Jaryth Aidan Kyrnin Milestones

Potty Training Success!

Jaryth has been able to pee on his own, without help, for almost four months. But he has been very resistant to going poo in the toilet. From September 18^th to February 3^rd whenever he needed to poo he would ask (read: demand) for a diaper. We ran out of diapers on February 3^rd, and then we started a series of days where he wouldn’t poo in the toilet, but he wouldn’t poo in his pants either except in dribs and drabs. Then on February 6^th he sat on the toilet for around 20 minutes, and at the end he had pooed. Hooray! Today, he announced he had to poo, I asked him to go to the bathroom, he went with his alphabet game and sat on the toilet for another 20 minutes. At the end, his underwear was clean and he’d pooed in the toilet. We’re so happy!

Starting to Work on Potty Training

His Grandma gave him a potty training coloring book with a pull out chart and stickers. So this week we started trying to get potty trained. It’s been a challenge. He wants to only poo in a diaper (or his pants) although once he went outside to poo. And the first few days he would refuse to use the toilet and then pee his pants three minutes later. But he’s starting to get it after a week. On September 26, 2011 he woke up with a dry diaper and went into the bathroom to pee rather than getting it wet.

Claims He Had a Headache

This cracked me up. He said “I have a headache” then marched into the bathroom, got his bottle of Tylenol and said he needed Tylenol (luckily he can’t open it). I then asked him where it hurt, and he pointed at a scrape he’d gotten the day before, on his leg. I said, “your head doesn’t hurt?” and then he pointed at his head. What’s funny about this is that he got the “I have a headache” line from either me or Mark and clearly watched as we then went into the bathroom and took some Advil. We told him that Tylenol isn’t for when a scrape hurts and had him put it away.

Plays the Wii On His Own

Jaryth has spent a lot of his time watching us play the Wii (at his request), but we’ve been getting tired of that. So this month we asked him to play by himself. It took a lot of coaxing, but now he plays nearly all the games in Wii Sports by himself. He’s starting to get pretty good at sword fighting and the bike race!

Starting to Play Imagination Games

This month, he started playing games with his imagination. His favorite game at the moment is to play “mailman.” He does this on his tricycle—he stops at the neighbors’ (and our) mailboxes and reaches down to his trike to get the mail. Then he puts it in the box. We don’t let him open the boxes, so he pretends to. He puts anywhere from 8–12 pieces of mail in and then says “it’s all full!” and bikes on to the next box. So cute!

Peed Standing Up at the Toilet

Potty training has gently started! We got him a potty seat, but he’s already too big to pee while sitting on it. So, Mark decided to see if Jaryth could pee while standing on his step stool. Success! He has peed in the morning, before bath and before bed. He gets mad when we ask him to do it, but after some prodding (and a little bribery) he will do it. Yay! There is an end in sight for diapers!

First “Real” Kiss

Jaryth’s grandma had been desperately trying to get him to kiss her with a smacking sound. Through 2010, he would put his face up to yours if you asked him for a kiss, but that was all. He wouldn’t move his lips or make any smack noises. He would happily rub noses with you in an “eskimo kiss,” but no real kisses. Then, while we were down in California for a visit, he finally made the smacking sound. Hooray! Now he kisses with the best of them.

Very Active

Jaryth can now run and jump without falling. He loves to run, he’ll chase me or I chase him. He runs in circles around the island in the kitchen, he runs around on the lawn, he runs at parks. Running is fun.

More Words

Talking is fun too. He gets up every morning and identifies everything he sees. “Bed, Daddy, pillow, wall, dog, cat, bath, book, light, light switch, etc.” I estimate he has between 60 and 80 words now, and he gets more every day.

Talking

He’s getting lots of words now. He’s starting to repeat things that we say, and then use them appropriately later. When I counted today, he had at least 15 to 20 words that he uses regularly and correctly and there are dozens or hundreds more that he knows but hasn’t tried to say. Some of his favorite words include: umbrella, scissors, stairs, outside, swing, slide, bed, bite, cheese, kitten, stop, and stuck. There are others that he uses too, but those are the ones I can think of right now.

P.S. For those keeping score at home, he said “dad” and pointed at Mark but has not said “mom.” He does know who “mommy” is, however. I think he’s saving his favorite person for last. :-)

More Teeth

We think he’s getting an incisor as well as another molar. Let me just say that molar teething is worse than anything in the world. Tylenol barely takes the edge off, he wants to nurse every 45 minutes to an hour and none of us get any sleep. I strongly recommend email rather than phone calls this week unless you like being yelled at by sleep deprived people with a child wailing in the background. :-)

Can Drink from a Water Fountain

He is a quick learner. Mark and I each had a drink and he carefully watched us. Then I lifted him up and he actually drank! Prior to today he would “wash” his hands (wipe them together under the stream) or just play in the water.

And One More Molar

Then three days later, his bottom left pre-molar erupted. Ouch! Based on the teething activity, he might have the bottom right in a couple days too.

First Two Molars

We knew he was teething, but thought that we felt teeth through the gums on the bottom in the back. Then today I felt actual tooth on the top, on both sides. Two molars at once, no wonder he couldn’t sleep!

Words

We realized today that he is trying to say words when he talks to us. Up until now we’d heard “Jarythese” and while most of the time we knew what he was saying we couldn’t make out the words.

Some of the things he says include:

• “bup” - for book or bird
• “truh” - for truck
• “umbuhuh” - for umbrella (yes, he loves umbrellas)

First Real Fever

Not necessarily a great milestone, but it does show you how healthy he has been. He had his first real fever (101.6F) for the first time at almost 14 months. He wasn’t acting terribly sick other than being even more of a portable furnace than usual.

Climbing

He can now climb up onto the kitchen chairs, and from there the table. He’s nearly able to climb up the bar stools. Luckily he hasn’t learned to move the chairs so he can climb them, but I’m sure that’s only a matter of time.

Not Talking Yet, but...

He really wants to. He is now pointing at things and saying ’garble garble’ which means either “I want that” or “what is that.” He is consistent in what he says when he points at the things.

Plus, he’s starting to understand a lot of what we say to him. Like the dogs, he recognizes “outside” and “let’s go.” But he also can point at objects in books when you ask him “where’s the _____?” He’s not always right, but he does grasp that I’m asking him to point at something.

Note: he’s been doing these things for a few weeks now, I couldn’t pinpoint the exact day.

8th Tooth

His fourth lower tooth finally came in. He now has 4 on top and 4 on the bottom.

Waving

He waved bye-bye to Mommy today after Daddy prompted him. Up until today his waving consisted of holding up his hand, which we’re pretty sure really meant “I want to stay with Mommy”.

Stairs

Mark watched Jaryth climb up the stairs from the kitchen to the living room without resorting to crawling. The first step he did without any support and the second he had his hand on the door jam.

Clapping

I was on the phone with Jaryth’s Bibi telling her “the milestone I want him to reach is to be able to clap his hands.” Our doctor told us that comes around 1 year. I hung up the phone and was playing with Jaryth. We got out the Barnyard Dance book to read. And he clapped his hands! I don’t know who was more excited, him or me.

Jack-in-the-Box

He learned how to make the jack-in-the-box play its song today. And he happily turns the crank around and around. He knows that the “clown” should go back into the box after it pops up, but while he tries to get it to go in, he’s not yet coordinated enough to do that. Luckily, he doesn’t seem to mind if it just stays up.

Stair Climbing

Jaryth now knows how to climb both up and down stairs. We don’t let him do it unsupervised, but when he wants to go down, he flings his feet down and can make pretty good time. He is starting to try walking down, as long as someone holds his hands.

Finding Things

He’s getting very good at finding things. I can’t say that Feb 10th was the day he started being able to find things, but it’s the day I decided to test him. He recognizes where Mommy goes when she goes upstairs. He knows that if you shove the remote behind you it’s not gone. And on the 10th, I placed the cell phone under a blanket, and he carefully lifted up the blanket to find the phone. He has moved past the “out of sight out of mind” phase of babyhood.

Tongue Clicks

He is nearly ready to ride horses, as he can now click his tongue. He loves to walk around clicking.

Bottom Tooth Number 3

He was really antsy the night before, and then we noticed that we could feel a new tooth on the bottom left. The bottom right tooth is close, too, but hasn’t quite emerged. This makes 7 teeth.

Raspberries and Yodeling

I don’t remember the exact date, but sometime in early January or late December he started raspberrying everything. He walks around the house singing “lalalalalalala” or “pbttttttt.” He also likes to hiss like a Sleestack.

Okay, it’s steps

The lunging is turning into steps. Still not terribly balanced, but if he is between 2 and 4 steps away from something, he can walk unsteadily to them (most of the time). Crawling is still much more effective.

Is it Steps or is it Falling?

He can now stand quite well on his own, with only a few wobbles. He doesn’t fall when you place him in a standing position, even if you let go. And then today he was about a foot away from people and he’d take a lunge towards them, throwing his foot out to stop his fall. It was basically a step. Not really walking yet, but close.

More Teeth

The last few nights have been hard to sleep through, and this morning we learned why. Two more top teeth popped through the gums this morning. They are still very tiny to have caused so much trouble. He can really bite now, and seems to take pleasure in crunching things like Cheerios.

First Real Swimming Experience

While Jaryth has been in water, as you see, but never in water deeper than 6 inches. Today Mommy and Daddy got him a pool float designed to introduce infants to water and we all three went in the pool. Eventually, he got out of the float and “swam” around with Mommy.

Pulled Himself to Standing

Today he pulled himself up to a standing position from a very low (3 inches) support. Previously, he had needed to have something as tall as him or taller to lean on and pull himself up.

More Teeth

Mr. Slobberbot has been crawling around with a sheen of slobber on his chin for the past two weeks, but finally this morning we felt results. When he chomped down on Dad’s finger for the ritualistic morning slobber, Dad felt teeth, not just gums. Only this time, two teeth at once. Both his right and left front teeth have emerged. They are tiny buds right now, but hopefully the teething pain will be reduced.

Stands on His Own

He has been pulling himself up to a standing position for a few weeks now, but today Mark and I both saw him stand up next to something, and then balance there without holding on. I don’t think he realizes he’s balanced, but he is. I keep telling him that this is bad but Jaryth doesn’t seem to agree as he finds it much easier to grab things and wave them around with both hands while standing than while sitting or kneeling.

First Blood

It never fails, if you tell someone your baby can do something, that is the exact moment that he’ll prove you wrong. Today he slipped on the stairs (going down) and bit his lip. Poor baby! And it was right as I was standing over him to catch him telling my friend “yes, I like to stand here, but he can basically get down the stairs himself.” *boom* “WAAAAAAAAAAAA!” Sorry for taunting you, oh gods of irony.

Crawled Up the Steps

We have 2 steps down into our kitchen and Jaryth can now climb up them into the living room. He’s very good at climbing up the steps. He has successfully climbed down them, but since he’s crawling, it’s scarier, and he doesn’t do that as well. Often what he’ll do is crawl down crying (because it’s hard, but he’ll cry even more if you help him) and then when he’s down, turn around, climb back up, and do it all over again. I’ve seen him do that 4 or 5 times in a row.

First Halloween

Mommy and Jaryth dressed up as Eeyore and Baby Eeyore. His costume had a big heavy head on top and was very very hot. That combined with Mommy dressed strangely was too much for him and he started to cry. But we did get some photos.

Real Crawling

So, since he went to California he’s been doing this quasi-imitation of crawling. He was moving across the floor, but not very well. Then today, he lifted his stomach and actually crawled. He was so excited. Mommy tried to get him to crawl to her, but he knows she’ll pick him up if he cries enough, so he only crawls to inanimate objects.

Updated (October 30th): now he will crawl to anything that he wants, including Mommy and Daddy. He’s very mobile, and it’s thrilling to him. He hasn’t figured out how to turn (he sits up, and pushes around in a seated position, then goes back to crawling). And he wants to carry things with him, but hasn’t figured out how to do that either.

Updated (October 31st): He crawled down the two stairs to the kitchen today. You see, baby gates only work if they are put up. Luckily, he didn’t have any problems crawling down those two steps. So I might just block the full staircase, and let him go up and down those on his own (supervised, of course).

A Big Big Day

Today was a big day. Jaryth had his first taste of solid food today - yams. Yumm! He had a great time smearing them all over his tray and face, but stayed amazingly clean even so. Shasta was ready and willing to act as a doggy wash cloth if Mom hadn’t been up to the task.

Then, if that wasn’t enough, Jaryth decided to cap off the day by crawling from the middle of the floor to Mommy - about 3 feet. It was very hard, and more like an army man going under barbed wire, but he made it under his own power. I don’t know who was more excited, him or Mommy.

His First Cold

Poor Jaryth, first Daddy got sick, then Mommy, and finally he came down with a slight cold. Drippy noses and stuffed heads are no fun, but he is still happy. Hopefully the whole family will get well quickly.

First Attempts at Crawling

Slipping and sliding on Grandmother’s wood floor made it a lot easier to attempt crawling with some degree of success. Then when we went to the Academy of Sciences, he moved at least a foot while on the grass - of course no one was really watching.

First Plane Ride

We flew to California today, and Jaryth took to the air like he’d always been there. He flirted with the flight attendants and the other passengers and played bounce in our laps during most of the flight. He had a great time.

Drank from a Sippy Cup

We’ve had sippy cups for about 3 weeks now, but all he would do with them until today was gnaw on the handles or the straw part. But today he was able to get some drink (water) out of it. He doesn’t hold it very well, but that’ll come.

Tooth number 2

He’d been really unhappy the last couple days, and then this morning, we noticed that he didn’t have just one sharp point on his lower jaw, he now had two. He won’t let us look at them, but we can feel them, they’re nice and sharp.

His first tooth broke through

Today we noticed that the teething had a point, as his first tooth broke through the gum to add excitement when he gnaws on our fingers. It’s the bottom left tooth in the front, for those playing the home game.

Successfully Pulled Himself to Standing

NOOOOOOOOOOO! We were really hoping to put off the standing (and thus walking, etc.) as long as possible. But he was determined. He was in the laundry basket and I turned around, and when I turned back he was standing in the basket. We couldn’t get him to do it for the camera, but we’ve seen him do it since then.

Much Better Reaching

Now he can start to reach for things and actually grab onto them. He leans forward from a sitting position to grab things. Usually if it’s too far away, he falls on his face, but sometimes he can connect and sit back up. His aim is much better than it was. See a video.

Learns to Bang

He figured out that if he grabs his toys he can bang them on things and make noise. This is a ton of fun! See a video.

Sits on His Own

Holy cow! He’s not supposed to be able to sit on his own until around 6 months, and he’s doing it already. Maybe it’s because he’s a little tank - so when he’s sitting he acts like a Weeble (wobbles but doesn’t fall down—much).

More Vowel Sounds

He’s getting more and more vowel sounds. Still not a lot of consonants, but he can ooo and ahhh, and eee with the best of them.

I am a Bouncing Fool

Jaryth has decided that the best game, EVAH! is to bounce in your arms. All you have to do is hold him so he doesn’t fall over. He does the rest. It’s tiring for your arms, but he love love LOVES it!

Grabbing Things

His aim isn’t particularly good, but he can now grab things and hold onto them for short periods of time. He does better if you hold it to him or put it in his hand. But once it’s there he can hold onto it.

Rolling Over

He has now rolled over on his own. It’s very exciting, except that he mostly does it when we’re not looking. He can roll over from front to back and back to front.

Coos

He loves to talk to his mobiles. He chats with the zebra for long stretches of time. Watch a video

First Smile

Mommy and Daddy had been waiting for this one. It was such a wonderful day when he first smiled at us. It made all the lack of sleep worthwhile.

Insisted on Riding Forward in the Moby

He wouldn’t ride facing in towards me in the Moby. His head and neck are fairly strong, so I decided to let him ride facing forward on the 28th, and now he doesn’t want to ride any other way.

Noticed His Mobile

Today he really noticed his mobile for the first time. He waved his hands around at it and was intently (well, as intently as he can) staring at it.