Griffin is 16.5 months old today. Whoohoo!
At school pickup today, guess who was sitting all by himself at the table for a time-out that they call "sit-by-yourself-and-watch-other-kids-play-time"? That's right, you guessed it... it was Griffin! I'm so proud of him, but not because of the multiple repeat time-out offenses (which by the way I think he averages about 3 times a day at school for whacking other kids), I'm beyond over the moon proud of him for what he did after bath time just about an hour ago...
Our bath time process goes something like this: First I help carry or chase Griffin up the stairs enthusiastically chanting "bath time! bath time!" He gets all excited when he reaches the top of the stairs and he runs into the bathroom. I have to run in there after him or he will forcefully close the door behind him, press the little circle lock button and accidentally lock me out. (He hasn't succeeded at this yet, but we've definitely had a few close calls.) I check his pants for a poop, and assuming a wet-only diaper, I strip him down and leave his dirtied clothes in a pile on the bathroom floor. I let the tub fill while he helps me empty toys into the bath, and lately he's gotten really into sticking his hands under the running faucet. This is really nice and convenient because Griff always manages to splash water all over the floor by his feet, and I'm never quite sure if it's just water or piss. I then help him into the bath and he splashes around, attempts to stand up a few times, which is he not allowed to do, yada yada, I wash the baby, etc. It's pretty much a guarantee that Griff will unplug the drain at least 3 times during the course of a 5 minute bath, and we inevitably play tug-of-war on the bath plug, which is a ghetto suction cup soap holder I use to plug the drain hole since our drain plug thingy is broken. By the time there's less than an inch of water left due to premature drainage, Griff likes to lay flat on his belly and either pretends to go to sleep (he makes a snoring sound, but is smiling with his eyes wide open), or he splashes like a flailing crazy fish out of water. When there's basically no water left in the tub, he will blow fart noises with his mouth face down, and then he proceeds to repeatedly slide himself forward and back on the slippery tub floor.. it's a pretty ridiculous sight. So. Back to why I'm so over the moon proud him tonight... Once we were done with tonight's bath, I dried Griffin off and brushed his teeth (which is like torture to him because I have to wrap his arms into his towel and hold him down with a little force to get any of his little teeth remotely clean, and by "clean" I mean, I made teeth to bristle contact). Then, I put a diaper on him and (get ready, it's finally about to get good..) I handed him his dirty onsie and pants and said, "Griffin, will you please put these dirty clothes into the laundry basket in your room?" And just like that, off he went running. He ran so fast he almost bit it slipping on his rug when rounding the corner, but thankfully he regained his balance, made it to the laundry basket, and excitedly flung his clothes right in. Shot.... Score!!! The crowd (aka I) went wild!! It was literally the most amazing thing he's ever done. I cheered and gave him five high fives and big hugs and kisses, and we celebrated that great moment. Now, all I have to do is get Tom to get his dirty clothes off the bathroom floor and into the laundry too, and I will literally be the champion of the entire world. :)
Some other basic instructions Griff has successfully followed so far:
- Can you please go get a book to read?
- Griff, can you go get the car? (me pointing to a toy car on the floor)
- Please sit down/stand up.
- Griffin, let's take your shoes off/put your shoes on? (He knows to sit on the bottom stair and he holds up his foot...)
