Thirteen (Months)

Things have been fairly ho-hum around the old homestead of late, or so it seems.  What is mundane to me might be very exciting to you so I will share with you what I have.  Ruckus is 13 months old now, and will be 14 months in just eight more days.  Time sure flies!  A coworker of mine saw a recent picture of him and guessed his age at two.  He is big but I guess she doesn't remember that I was gone, on maternity leave, at this time last year.  It clearly meant more to me than her, haha!  Ruckus weighs 26 lbs now.  I haven't measured his height lately but he is tall.  He is still in 18 month sizes which is a relief because replacing his wardrobe every five minutes gets expensive.

Recent Events

There hasn't been much going on.  Last week Ruckus threw up a few times and we got to take the day off of work/school and take him to the doctor to get checked up on.  He had a virus.  I was told to switch him to Pedialyte and soy milk for 24 hours, which I did, and to not feed him for a day, which I ignored, and he was back to his normal self the next day.  I say normal self but in reality it's his new normal which involves having a perpetual cold and sinus congestion with an alarming cough.  According to his doctor, this is also a virus and nothing to worry about.

I have purchased a vaporizer and placed it near his bed to hopefully counteract the effect of the heater running all night.  I know that coughs and colds can be aggravated by dry air and we have plenty of that without the added drying effects of central heat.

Ruckus received his last round of shots without much fuss, in spite of receiving six separate shots, three in each leg.  I think they threw a bonus immunization in there just for fun because he was only due for four, and I opted him in for a flu shot but that's still only five... anyway, he should be good to go for a few months and then he'll need just one more shot and nothing else for a long while.  I think.  It's hard to keep up on because there are so many things they want to inoculate children against.  A few of these six shots were combination shots, so his little body must have been just inundated with germs but he responded well and only developed a small fever the next day.


He has been doing well at daycare, and still seems to enjoy his time there.  In the past two months he has been bitten by other children at least twice, one time they didn't mention it at all and the next time there was a long conversation with one of the caregivers about it.  They won't come out and say which child did the biting but subtly point fingers at a little boy named Rodney.  He is a cute thing and seems like a sweet boy, but when I went to pick up Ruckus yesterday I saw Rodney hitting Ruckus on the head.  It wasn't hard and Ruckus didn't cry, but I think that Rodney has some troubles dealing with frustration and needs... something.  I have no idea what.  I'm new at raising kids and my son does not currently exhibit any signs of trouble so I'm certainly not one to say what the best course of action is.  I do know that I don't want my son hurt, and I don't want him picking up bad habits like biting and hitting.  I also live in the real world and know that children bite, children hit, and he will in all probability need to learn how to fight eventually.  Is one year old too young to learn self defense?

Development

I stopped reading what normal development is for my son's age, simply because he sure seems normal to me.  I do compare him to the children in daycare, and he seems pretty much up to snuff.  He is developing his walking skills little by little.  Over the past weekend I had him out in the yard with me for about an hour.  The yard has a downhill slope and the ground is covered in close cropped grass with trees along the edges.  Ruckus handled the downhill/uphill walking parts fairly well, and only stumbled a few times.  He does not know how to run yet, thankfully, and seems to be a little cautious when it comes to walking, probably as a result of numerous falls that he took early on.  He was fascinated for quite a while with pulling leaves off of the trees and feeling the different textures between leaves and pine needles.  He did not try to eat any of the leaves, which is a nice change from not so long ago when every single thing within reach went into his mouth.

Ruckus actively plays with toys now, pressing buttons with one finger to hear the sounds the toy will make instead of mashing it with his fist or palm.  He picks blocks out of his dump truck, and puts them back in.  He is learning to throw things deliberately, although he has not quite mastered his aim.  His favorite toy right now is an inflated ball (this one has Batman on it) which he likes to bounce on the kitchen floor, chase around the house, and charmingly, bounce back and forth with a partner across a table top.  He is coordinated enough to 'catch' the ball and bounce it back to you and this is awfully cute.  He also likes to roll a bottle or cup across the table to you, and have you roll it back to him.  This often will illicit an otherwise elusive giggle from him.

Ruckus knows when bedtime is and will make himself scarce in order to stay up later.  I don't know if this is just his internal clock or if I'm giving off bedtime signals, but he usually will 'disappear' to his Uncle's room for a few minutes more of playtime.  He loves to surprise people in their rooms, and once he locates you, he'll come marching right in to help you with whatever it is you are up to in there.

Ruckus also has learned how to sneak things.  He isn't allowed to play with the TV remote, for obvious reasons, so he will wait until you aren't looking or have left the room, and then makes a beeline for it.  Quick as a flash, it is in his hand and being carted off to the kitchen where he can play with it in secret.  Little does Ruckus know that pushing buttons while out of range of the TV does little good.

He likes to sneak-snack on the dog's food.  I busted him with four pieces of kibble in his mouth the other morning and he was very angry when I pried it out.  He held on to the last piece for quite a while, not daring to chew, until I finally realized he was up to something and there must be more in his mouth. 

Bath time these days is in our regular tub, since Ruckus has outgrown his baby tub.  He has a few bath toys he enjoys playing with in amongst the bubbles, but does not seem to enjoy a long bath.  I wash his hair, hands, feet and face and by then he is usually ready to get out, and I have to gently force him to stay seated in the tub while I finish washing the rest of him.  He stands up and comes to the side, lifting his arms as if to say 'Out now please!'.  So I have to hurry up and finish before he slips and falls.

In general he seems to be much more a kid now than a baby.  He still can't do most things himself, but compared to a year ago he is much more capable these days.  He holds his own bottle or sippy cup.  He feeds himself chunks of fruit and other foods, and can chew it all up with those brand new teeth that are slowly filling his mouth.  He walks, and can pick himself up when he falls down.  He plays independently and needs us less and less each day.  I feel like the little baby days went by so quickly, and I suppose they did.  A year is not very long at all.  But these new little boy times are so exciting, and I can't wait to see what's next.  I hope it's talking!!