When your baby is little their needs are constant. Feedings, naps, diapers, play, not to mention laundry and dishes. I remember thinking I can't wait until he's a little older and can do more things for himself. Then you get to those days where they can stand and walk and get to things and you realize it's not that this older age is any easier.... just a different type of difficult. The things I've had to realize, the places I've found him, the level of cleanliness standards I've had to lower.
In a split second he can go from our family room, that's in our basement to his ball pit on the top floor. He is impressively speedy. On top of being speedy he is very quiet about it. I think when he really gets moving he is so focused his moves through the house he's extremely quiet. Everything in our home makes noise as I imagine is the same for most households with a blind child. Meaning when things get quiet he's up to no good!
Bathrooms and toilets - I think all kids go through a period where they are fascinated by the bathroom and toilets. It's like the forbidden world that they gravitate towards. The first time Will went into the bathroom he marveled at the change in floor texture. From soft warm carpet to cold hard tile with a wood divider in between. The first few times he went in he enjoyed slapping the tile with his hand to hear the noise. Great, just what every parent wants their child playing on the bathroom floor. But yet I thought that was better that the multitude of other things he could get into in there. Next we found the toilet! Fortunately I had preemptively been shutting the lid in anticipation of this day. Again he liked hitting the lid like a drum all in good fun! Next he started climbing up on top of the toilet.. his hands were all over the
back pulling himself up. It was becoming more clear our bathroom adventures were escalating quickly. One day I was caught up in what I was doing and didn't notice him go in. When I did realize he was in there I remembered the toilet lid was shut and thought I had a minute to get in there before he got into too much trouble... I was WRONG! By the time I got into the bathroom I found him sitting on the toilet with the rubber end of the plunger in his MOUTH!!! The plunger was tucked behind the toilet I never dreamed he'd find it and
pull it out. There are so many things you don't think of as being something they'd be able to get their hand on until it happens! The plunger and wand quickly were tucked away in the shower so that can't happen again. Of course since the bathroom exploration was the new thing there have been several times were I've found him playing in the toilet water as well. We've only unrolled the toilet paper roll once but that all seems minor compared to the horror of finding him with the plunger in his mouth!
The Dog Bowls - Water is one of the most fun toddler toys! Obviously if it's fun to play in toilet water the dog water bowl is no different! We have elevated dog bowls which are just perfect height for Will. Its a stand with three bowls with the middle as a water bowl and sides are for food. I had the bowls by our front door but once Will found them the water splashing was never ending. He'd soak himself in dog water multiple times a day, the laundry was never ending. I started moving the bowls and putting them in various locations around the house. The bad part about that is that the house is small and there are only so many places the bowls fit. He quickly memorized the go to locations and would head right for it. One day I ran up to the
bathroom leaving Will in the living room with all the baby gates closed. I come back down and I find him standing in the water bowl! From that point on his favorite thing was to climb and stand up in the elevated water bowl. After that I had to start putting the bowls under the dining room table where the dogs could get to it but not Will. He seemed to lose interest in the bowls so I pulled them out recently and put them in their regular place. Last week I was cooking in the kitchen and looked over to find him dipping his face in the water. Good thing that came out of it is that he now knows how to hold his breath under water!
What Goes in must Come out - Little hands know no boundaries! Not only is the dog water bowls fun to play in but so are the dog food bowls! Our dogs are good and don't get too upset when little hands get a hold of their food. That means that little hands get a hold of kibbles and no one alerts mom. One day I caught Lilah and Will eating kibbles out of the same bowl. When I pulled him away he had dog food crumbs all over his face.
Not only do we like to try dog food from time to time but the dirt in the house plant pots are also worth a taste if you're a William. He's pretty good about leaving them alone but from time to time you'll find a little dirt mustache that shouldn't be there. Not long ago I was changing a baby poop and found a produce sticker. The sticker was whole and folded into the poop proving it had made the whole journey. You can be as careful as possible and things still tend to get in there that shouldn't.
Piano - We love our upright piano! It was the best addition to our home we could have made. He's been standing at the piano and hitting the keys that way. However he developed a new skill of climbing up on the bench and sitting to play. He looks adorable when he does it sitting there like a little person. Unfortunately he felt the need to level up from there and start standing on the keys. I looked away for a second and I see one foot on the keys and his hands on the top of the piano pulling himself up. We are learning new ways to play the piano everyday!
Dishwasher - If you are on tiktok there is a good chance you've seen our dishwasher video. The minute you turn the dishwasher on Will comes running. He loves the sound and vibration while it runs. Not long ago our dishwasher started making louder sounds when it runs. I'm sure this means it's on it's way to breaking down but the dishes still get clean and it doesn't leak so I haven't looked into replacement yet. Will loves the new sounds it makes! Like all dishwashers it goes the cycles so it will get loud and then quiet. One thing I've learned about toddlers is they have little to no patience. The minute the loud noise goes away he throws himself on the floor and throws a fit! He lays face down on the kitchen floor flailing his arms and legs screaming. We have learned the dishwasher can only run when Will is sleeping.
Vacuum - Another household appliance that presents problems is the vacuum. He LOVES the vacuum. He gets right up against it when I run it and won't take his hands off. Completely adorable but extremely problematic. It now takes hours to vacuum one room in our small house. You can only move an inch at a time as he follows along with the vacuum. the minute you turn it off you question your sanity. He throws a complete fit anytime it goes
off. On the flip side if he's upset about something else and you turn the vacuum on he becomes immediately pacified. The vacuum is a double edged sword! He's become even pickier with the vacuum now too. Now his preference is that you turn it on but instead of using the carpet function he prefers the base stay stationary so he can lean on it while you use the tool setting. He was very content while I vacuumed the couch with the tools but the minute I switched to rolling it over the carpet he started crying because he couldn't follow along easily to keep his hands on it. Needless to say the house doesn't get vacuumed as often.
Crib - Our latest adventure if you haven't seen on social media is climbing out of the crib. We discovered it earlier this week. Monday's are Dad and William days. Dad tends to leave William in his crib in the morning as long as he's happy. This past Monday when Will finally got fussy dad went in to find him rolling around on the floor in the middle of the room. We had no understanding of how but it was clear the toddler bed is in our near future. The next couple of days he happily stayed in his crib. Then the other night we captured video proof. We didn't want to haul out the toddler bed at 8 pm so instead we put the crib mattress on the floor. That quickly backfired as he started using it as a trampoline. After several hours of listening to him play and cry in his room we went ahead and put the mattress back in and put him to sleep in his crib. I was promptly awoken at 4am by a crying baby in the middle of the room. Time to get the toddler bed out of the basement!! If anyone has any great advice on how to handle that transition I'm all ears!
As a toddler mom I understand whatever you have to do to get through your day is what you got to do! Somedays are easier than others but if trying to keep up with a blind child is this hard I can only imagine trying to keep up with a sighted child!