Jessica Kelso

I hate that word. I hate thinking about that word. I don’t think I’m even ready to use the word, much less follow through with what the word means. Needless to say, the time has come. Thrasher has now reached the toddler phase and is testing his boundaries on a daily – or more like hourly – basis. I know it’s normal and part of the growing process but I also know I’m determined to not have bratty kids who get away with everything! This kid is smart. He’s figured out the child proof cabinet locks we recently installed, he knows how to unhook the baby gate, and just the other night he opened the door to the office. He has also decided recently that he likes to play more with his food than he does eat it. He feeds it to Milo, smashes it, and throws it all over the place. Recently, we even discovered him putting the food underneath the tray – all sneaky- and dropping it on the floor! And I’ve pretty much given up on him wearing a bib. . . that has been a battle not worth fighting. He thinks it’s hilarious to take it off.

He’s ONE! Is this normal? I didn’t expect a lot of this for at least another year or two!!

We already feel like we’ve over-used he word “no”. He repeated it back to me today along with shaking his head no. The other night he was being so obviously disrespectful, that we put him in his crib for a 1 minute time out. I try to ignore the little tempers that he throws when we tell him no, but sometimes the crying doesn’t stop! I have no idea if what we’re doing is right or wrong. . . it’s just what we think is best at the time. I want to be consistent and I feel like starting young is probably the best.

I definitely could use some good advice for discipline when it comes to a one year old, along with recommendations for books!

On a more positive note, he really is a GOOD kid. We get compliments all the time about what a good baby he is, so it makes me wonder at times if we’re just too hard on him. Before now, he has always tried to clap our hands with us but today he finally clapped his own hands for the first time. It was pretty stinkin’ cute. He’s a handful at times, but I wouldn’t trade him for the world. His belly laughs and big hugs can usually make everything okay!