Walkers, Juice Boxes, and No Mouth-Noises

So yesterday I gave up. Well not really "gave up," but I did decide to quit wondering when Bug is going to walk. I guess since Chicklet walked at 11 months I expected Bug to walk by his first birthday. Not so much. It's not like I think he "needs" to be walking now, just that I expected he would be and he's not so I keep wondering. Well today I said I give up wondering! Lol! He will walk when he walks! He's smart and strong and he CAN walk and does when he thinks I'm holding him up, but he is just not brave enough yet to do it on his own. So I hereby decree the end of my wondering. I've been working with him daily for weeks trying to get him to walk and he loves when I help him but he just never takes the initiative to do it on his own. I've had the walker put up out of use since he was about 9 months old because I heard it could delay him, and before that he only used it when I was cooking supper. He used it so little that he barely knew how to go forward, and could not really steer it. So as a symbol of my letting go, not wondering anymore, and letting him do what he does when he's ready, I got out the walker, washed it off, and put him in there today. You should have seen him go! He jumped up and down in there for a minute until he figured out how to make it go and once he did, boy he was gone. He didn't limit himself to the kitchen either. He went into the living room and opened the chest of drawers by the front door and started pulling things out and then played open-close for a while. Then he came back to the kitchen and followed me around for a while. Then he got tired and came up and grabbed my pant leg and tugged at me until I picked him up and gave him a bottle and layed him down for a quick pre-dinner nap. The boy is too smart for his own good though... He learned in 3 seconds flat how to open the cabinet doors by backing up so the walker was out of the way of the door. So I rubber banded the doors together to hold them shut and he went over and started pulling the rubber band to the side exactly like you would to take it off... but thankfully he could not quite pull hard enough.

He can say:

"chz" -cheese

"bot" -bottle or nurse

"tsis?" -what's this

"tsat?" -what's that

"Mama"

"Dada"

"Sissy"

and a few more I'll have to think on to try to remember...

Buggie had his first juice box! Well, he's drank juice from a box before but Mama (that would be me) was holding the box. Yesterday I set him in the middle of the kitchen floor and gave him a juice box and let him learn how to not squeeze it. Oh he did SO good! I was so proud of him! He barely squeezed at all! I was surprised because the first time my daughter had a juice box she barely got any to drink because she squeezed it all out all over herself. Oh and this was in McDonald's she did this and I had to take her in the bathroom and wash her and change her clothes. Lol!







Also yesterday, Chicklet learned how to be silent during quiet time. I mean, it's called quiet time for a reason right? Lol! I just told her no mouth-noises and every time she would make a sound or talk I would tell her firmly but sweetly, "no mouth-noises, remember?" and tap her cheek. She thought it was a great game and I got a nap while she rested! Then today she again was silent during quiet time and she actually fell asleep because she was not keeping herself awake talking! Granted it was only half an hour of nap but hey, I'll take what I can get! ;) I have to give credit where credit is due, the no mouth sounds idea is one I got from Kimberly at http://www.raisingolives.com/ - Thank you Kimberly!