04/13/2013 - Fourteen months old!
So I pretty much lied when I said these monthly updates were going to be shorter after 12 months. I had no idea how MUCH you were going to learn and do and I just don't want to forget any of it!
Some pictures from this month that describe YOU:
We often go on little adventures in the parking lot.
You took along your half-deflated balloon, and Grandad's old watch that he left here for you to play with. You love to drag these two things around!
You love to push and drag your stroller around.
We always have to stop on our walks and go up and down the ramp.
... and up and down the stairs.
Posing for momma :)
A recent obsession: keys! You carry them around looking for something to unlock!
Fascinated with chains.
The orange spiky ball story: We were on a walk and you saw a little girl and ran over to play with her. She had a pink spiky ball in her stroller and you went right up and stole it, squealing with delight! Next time we were at Target, we saw the same spiky balls, and you started yelling and squealing and reaching for them from your stroller. So we got you an orange one :) And you are delighted with it.
It was extremely windy on this day, and you loved watching the tree leaves dancing around!
Love that cheeky little face :)
"Yes, mom?!"
You were really trying to put your sunglasses on :)
I love this one :) Walking along with me, pointing things out. In this case it was a birdy - "mama! buh-dee! buh-dee!"
Size: You are around 25 lbs and approximately 30 inches long (according to a home measurement). Size 4 disposable diapers, 4W shoes, 12-18 month clothes.
Words:
baby (baba)
dirty (duh-tee)
ducky (kind of sounds the same as dirty, so I have to see what your looking at/doing to tell what you're saying)
diaper
birdy (buh-dee)
dog
car
bus
banana
belly button (bee-but-uh)
bubbles (buh-buhs)
book
ball
BIG ball (bee-baw... this is what he calls my big pink exercise ball, haha)
balloon
bag
fan
more
all done
all gone
bath time (bah-tie)
water (wah-wah)
night-night
big hug (bee-huh... I just love this one!)
Pingu (pa-goo)
Xbox (eh-boh)
mama
dada
hi
bye bye
peekaboo
clever
bang bang (we have construction going on in our apartment complex right now, lots of loud banging which of course you love)
nose
rub-a-dub-dub (from his favorite nursery rhyme)
thank you (da - doo)
cookie (what we call his teething biscuits)
uh-oh
night night
(... and I know there are more words that I've forgotten to write down)
Sounds: monkey "oo oo ah ah", lion "rawr", dog "wuhf wuhf", cat "meowwww", duck "cah cah", bird "tee-tee" (tweet tweet), elephant - you make a "trumpeting" noise... and you go "choo choo" for trains, "vroom vroom" for cars, trucks, buses etc., and you try to copy any kind of machine noise you hear - lawnmower, blender, dishwasher etc.
Signs: bird, duck, more, all done/gone, hi, bye-bye, light, fan, hot, bath, dirty. We are still doing signs, but you seem more interested in talking these days, and saying words rather than signing them.
Other language development: You're starting to try to sing along to songs like "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and a couple of your other favorites. You've been "singing along" with a soft little voice for months, but now you're actually trying to say the words along with trying to match the tunes. Granted, it all comes out rather garbled at the moment, but hey you're only 14 months old :)
You are starting to put two words together, like "bye-bye Dada!". You often use a combination of signs and words to get your point across.
You jibber jabber away all day long, having lots of conversations with yourself and your toys, and with me of course. If you don't know what something is you point at it and say "baba? baba?" until I tell you what it is, and then you try to say the word.
You are starting to try to say people's names... Grandad "Gah-Da" and Nana are the ones you are best at, because you see them on Skype so often. You started saying Uncle Matthew - "Uh Baba" and Uncle Daniel - "Uh Danuh" when we were in England too.
Things you do:
- You love to drag around a basket or a bag and fill it up with things. Recently you favorite thing has been to take a basket to the pantry and fill it up with canned food and bring it to me! It's usually quite heavy and you huff and puff and grunt while you're carrying it and then put it down and breathe exaggeratedly and grin because you feel like such a big strong boy :)
- You've become even more attached to your stuffed penguin, Pingu. You snuggle up with him in your crib when you sleep and it's so precious. When I come in to get you after your naps, you stand up and hand Pingu to me first and then reach your arms up to be picked up too :) Then we have to snuggle for a while with Pingu tucked in between us before you're ready to play.
- You are a little daredevil... you like to give me heart attacks by climbing up things or running towards ledges/drop offs etc. You are getting more aware of heights and climbing (ie. you don't just run off the edge or let go when you're up high) but I still have to watch you like a hawk. You are scarily quick at climbing things!
- You are getting better at listening to momma when I say things like "WAIT for me! That's a big step!" or "STOP! Don't run into the road!" etc.
- You love to "smell" flowers, but you do it by blowing on them... haha :)
- You also blow on anything you think is hot (even if it's not actually hot), like drinks or food... because you see me doing it :)
- Your favorite things recently are balls of any kind, and anything with wheels. You are definitely a little boy!
- You love keys, although I don't often let you play with them :) When you do get to play with them you carry them around holding the key correctly like you're going to unlock a door, and you try to "unlock" things with it... so cute!
- You can understand and follow more complex directions now - for example, "Judah, can you go find your ball and bring it to momma?"... and off you go looking for your ball until you find it and then you come running to bring it to me, so proud of yourself :)
- Getting really good at sorting shapes and fitting them through the right shape holes. You've also perfected doing your sorting and stacking rings.
- You can build a tower of about 4 - 5 blocks before it gets too wobbly and falls down :)
- You dance to any and all music, and to other random rhythmic noises/beats that you pick up on... like the washing machine! We were on a walk the other day and someone walked by with music playing on their phone, and you stopped dead in your tracks and starting dancing away... it was hilarious!
- You LOVE to be outside. If you are fussy or grumpy, being outside is the best cure. You also ask to go outside by getting your shoes and banging on the front door and saying "ow-di, ow-di!" (which means "outside") and/or doing the duck sign (because you always want to go see the duckies!). I am dreading when it gets too hot to play outside in a few weeks. We'll still be able to go swimming but even then we can't stay out for longer than half an hour in the Dallas summer heat and scorching sun. What are we going to DO???
- You love giving us kisses... it's so so SO cute! You grab our faces with your two hands and give us a big kiss :) You also love to give us "bee - huh" (big hugs) :)
- You love to read and be read to. Your favorite book at the moment is one with six little nursery rhymes in it, and you read along with us. In "hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle" you say "diddle diddle" and meow like the cat and woof like the dog. "Rub-a-dub-dub three men in a tub" is your favorite, you always go right to that page when you're reading by yourself and say "rub-a-dub-dub"! Sometimes I think all the cuteness is just going to kill me.
- You LOVE coffee, and tea! We only drink decaf, so we let you have a little sips of ours and you just feel like such a big boy.
- You love Skyping! Good thing, since we do it so much! You usually put on a big show for who ever's on the other end of the computer :)
- You point to your eyes, ears, nose, mouth, head, belly button, and toes when asked where they are :) You've almost got shoulders, bottom, elbows, knees, and cheeks down.
Other stuff:
- You are getting MUCH better at eating "real" food... you will at least try pretty much anything I put in front of you, even if you don't eat any more of it. Favorites this month: bananas, other fruit and fruit smoothie pouches, toast with peanut butter or cream cheese, cheese, your organic dinosaur corn puffs, pad thai, butternut squash soup, and any kind of food that you can dip things in... hummus, yogurt, ketchup etc.
- Nursing between 2 and 4 times a day. On a normal day it's just twice at your nap times, but if you're sick or teething it's more like 4 times. You nurse again at bedtime, and once during the night, then early in the morning when you come to bed with us and go back to sleep.
- We are sleep training you, this time to get you to sleep through the night. You stay in your crib until around 7-ish in the morning now, and we have gotten you down to just one feeding during the night usually around 4am. We will be cutting that out in the next week or so though!
It took two really rough nights where Dada had to pat your bottom on and off all night long. Then the last few nights you've only woken up and had to be settled once before your 4 am feeding. We agreed if I wouldn't nurse you until after 3am, and it's usually been around 4am-ish that you wake up. Dada has to be the one to settle you before 3am otherwise you will sob until I nurse you... you know to fight harder when I'm trying to settle you because I'm a much bigger softie... I just cannot handle your heartbreaking sobs and little arms clinging around my neck as I try to lay you down in your crib to pat your bottom! Dada is not heartless about it, but he is better at getting you to calm down usually without picking you up :) After your 4am feeding you go back in your crib and usually sleep until 7-7:30am when Dada is getting ready for work and brings you to me in bed. You nurse again and fall asleep until around 9am. Then it's breakfast time!
As I mentioned before, we will be cutting out the 4am feeding probably in the next week or so... that's going to be rough! It takes a long time to get you back to sleep without nursing.
- You got a new tooth on 4/13/2012, your 14 month birthday! It's the bottom right one right next to the middle two teeth. That brings the count up to 7 teeth, 4 in a row on top, and 3 in a row on bottom. I can see that tooth #8, on the other side of the bottom middle teeth, is about to pop through too. I feel a little sad about this development... you've had just two teeth on the bottom for 5 months now and I'm going to miss that little two-toothed grin (you can't really see the top ones when you smile). Just one more sign that you're growing up!
- Temper tantrums. Most of the time you are happy-as-can-be and a delight to be around, but maybe once every few days you throw a big tantrum about something like not being allowed to push the buttons on the stereo. Ooof! You've been throwing some little fits when you don't get your way for a few months now, but just in the past couple of weeks they have become more full-blown temper tantrums. As in, back-arching, throwing-yourself-on-the-floor-in-outrage toddler tantrums. You have some BIG feelings and STRONG opinions :) We are trying our best to help you to learn how to manage them constructively.
- You traveled with momma to England this past month, for your great Nanny's funeral. Travelling alone with a highly mobile 13-month old deserves a whole separate post, but in general you did great. You were happy on the trips at least, if a little hyper and over-energetic! You adapted well to new surroundings, a new time zone, and lots and lots of new people. You were a little charmer!
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Judah William, it is such a delight to watch you grow up and learn things so quickly. You have so much character and personality already. I love seeing the world for the first time again through your fresh little eyes. We love you so very much!
