Learning

It seems that we haven't had time to post lately because Connor is keeping us so busy. Now that he has mastered walking, it seems he never stops. He runs and climbs and we can't take our eyes off of him for two seconds or he's doing something he shouldn't. We child-proofed our home pretty well a few months ago, but it seems we almost need to remove all furniture and decor during this phase. While I am glad he's learning new skills, we also worry about his safety. He doesn't yet understand the difference between his snacks and the dog food, so he seems to run to Lexi's food every time we look away. And while it won't hurt him, it's just something he needs to learn not to do. He could get hurt climbing (and throwing himself) over the back of the couch. We have successfully intervened so far, but he's so fast and unless we stay 1 foot away from him at all times, he is able to climb onto the couch and get to the back before we know it. So Brad and I are looking into how to discipline and teach him. He understands so many things these days, so we think he's ready to start learning right from wrong. Not that we haven't tried to teach him along the way, but he's been really responsive lately that we see him learning so much so fast. When asked "where is" something, he correctly identifies a lot of things like dog, cat, Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, Grandpa, Jordan (his cousin who visited last week), all the Sesame Street characters, Mickey Mouse, fish and crab (we have some on his playroom wall), slide, sand, grass, water (coming out of his splash mat), juice, milk, TV, tree, monkey, giraffe, lion, ear, nose, eye, boo-boo (we've had LOTS), shoes, socks, paci, book, Tigger and probably many other things that I'm forgetting right now. Anyway...between his passion for exploration and his ability to understand, it's definitely time for some rules.