Xboy with Legos

About three months ago (maybe more), I bought a box of Kellog's Cinnamon Swirlz cereal for myself. I opened it at breakfast, started pouring (yawn!), and the first thing to plop into the milk was a toy sealed in plastic (for sleepy folks like me who pour cereal blindly). When I read the cereal box, it said FREE XBOX GAME INSIDE! Like I need an XBOX. So I turned it on, poked the Mystic Castle a few times, and gave it to Karston. He loves the electronic boop sound it makes, and he still plays with it. He played with it this afternoon as a matter of fact! So Karston was just over a year old when he got his first XBOX, and he likes it. Hmm. I don't know about this trend.

However, he spent this evening getting frustrated but learning how to put QUATRO LEGO blocks together. He knows that the bottom of one block snaps onto the top of another block, and he knows that the blocks go together in parallel or perpendicular formations, but he was sometimes frustrated by the exact alignment. However, he kept trying, and I think LEGOs have clicked for him now; he understands that he can build shapes out of LEGOs. Cool!

Toddler

Fourteen

Well, he hit the 70% mark on baby teeth: tooth #14, the lower right canine, just started poking through today. I wonder if that's why Karston slept so poorly last night? Actually, I'm pretty sure his poor sleep was due to Christmas. We started with a quiet round of opening presents at home. Karston opened presents that weren't for him while we were wrapping presents Christmas Eve, so we thought he would enjoy opening his presents Christmas Day. (No. Too boring. He wanted to sit on lap and cuddle.) However, Daddy opened a present of mint chocolate grahams with Karston on his lap, and before anyone noticed anything, Karston punched through the plastic wrap, and had a large cookie in each hand! By the time we got the cookies away from him, he had eaten one-and-a-half cookies and had taken one bite each from four more. I don't know how he did that much cookie destruction that quickly, but for a little guy, he sure can move fast! Following up chocolate cookies with a large dose of family (everyone playing with him) kept him buzzing all Christmas. He had a 30-minute nap in the car, that was it. And he still stayed up late and caused baby commotion.

Toddler

Shoes

Karston got several pairs of shoes for Christmas because his first pair is just about worn out. Bad news on that front. He may be 25th percentile for head circumference, and 5th percentile for height, and below the chart for weight, but all of his new size 12-24 month shoes were too small for him. Rats! I never would have expected that given that he's not been large on any measurement before. I may end up making the Tacky Living pattern for soft-soled shoes (scaled up as needed) for him.

Still, we put a pair of lighted sneakers on him without socks figuring that he would enjoy the lights on his feet. He's never worn shoes with solid soles before, and he couldn't figure out how to walk! He would pull himself up on furniture, try a tentative step, then give us a pained look. And not move at all. I think this is the only thing I've ever seen to cause him to stand perfectly still for long periods of time! Of course he was pretty unhappy so I wouldn't want to do it, but it's interesting to note that he can stand still. I wonder how the adjustment to regular shoes will go later?

Toddler

Animated

We went to a sports bar this evening with friends to watch Carolina basketball. Karston got to play with Jeni's son Will who is seven weeks older, and he had a blast. Karston worked the room flirting with women, he clapped wildly when everyone cheered for Carolina, and he played with Will. Will (who seems to be perfectly sweet and normal, not that I know what that is) got tired once it was late. Despite Will's dropped head, Karston kept running up to him, crouching down to look up into Will's face, and then laughing like crazy. You could just feel the Play with me! vibe, and tired was no excuse. Jeni finally asked me, "Is he always this animated around so many people?" I thought about it for a second, trying to grasp what she meant about animated, and realizing that Karston wasn't acting out of the ordinary for any number of people. So I said simply, "He's always this animated." I think that explains Karston in a nutshell. He's always go-go-go, and no wonder he doesn't sleep well. There's too much to do! too many reasons to laugh and shriek! too many new things in the world! No time for sleep! Whew. Wears me out just thinking about it. To spare Will, I started Karston calisthenics, which involves slinging him upside down and around while he laughs; it's quite a workout and thank goodness Karston is still a lightweight who hasn't cracked 20 pounds.

Toddler

Towel Boy

For the past month or more, when Daddy gets out of the shower, Karston picks up his towel and hands it to him. Last week, while Karston was playing in the living room, Daddy called Oh towel boy! and Karston came running down the hall to give Daddy his towel. Well, this morning I had my first turn! Daddy suggested to Karston that he hand me my towel. Karston thought about it (playing with Daddy is so fun), then he went to the towels, selected my green towel hiding behind Daddy's burgundy towel, handed it to me, and ran back to Daddy for praise and more playing. But I had my first Towel Boy service! He even knew that I use a different towel!

Toddler

The Terrible Twos

I think we just had a whole weekend preview of The Terrible Twos! Gack! A little sooner than expected, but it was bound to happen. Karston was racing around, trying to get into everything. He had a shorter attention span than usual, but he just had to get inside whatever was in front of him within his attention span without any help, or he would scream in frustration. If we helped him, he screamed because he wanted to do it himself. If we took him away from something dangerous, he screamed because he wanted to figure it out. Run, shred, scream, repeat. Very tiring.

Now what's interesting is that he mellowed out to the kid his parents recognize after ... drum roll please ... a really good night's sleep. So he was a royal terror when he was overtired. Hmm!

Technorati Tags: Toddler

KarstonBuff StrongPants

Karston quit doing this just as soon as I touched the camcorder, so this will not be recorded for posterity. He came walking down the hall to me, shoulders arched, elbows slightly flexed, hands in fists, looking like a strong man poster. That was pretty funny, and then he started to growl while still posing! Grr ... rrr ... grr ... with a huge grin. Karston's very funny!

Yes, he's feeling better. He has a very minor rash, but he's playing.

Funny, Toddler

Rosy Ola

Aha! The promised rash of roseola is just starting to appear. Karston has rosy pink splotches around the edge of his face and on his chest. So that's the start of the rash, and should be the end of the fever (or else we're going back to the doctor). He didn't have this rash when we got home from work, and he does now. At least the fever stage is done because Karston didn't feel well with the fever. The rash isn't supposed to itch (I'm not sure anything called a rash can be anything but itchy, but we'll see), so if he has no itchiness and no fever I'm hoping he'll feel fine and start eating food again.

Seeing his rash made me feel itchy on my forehead and my back; hopefully that's just psychosomatic so that it goes away quickly, and Karston and I don't have something else.

Toddler

Roseola

Oh my, that was a scare! But this morning the doctor said Karston probably just has roseola. Karston didn't quite make it to 17 months old before his first sickness.

Karston was lethargic on Friday, then had a fever starting on Saturday sometimes up to 100 degrees (ear, oral adjusted), and was fussy. It didn't help that we were under a "boil water" alert all this weekend that thankfully turned out to be a false alarm, right as we ran out of bottled water. Tylenol didn't do anything for his fussing (it's been very effective for new teeth), but Motrin really did the trick. He would stop fussing about half an hour later, and would usually be playing an hour after Motrin! Last night, Karston was burning up (Motrin first!) and the ear thermometer went beep-crazy, so we brought out the rectal thermometer for the first time. It said 103.5 °F, and we called the pediatrician's Nurse Line right away! We got directions on what to do at different temperatures, and he didn't have any other danger signs like troubled breathing, so we pushed through the night on Motrin before going to see the pediatrician this morning. As a side note, he weighed 19 pounds 3.4 ounces! And that's after a weekend of eating only (at best) about half his normal amounts.

Anyway, we have a diagnosis of he'll be fine, and guidelines, and we're ready to take a nap with him.

Toddler

Kitchen Haircut

We haven't used Roomba in the kitchen much because our kitchen has several fringed rugs for Roomba to choke on. But then we realized we didn't buy those rugs (they came with the house) and we don't care what they look like. So today, I gave the kitchen carpets a "haircut" and then let Roomba loose. I don't think our kitchen has been this clean since Karston started to try to feed himself, and drop food everywhere!


Plus Roomba is an excellent babysitter. Karston loves to watch Roomba; he always has. Roomba was an excellent baby purchase for us! Daddy got the gift of time since he doesn't have to vacuum as often when Roomba does the basic pickup, Baby loves to watch Roomba, and I love multi-purpose appliances. Our cat Linus is also a good babysitter because Karston and Linus love each other. In the current game, Karston screams and chases, and Linus stays just ahead of him. The adults know exactly where both child and cat are, and can do upright two-handed activities. If Karston gets distracted from this game or if he's sad in general, Linus cries for us to take care of Karston.


Speaking of what Karston likes, he likes the hearth broom from our fireplace tools that is his size. The regular broom frustrates him because he can't carry it easily because it's so long for him, but. And he also likes watching Roomba. Maybe this is a good trend for his future cleanliness? OK folks, don't laugh yourselves silly.


Today I learned that Karston knows more Sherry Bobbins than Mary Poppins. After I cut fringes from carpets, I swept up the fringes with a brush and dustpan. Karston was fascinated with the brush since it's like a small broom, and he likes those. However, he kept sweeping the fringes under the carpet. He did carry some fringes to the trash can cabinet, but he wanted to sweep fringes under the carpet. And that's more Sherry Bobbins than Mary Poppins for cleaning!

Toddler

Growth Charts

Ah ... I should have been looking at these growth charts (also here) last year! Karston isn't falling below the ranges, although he was still on the low side, when I plot his first year data on these charts. So he was a normal breastfed baby, hardly surprising.

Baby

Father's Little Helper

Karston has been Daddy's boy lately. He wants Daddy to carry him everywhere and to play with him. This evening he helped Daddy do laundry. When he saw Daddy put clothes from the closet floor into the laundry basket, he walked over several times, grabbed clothes, and walked back to put them in the basket. (Taller folks, like Daddy, just had to lean, not walk, for this operation.) When all of the clothes were in the basket, Karston started pushing it. Keep in mind, the laundry basket was quite full, and Karston hasn't hit 20 pounds yet! He was at a 45-degree angle to the floor, pushing with all his might, and his feet slipped frequently. (Daddy helped by pulling the basket discretely.) Karston was just determined to help, and he put everything into it. Such a sweet boy!

Toddler

Lunch

Karston has decided that baby food is a lot less interesting than whatever we're eating. So far, he'll eat anything that we eat: nothing is too spicy for him! Today I think he really proved that his taste in food is not that discriminating. Daddy said all he would eat for lunch today is fried okra and raisins. Yeah sure, those go together! He'll eat raisins with anything, just about any time of day. Sometimes he doesn't eat the skins, and he'll spit the raisin skeletons out on you a while later. (He also really goes through yogurt when it comes from my bowl or my mother's.) He wouldn't eat pizza for lunch today though, but he eagerly helped me eat pizza for lunch on Wednesday. I'm still trying to get over fried okra and raisins for lunch ... bleah! (I don't like okra.)

Toddler

So Sad and Snuggly

After Karston's nap after his pediatrician's appoinment on Monday, he woke up very sad. No setting down the baby! In fact, he only walked ten feet total that afternoon; mostly he sat and gently rubbed his leg where he got his shots. (Yes, I felt very guilty. But countries with strict vaccination programs have excellent childhood survival rates, while countries with more lax vaccination programs, like the US, have an increase in preventable childhood diseases. So he's getting vaccinated, and these shots were the last in the series. No mercury, no live viruses.) Monday night wasn't too bad, but maybe he needed more snuggles than usual. Tuesday was another sad snuggly day. Tuesday night, he was Cuddles the Kid, and he needed Daddy to hug him to sleep. Wednesday, we were going to go back to the pediatrician if he weren't feeling better. He asked to nurse much more than usual, but he was much closer to normal. Whew! (Yes, he asks to nurse. He climbs in my lap, stares, lifts my shirt, and then gives me a cute hopeful look.)

Toddler

Molars Redux

Trying to cheer Karston up after his pediatrician vaccinations, I held him upside down and made a silly face. He laughed (yay!), and I got a good view of his mouth. Guess what? I spotted tooth #11, an upper molar peeking through. Right now, his pair of molars is a left-right pair; molars will be so much more useful in top-bottom pairs!

Toddler

Pediatrician: Fifteen Months

We went to the pediatrician this morning, and the appointment was delightfully short! We were on the road 30 minutes after our appointment time. Yeah! Vitals are 18 pounds 3.5 ounces (Karston usually weighs more, but he didn't eat much for breakfast this morning, and he had a huge poopy just before we left) and 29 inches tall. The doctor looked at his chart, noted that his height is still around the 5th percentile but that his weight increase is much flatter than the standard curve (meaning the 5th percentile line is going up faster than Karston's weight below that percentile), and asked if he were still breastfeeding, and yes he is. Apparently that's what the flatter weight curve means, and he'll catch up once he gives up nursing. Then we finished with the last round of standard vaccines (crying, of course, more I think about lying down and not standing than about the shots), and went out the door.

Toddler

Stairs

We let Karston run around the basement this evening while I put laundry in the dryer and Daddy told me about his day. After the laundry transfer, we walked over to stairs, and looked to see which parent he wanted to carry him up the steps. He came to the first step, put both hands and one foot on it, and looked at me (I was sitting on the bottom step to take off my shoes). I put a hand on his bottom for support, and he crawled up one step. OK, that's cool, wait for it ... yes! he made an attempt on the second step! By the fifth step, he could clamber up without a supporting hand, although I was right behind him to make sure he didn't tumble down. By the tenth step, he was moving rather quickly for someone who had never gone up stairs on his own before, from one step to the next in about 1.5 seconds. Speedy child! He just did fifteen steps, and went upstairs on his own steam!

I'm grateful for the door at the top of the stairs. It has a lock that only adults can reach, too.

Toddler

Panty Raid

Laundry happens: my mother was getting ready to do laundry today when Karston started going through her laundry basket. He was making very happy sounds, playing with soft stuff, and that's a good time to get your own projects done quickly. Then he pulled out the Victoria's Secret panties with a victory crow! This boy pulls hats off his head as soon as the hat touches his head, but he ran around her house making happy sounds and pulling panties over his head! So I figure Karston has had his first panty raid, and is even farther along his frat boy path. I had no idea that my son would be showing so much of his own personality (and such a boy personality) this young (trust me, he didn't learn about panty raids at home!), but I learn new things from Karston all the time.

Toddler

Speed Dial

Trust me, you do not want to be on my speed dial list. Karston thinks the telephone is the coolest toy ever (touch tones! lighted screen! Mommy uses it! Karston doesn't get to touch it often!). His toy phones (the Parents one from Target and the Ambi/Brio one) are pretty good, but not as good as The Real Thing. I try not to forbid much (just watch him very closely), so he was holding the phone today after my conference call. He enjoys pushing the keys, and every once in a while he hit the button to dial out. (Then I would leap into action, snag the phone, and hang up. I'm sure the phone company loves me.)

So if you know parents of toddlers, you don't want to be on their speed dial list! There's no telling when you might get some weird phone call.

Toddler

Oh, Daddy!

This evening, we got home just a little before Karston, so Daddy checked on the garden, and picked a ripe tomato while he was there. When Karston showed up, Daddy put the tomato in his shirt pocket and came out of the garden to greet his little boy. And that's when we all saw the funniest thing! Karston gave his usual big grin, happy to see Daddy, and reached for him. Daddy picked him up. Karston, arms up in happiness, noticed the shirt pocket bulge. Or should I say he noticed the breast pocket bulge? The look on Karston's face was a combination of joy and awe! Oh Daddy, you finally grew those breasts I wanted! He was happy to see Daddy before, even more thrilled when ... oh yes, he touched the pocket, that's the right combination of firm and soft!

Karston stroked the pocket. Daddy didn't want a tomato squished in his pocket, so they went in to the kitchen where Daddy emptied that pocket. Oh, it's just a tomato. Karston looked absolutely crestfallen that Daddy didn't grow breasts after all. We laughed when we figured out what he must've been thinking.

Toddler