These past couple of months have been crazy. Keaten has discovered many new things, including several words, that just keep us running ragged. First his new words: "Thank you God", "What's this?" (yes, that one is as scary as it seems), "Help", "Brush Teeth", and so on. Any time you hear "What's this?" you can't help but cringe to what you think he may be holding now and secondly, how did he get it? That phrase alone has Mommy and I in a tizzy when we hear it, just trying to imagine what he got into this time. You would think "Help" would be the word that would freak us out most, but actually it doesn't and that's probably because he uses it for every mundane task you can think of. Can't get his blanket free? "Help, Help me, Help", Can't get you cup? "Help, Help me, Help", etc. "Help" is a sign of relief for us, we at least know he can't or believes he is unable to do something. :)
As we did with Brianne, Keaten has a bedtime routine that consists of saying a prayer and singing a song. It didn't take him long before he started requesting these routines for his nap times too. Once laid in his bed, he folds his hands and starts to say the opening line: "Thank you God". Of course, that's about as far as he gets before mumbling, but we'll take it! Along with his bed time routine, it is becoming more and more common that when we instruct him to go into the bathroom before bed, he asks "Brush Teeth?" to which our reply is, "Yes, it is time to brush your teeth". Unlike his sister, he seems to enjoy it, for her, it is like pulling teeth...
These past two months we always have to have our eye on this little boy. If you take it off for one second, you'll be scanning the entire place for him real soon. With his new climbing abilities he'll be up his way onto the dining room table, trying to climb to the top of the couch, scaling the window seal, climbing inside the refrigerator, and the list just goes on. Just while writing this, the 3 times I turned to look around, Keaten was at the following locations: On the floor drinking his cup near my desk, then sitting on a truck we have in the living room, and lastly at the foot of the television (this time covered in a blanket -- not sure where he got that from).
This climbing phrase has been driving his sister crazy! As now she doesn't have many places that are safe for her to hide from her brother. The couch?, Nope!, her bed? Nope!, where oh where can she hide? Pretty much no where. And that bothers her (well, her brother bothers her). He feels his new climbing abilities allows him to seek her out and pick on her. Oh the days we have two children rummaging across the floor and couch as they pick on each other... that phase ends when? After one goes to college?
Lastly due to Keaten's climbing abilities, we've converted his crib to a toddler bed. Thus he can now climb into and out of his bed on his own. At first this was a bit of a struggle... he decided bed time wasn't necessary any more. But now, he's pretty good at staying in his bed at night (at least until 3:30 AM, then he thinks it is time for the day to begin!). Someone cancel Daylight Savings this weekend... I can't handle him wanting to get up at 2:30 instead of 3:30. :(
Speaking of sleeping, you should see all the places this kid falls asleep. Standing up leaning on the couch, just outside of my desk area, on the couch, on their Elmo couch, near the door of his bedroom, at the foot of his bed, and so forth. We're just relieved when he does fall asleep (especially for nap time).
With his new climbing ability and him realizing he can reach further, he has figured out how to turn the knobs on the dish washer, the dryer, the washer, and knows how to turn on the "end of cycle" sound on both the dryer and washer. Needless to say, we were a bit confused as to what was making a beeping noise one day, only to find out it was the dryer. Keaten also discovered how to remove the knob from the dryer and brought it to us 3 times. The fourth time, he hid it and it only took a small army of individuals to find it. Daddy, Mommy, Brianne, Grandma and Pop Pa. Since that time, Daddy super glued it back on. ;)
Keaten this past month also had his very first ER visit. He had a rash from his head to his abdomen and was having a terrible cough. Ended up, he had croup. They gave him a steroid to open his airway better so his cough wasn't as harsh and for the next few days his cough and rash were much better. It still took nearly a week for him to completely get over it, but we managed. Of course, that week, his sister was also sick and slowly Mommy and I caught whatever they had. Glad that's over!
Now this won't come as much of a surprise to anyone, but Mommy has obviously been instilling her cleaning routine into our children (or trying to turn them into free labor... not sure which yet). One morning Keaten spilled his left over popcorn from our movie night all over the floor, so he went and got the toy sweeper and proceeded to try and sweep it up! Surprising he does a decent job at picking up toys when asked, especially blocks.
And lets not forget about this guy loving to color! Oh my goodness. He'll just lay down on the floor with crayons and paper and go to town. It won't be long till you start to see some of this artwork labeled with "Original Artwork by Keaten Wilkin" in stores/galleries near you.
Finally, the news everyone has wanted to hear, his 18 month checkup! Just this past week he had his 18 month checkup and he put on a whole 4 ounces! Yep, I know, he's getting fat, I can already tell he'll have to go on a diet. :P He also grew 1/2 an inch since his 15 month checkup too, so he's on his way to being tall like his Daddy (I hope).
Well that's it for the past two months and so we'll delight you with a few updated pictures:
Love,
Matt, Kami, Brianne, and Keaten