17 Months Old

Grant turned 17 months old on Friday. I have so many conflicting emotions about it. Every time we reach another month, it's a little bittersweet because it's a reminder that time is flying by so quickly. The days and weeks just seem to disappear before our eyes. And I'm trying to enjoy every minute of every day, remembering that our lives will not be the same in about five more months! I'll never be able to give as much of my undivided attention to Grant as I can now, so I'm really trying to remember that and make the most of these days when he's still my only responsibility.

But at the same time, we are in such a difficult stage with Grant that sometimes it's hard to appreciate every minute, or even every day. We do have our wonderful times with him, and I cannot imagine not having him. But he has become so strong-willed, and he hits and throws fits almost every time he doesn't get his way. Even simple things like putting him into the car or taking him off of the kitchen chair (when he wants to be up there) frequently turn into major battles. We have tried so many things to deal with his hitting; we've tried spanking, timeouts, pinching the back of his arm, and nothing seems to stop it. He just gets more and more mad and hits even more. A couple of days ago we got an idea to hold his hands to his side for 30 seconds every time he hits. Yesterday and today he has probably spent 10 minutes (or more) of his days with his hands pressed to his belly, which he hates! It hasn't made much of an impact yet, but hopefully we can be consistent and make a dent in his behavior. When we go out, it's embarrassing to have him hit me in public; there have been a number of times that we've had to leave public places because he throws a fit and starts hitting when he doesn't get his way. Aahh!!

Anyway, like I said, we do have good points in every day. He's always surprising us by the things he understands and ways that he tries to communicate. He can now say "more" and a few other words. But he still mostly just talks when we ask him to repeat words, instead of initiating the communication himself. I'm not sure how many words kids are supposed to know (and use) by 18 months, but we'll find out in mid-May whether he's made enough progress to avoid having the government intervention (that still kind of scares me!).

He loves to crawl on anything and everything he can.....boxes, couches, beds (thankfully he usually needs our help to do this!), and chairs. He likes to climb onto his little rocking chair on our porch and rock himself in it! And he ALWAYS wants to go outside....he points at the door all the time. I think he would live in our backyard if we let him! I really want to buy a kids' picnic table for our patio so we can eat lunch out there in the summer.

As far as eating goes, I don't know how he maintains his weight! He eats like a bird these days. Usually at breakfast he only eats a few pieces of cereal (or half of a waffle, or a few bites of oatmeal or fruit), and a little bit of milk. Then he gets fussy and starts throwing his food, so that means it's time to get down. And he doesn't even act hungry again until lunchtime! Usually either at lunch or dinner he'll eat a fair amount, but not usually at both meals. Still, I know that he'll eat as much as his body needs, so I'm not worried.....but sometimes I wish that mealtime lasted a little longer because it gives me a little break and it gives us something to do!!

Something he's really into right now.....chocolate! I keep some Hershey's Kisses on the window ledge in our kitchen, and he always points to them and wants some. He only gets one (or maybe two) per day.....I usually try to give them to him as bribes to get into his carseat. I know that bribing isn't ideal, but on a bad day, it definitely seems like a great option!

I will post some pictures from last week in another post.....