This is what I was greeted to when I got out of the shower today. Not pictured, the one year old chewing on a tampon!
I have 5 kids, I’ve been through 4 of them being toddlers, yet somehow I have forgotten how absolutely exhausting having a one year old can be. There is a 5 year gap between the last two; I was completely done with diapers, terrible two’s and tyrannical 3 year olds. Everybody could wipe their own butts, shower, and stay with me when shopping. Now I’m back to square one.
I would almost prefer an infant to a busy one year old. You turn your back for just a couple of minutes and they are dancing on top of a table! I try to tell myself they are building important motor skills. Really? Come on, after falling off the chair or table two or three times I would’ve just given up. If nothing else they are tough and resilient. I have seen those kids hit their heads or fall down, run into walls (and refrigerators, that was funny!) jump up and take off like nothing ever happened. If I ran into a wall I would have to lick my wounds for a little while.
They love to climb, it’s the getting down that’s tough. Once they’ve scaled to the very top of a bunk bed and then realized there is now where to go. They have 2 choices: 1. yell for help, or 2. fall. Since they can’t talk yet and can’t yell for help, that leaves falling. I try to be diligent about shutting bedroom doors so they can’t get into bedrooms when I’m not looking, but I’m only human. They are smarter than we give them credit for; it’s almost as if they lay in wait for us to slip up. That, and they have the selective memory of an elephant I’ve decided. As soon as she discovers that bedroom door has been left open, some magnetic attraction drawers her to that ladder, and says “climb me...again!”
Bouncy Balls! I don’t even know how or where we obtained an infinite number of bouncy balls in this house. It’s almost as if we have a bouncy ball fairy. Every time I turn around, that kid has one in her mouth! I throw them away when I find them, and before you know it she has another one. I honestly have no idea who has the stash of bouncy balls or where they are stashed at, but seriously it’s ridiculous.
Another great skill a one year old possesses, the ability to clean out a cupboard or drawer in a matter of seconds. This would be especially useful if I felt the need to clean the SAME cupboard every single day, maybe even 2 to 3 times a day. This would be fine if she would pick one cupboard or one drawer and focus on that. No, she’s not partial to any specific cupboard or drawer. In the kitchen she loves to get out the plastic forks and spoons and scatter them across the kitchen floor until she finds the exact one she needs to pretend to eat imaginary food out of one of the 50 disposable cups she’s scattered around too. As you can see above, the bathroom favorite is the pads and tampon drawer! Not sure what pretend play that will lead to. And I can’t imagine a tampon would taste good enough to want to taste more than once, yet it seems to be a big hit!
They are also very fickle, what we liked today, we don’t like tomorrow. Yesterday we had mandarin oranges for a snack, I thought (silly me) she might enjoy a handful of Teddy Grahams with the oranges. Boy was I wrong, not today! She got mad, scowled at me and picked every last one up and separated them from the orange slices on her tray and placed them in the cup holder. I guess I won’t make that mistake again. Heaven forbid we would eat oranges and Teddy grahams together.
Since RJ has 4 big sisters, she has no need for words. They do all the talking for her. She grunts, signs or points and they seem to know exactly what she wants. And if they are ticking her off, she screams. If somebody is packing her off where she doesn’t want to go, no words needed, just screaming.
Oh and the temper tantrums start already! For those of you who don’t have kids, and you thought this didn’t start till they were two or three, ha, ha, ha. NO. One year olds have an extreme dislike for the word no, which usually leads to a temper tantrum. I once had somebody recommend that instead of using the word no with toddlers you should use the words “Uh-Oh”. Really? Just because they don’t like to hear it and they will probably repeat it back often we shouldn’t say it to them? They may hear it almost every 3 minutes, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t use it and they shouldn’t learn what it means. No means No!
The first tantrum they throw they throw down where ever they are at. Kitchen floor, carpeted living room, or pavement in the driveway, it doesn’t matter. They are smart though, after the first few times they learn quickly to pick a soft surface to throw down on. The other day I took RJ out of her high chair and stood her on the linoleum in the dining room, she wanted to be picked up and held, but I had to fix hair and get everybody else ready for the bus. She got mad, took one big side step made sure she was on the carpet in the living room and threw down!
Remotes and electronic devices are not safe either. I remember BR having a small obsession with remotes as well. I was making Christmas goodies in the kitchen and had my hands full of food. BR had gotten a hold of the remote, and then she decided she should take off her diaper. I yelled to the husband to hurry quickly and get her diaper back on. I knew that this situation required immediate attention! Dad did not, I had my hands full and couldn’t get to her fast enough, however dad wished he had seen the urgency. Before either of us could get there she peed on the television remote. Which I found ironic since that is dad’s favorite household appliance, and he wasn’t worried or watching her at all. He quickly took it to the bathroom and dried it out with my hair dryer. To his relief it worked again.
I’m sure there are more things to come that I haven’t even thought of yet. At this point though, not much would surprise me.
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