14 months

Oh my little man, another month has come and gone. After 14 of them, you'd think I'd have learned that I will not remember exactly when you do new things if I don't write them down. So often I find myself thinking you are changing all the time, and am certain I will remember the new things, then I sit down to post and get lost in the haze. Most of my life I've had the problem of wanting so much to do a big, amazing, or perfect job of something, that I never get it done because I'm waiting for the time to do it just right. I struggle with that in my writing for you as well. Sorry buddy. I hope that you will enjoy reading these things one day. If and when you do, I'm certain that the details of our life will be of far more interest to you than the eloquence with which it is or isn't recorded. That said, here's what I recall about our last month.

You're still not walking, but you're moving around a lot more. You cruise on the furniture or with your push toy like a pro. You often go one handed and have no hesitation to back up or go around corners like you used to. Many days I am your favorite push toy. You will not walk holding onto my hands, but you love to push me onto my hands and knees and hook your little hands into the back of my pants. You push on my backside and walk along behind while I crawl. Sometimes you'll hold onto my pants legs and walk behind me while I walk. You occasionally stand on your own. You have stood for almost a minute several times, but seem to do that only when you fool yourself by holding something (like a toy) in your hands. I'd like to say that I think you'll be walking by 15 months, but, as I write this, you are already half way there and still have a ways to go.

You have gotten a bit more communicative. You say "dis" and "dat" (this and that) and "yes" (especially when I say "no"). You get on a roll saying "dis." You point to things within reach and say it to ask what things are called. You sometimes seem like you've learned a few body parts (eyes, nose, maybe mouth, and definitely tongue). You might have said "ducks" and "eye." You mostly point and whine or squeal to indicate your interests (much to our dismay). You also have learned the function of a few things. You know to put shoes and socks on your feet, and that the brush goes in your hair. You often surprise me with what you understand. Just recently I asked you to go get the book about the ducks. It was partially hidden and across the room. You went right to it and grabbed it from amongst your stuffed animals. Guess you know what ducks are.

You most often use your pointing, whines and squeals around meal time. In spite of having a sign for "more" and "all done," you generally prefer the more urgent (and stressful) sounds. You have become rather insistent that you be allowed to feed yourself. You wield your own spoon with flair. Sometimes it makes it to your mouth with the food still on, many times it ends up in your hair or on the floor. Every now and then you abandon it and dig in with your hands. You're still a very good eater, and with all the practice you're getting you'll be master of your own spoon soon. The only things you've started to be a bit quirky about are where your food originates (you'd prefer it come from my bowl), and you pretty consistently spit out the pulp of oranges and grapefruit. (Don't get me wrong, you like the grapefruit, and ask for several pieces even if it's tart) You just suck out the juice then spit out the pulp. You have some nights where you don't like what you loved the night before, but the citrus pulp is about the only thing you consistently refuse. All this food slinging and spitting, oh yeah, and eating, makes for messy meal times. We need a chisel to clean your high chair and the floor beneath it once a week.

You made the move to the big bath tub last month. The week before Thanksgiving, your Dad and I decided you were getting too big for your baby tub. You were really anxious about the big tub at first. We got some new toys for you and a blue bathmat to keep you from sliding. I let you sit in the tub with your clothes on and play during the day and your Dad got in the tub with you for one bath. After that, you were much more comfortable. You a little anxious again when you had to use a different tub during our trip, but you got used to it pretty quickly. We sang silly songs and James Brown to distract you. Now you are a pro in the big tub, and hardly notice when the water gets in your eyes. You love to slam dunk your balls, fish or cars into the basketball hoop we've suctioned to the wall. In the last week you've rediscovered the joy of splashing. Our big challenge at night is getting through dinner early enough to give you extra play time in the tub before you hit the bed at 6:45.

Not to sound like a broken record, but it's no secret that you have been a reluctant napper. Before Thanksgiving, you had gotten down to taking 35-45 min naps in the morning and, sometimes, afternoon. Most babies change from two to one nap a day between 13 and 15 months. I expected you to be closer to 15 months since your other sleep milestones have been later. When you started taking shorter naps, I thought you might have been starting that transition. I didn't want to make that kind of change over the holiday, so we waited until we got back home. On Nov 30th, I worked hard to distract you all morning and put you down for a nap at 12:30, right after lunch. You slept about an hour and a half. We have kept this up for nearly three weeks now with moderate success. There is no doubt that you still need two naps a day. You are pretty sleepy starting at about 10:30 and are down right miserable most days by 11:30. A couple of times you've slept more than two hours, more often you've slept 35-45 minutes and woken up crying. Sometimes you go back to sleep, many times you don't. We're just going to have to endure this transition for a while. I'm hoping only a month. It is nice to have all morning for errands, appointments, or play dates. On days when you nap poorly, we put you to bed about 6:30, if you sleep well, you get a pass until closer to 7.

Here's to calmer communications, cleaner mealtimes, better napping, and some real toddling. Those things are all one the way...right?