy read where fresh strawberries (much like honey) come with a host of alergies to many children.

The doctor agreed that, yes, we should cut out the strawberries and see if things get better. They have so - disaster avoided and strawberries have been removed from the menu.

Kole still runs like a wild man around the house and does lots of babbling. He knows lots of words. He knows what a ball is, if you ask him if he wants to read a story he'll go find a book ... I could go on and on. He just doesn't say anything to identify anything, except for "Da Da" for his daddy.

He loves hearing the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" song and has other favorite songs and tunes on TV - even commercials. He's very musically inclined and knows all of his toys that produce music and spends most of his day playing and dancing to them.

PHOTO: Kole with his little neighbor girlfriend, Meisha. Drinks on the house!

Time to Lay Down The Law

It's one of the saddest posts I've had to make so far. Perhaps the most vivid sign that our little baby is growing into a rambunctious little toddler is that now we are having to bring some discipline into the picture. I haven't yet introduced the horse whip, or the popular technique of starvation. We don't need camera crews on our doorstep just yet. So, we are sticking with the very early phases of Timeout.
It's hard to go full-force on discipline since his vocabulary is limited, as is what he understands. However, he knows the word "No" and what it means, and has for a couple of months now. Over the weekend, we put out his Play Yard near the front entry of the house, assigning that as his Timeout spot.
Monday, while I was at work, Kole fell into a familiar old trap. The kitchen trash can has multiple purposes. I think there's a post on this blog somewhere of him looking at his reflection in the stainless steel. He still does that, and it entertains the whole house when he notices himself. However, he is forbidden from opening the lid. All it leads to is him reaching in and pulling out garbage - so long ago we put an end to that and saved our harshest and hardiest "NO!!!" for when he did that. We have been diligent and consistent.
So, back on Monday, he got into the trash can and Kathy gave him - from a distance, wherever she was - a firm verbal "NO!", which he noticed, stopped, and the episode came to a halt. Maybe 10 seconds later, he was back at it, lifting the lid as he looked straight as his Mommy, as if saying "so ... I'll do this all day. I have time" Kathy had to respond with more "NO"s, then took him to his Timeout spot.
Kathy said it took about a 5-Mississippi count before he looked around and realized his toy-less surroundings, and immediatly burst out into a violent tearless cry. She waited only a minute or two, then got him out.
Lesson learned? Well, he doesn't exactly ignore the trash can, but he hasn't had to be put in Timeout since.

Getting Kole's Giggle Box

What can we say - he's a happy kid who likes to laugh.

Day at the G.P. Petting Zoo

The glass-half-full person says: Grand Prairie has been fairly smart about utilizing its Lynn Creek Park space by Joe Pool Lake - recently putting in a petting zoo for use during the Fall.

The glass-half-empty person says: Grand Prairie found another way to screw people at Lynn Creek Park - a petting zoo.

We'll stop short of endorsing the place, as $12/person was pretty steep for the overall experienc e- at least with an almost-16-month-old. Maybe a 5 year old would get more out of it. Actually we paid nothing for Kole since he was under 2, but Kathy and I were $24 together. He was actually pretty inquisitive and curious of most animals. His favorite was the cows and little calves. They were most docile and allowed him to pet them without much resistance. He still wants to pet the animals the way he pets Maggie, and that's a very rough pat. Yes he's a young toddler, but he basically takes whacks at the animals with his open hand. He liked petting the horse, a big Clydesdale, he chased some turkeys, fed some little lambs and goats and stood next to a big 300 lb. snorting pig. He had a great time running around and looking at everything. But, we were done after about an hour out there when we had seen and done everything, then he started getting hungry. A good experience for him. Mom and dad will wait till they discount their price or add a few more bells and whistles before we head back out.

Birthday Bashes with Grammy, Gram, Uncle Kelly

Kole got to spend some time with his Grammy and Grandpa Gedy on Grammy's birthday last week. We met at a mid-way point from the Wah-Hoo Ranch, at a restaurant in south Ft.Worth. Kole ate, easily, the most food in one sitting he ever has in his life - scarfing down a child's plate portion of broiled fish and mashed potatoes, plus nearly a whole biscuit. He stayed up about an hour past his normal bedtime, so it was a great Friday night out.

The weekend previous, we had a house full here for Gram and Uncle Kelly's birthdays.

PHOTO 1: Grammy, Kole and cousin Reagan out in Fort Worth for Grammy's birthday. PHOTO 2: (L to R) Kole, Gram, Reagan, Kelly, Riley blow out candles at the Fletcher Brat House for Gram & Kelly's birthdays.

Meltdowns

I hate thinking that this blog will be a forum for airing out every little mis-step that Kole makes or grinding an ax each time he starts wearing on his parents’ nerves. But then, it should also be a little more realistic of the parenting experience than to just sing his praises for every little accomplishment. That being said ... our little bundle of joy, our precious gift from God, is beginning to show the first signs of all-out toddler melt-downs. If something isn’t going his way, and especially if something is taken from him, there’s now about a 1-in-5 chance that result will be an ear-piercing scream and the most horrified face you’ve ever seen. Yesterday he got to playing with cups - like the souvenir cups you get at sports venue, I have tons of them - and he’s running around with one or two putting things in them. Really a couple of those are assigned to the bath tub for baths, and some others I actually still use. Well, he was playing with one that is still in current kitchen use. All I wanted to do was to trade out one of those cups with one of his bath tub cups. I grabbed his and offered another, doing so with a pleasant demeanor in the spirit of sharing. The cup was no more a quarter-inch out of his hand before he clinched both fists, face turned beat red, and began a snarling cry. Within 10 seconds his eyes were welled with tears. There was something sadly pathetic about it, and oddly amusing. Such instant hysteria. He wanted no part of the cup I was offering him. Kathy and I agreed upon the first tantrum we saw a few days earlier that maybe we introduce the prospect of having things taken and not given back - in preparation for things that will surely come with other kids. Stick with it, don’t hand him the object right back just to shut him up. He needs to learn - sometimes you don’t get everything you want. It’s a tough lesson so far. But it’s just so sporadic and random. Most times you can take something and he doesn’t care. But, we are now definitely seeing more tears from what can best be described as emotional trauma, not so much anything physical.

Day at the Fort Worth Zoo

Kole today made his first visit to the zoo, the Fort Wroth Zoo. He went with his buddies Sarah and Noah, both born within two days of himself. Kathy reports that Kole was not overly fascinated with anything - do in part to the fact that most animals were distant, and in a lazy haze, with all kinds of foliage and other waterfalls and natural features that were more suitable to Kole's eye. Finally there was one animal that finally did take Kole's fancy - a stalking jaguar, who paced side to side in his little habitat. The midget got a kick out of that, and some fish in the aquarium, but not much else. There is a little animal-petting park in the zoo, and Kole attempted to become friendly with a cow, then quickly lost interest. PHOTOS: Ellie and Noah, Kathy and Kole, Beverly and Sarah; Kole and Noah entertaining themselves in a play area with alligators - notice Kole's sippy cup. Kathy said if she tried to take it away so he could more easily manipulate toys and other zoo things he would immediately freak.

Haircut Before and After

Kole got a haircut today at 2:00. Pictured are what he looked like this morning after he woke up with fresh bed-head ... and just before going to bed, horsing around in his new little play tent.

15 Months

Here at 15-months, Kole's emotional development is coming right along - it's basically everything but the clear English language that describes it. In a few recent trends ...
*He loves any and all music. He has favorite commercial jingles, on top of his standing all-time favorite ABC song. Many times he will just hear singing and begin to babble-sing (see 'Kole sing along' video) along with it. His favorite DVD is a sing-along nursery rhyme DVD.
*He's become a big clapper. Even if there is audience clapping on a TV sitcom, he'll hear the applause and begin clapping along.
*Am I buried deep enough in this post? Okay, I can't make this a stand-alone headline post. But, we've finally assigned a First Word where he has shown some consistency in using the word towards the word's description. The word is "Da Da", and Ma Ma is a tad bitter. I will sneak this note into the 'Milestones' column on the left with as little fanfare as possible. Yesterday there were three occassions where I walked into the room and he saw me and said "Da Da". I feel too bad for Ma Ma to rejoice too loudly.
*He's already had two haircuts and is overdue for a third.
*He immediately identifies with a dog, either a picture in a book or on TV, and mocks a dog's pant. We read a book, he comes across a picture of a dog, he smiles and opens his mouth and does a heavy-breathing pant. This started right after he spent back-to-back weekends with his Grammy and Grandpa Gedy (with their golden retriever and two Australian shepards, and with PaPa and Gram (with heavy-breathing boxer Spud). Cracks us up every time.
*He could eat Chef Boyardee Ravioli at every meal sitting. Still, his favorite thing in the world is milk. If he sees us pouring it into his sippy-cup he'll sometimes throw a fit and cry because he wants it NOW.
*His most annoying thing, still, is biting.
*He now gently pets Maggie, and most times Maggie will sit still and nervously allow him to pet her for a bit.
*Though he doesn't have a wide verbal vocabulary, he knows words. He knows "milk", if you say "Want to read a story?" he'll run around and find a book, he knows his name when it's called and he knows "NO!" He's figuring some things out.

Mama's smooch

In a round-the-clock attempt to turn our strapping young boy into a dependent, "cuddle bunny" mama's boy - Kathy finally got the boy to give her a smooch. It's open-mouth and messy, but now when Mama extends her neck and puckers her kisser, she finally gets what she wants, and normally follows it with a happy chant of "He loves me! He loves his Mama!" Then again, he is fairly elusive with his emotions. Most times if you put out your arms and ask for a hug, he'll stare at you for a second, turn and make a drunken stumble towards a toy and toss it aside. So, maybe it is somewhat of a milestone that here shy of 15-months that he not only needs affection, but openly seeks it.

Future Big 12 Athlete?

Our friends at the Big 12 Conference office gave Kole some generous gifts after birth - many of them he needed to grow into. One of them was this T2 t-shirt that finally fits. A future Big 12 athlete? We'll see. Only if he wants to. He'll have all the support in the world if that's the path he chooses, but mom and dad weren't exactly all-star athletes so he's gotta overcome some unathletic DNA and want it pretty bad.

Barstool jockey

He is not in Timeout, he is not stuck, he is not involuntarily lodged in this chair. This has become a place of preference. We recently brought back out our kitchen counter barstools, which we really took away when he began pulling himself up and crawling. Well (sniff, sniff) he's getting to be a bigger boy now and our only real concern with him and the barstools is him trying to climb on top of them - but that hasn't been a problem yet. He sees them as more of a convenient table-top where he can put items on the seat, right at his height. And ... yes, somehow crawl his way into the little iron ring at the bottom then sit there contently playing with one of his favorite toys. Aunt Eva gave him this little firetruck thing with a hammer for his birthday, and it all has sound effects and plays songs - he loves the thing.

Big Swim

For the first time, Kole ventured outside his little wading pool and into a big pool - over at the Grunewalds on Saturday. In need of some sort of floatation device for him, Kathy made a last-minute run to CVS for a fairly common innertube with a little footie fitting for toddlers. Well ... there was one last one on the shelf, and on clearance for $6. With limited choices, she bought it. It was both functional and a bargain - best of both worlds. There was one slight, comical condition to this floatie. It was bright pink with the word "PRINCESS" on the front of it. Well, ultimately, Kole will be taught that manhood is God-given and has to do with those little bits and pieces he plays with when we change his diaper. It should not be determined by his peers or society - some never ending chase for a bigger truck with bigger wheels, bigger animals shot with bigger guns, etc. However, for the time being, I thought it would be quite interesting to see Kole's floatie named "PRINCE88". After inspecting the floatie, it just seemed more appropriate. So, I grabbed a Sharpie, made some adjustments, and PRINCE88 it was.