14 months old!

Then and now...

15 weeks old in the hoodie towel.

14 months old in the hoodie towel while brushing his teeth.

I can't believe that my little guy is 14 months old!!!!!!!  He's a walking talking toddler and it's so much fun to watch him grow and learn and change minute by minute!  I have lots to share about this past month!  So many things have happened!

Firsts: snow, Christmas tree, molars, kicks a ball, haircut, stomach virus and an er visit... so many things...

Swimming: We got Nathan back in a pool for the first time since early September and lets just say he's forgotten a few things... like how to hold his breath!  We're going to start going to the pool at my gym a day or so a week to get Nathan reacquainted with the water.  It shouldn't take long, and he still loves it thankfully!

Foods: We decided on January 15th, that it was time to crack down on our baby food loving toddler.  He's capable of chewing all kinds of things but was refusing to eat many table foods.  So, as of the 15th, no more stage 3 baby food!  Occasionally, I slip in some veggies that are pureed, simply because he's not real fond of them, but hates table food veggies, and he's got to eat them some how.  His favorite foods are yogurt, blueberries, raspberries, banana, yogurt, kiwi, toast, crackers (anything small, crunchy, and full of carbs), and raisins.  He's just started eating raisins and craisins and loves them!  He absolutely refuses to eat peas, green beans, and pasta.  On rare occasions, I can sneak a piece of two of string cheese in him, but the only way to get cheese in him is to ask one of my friends named "Kristin" to give him some or to feed it to him while we're grocery shopping.  Silly boy!  He's learned that he likes, no loves, to eat burritos from Moe's and ate a huge portion of one with daddy the other night.  We still have a hard time getting meat into him, but with some patience, it will come.  He still loves his milk though, and drinks between 12 and 18 ounces a day.  He also drinks water.  We rarely do juice, but he likes that too.  He's mastered a fork and can eat a whole meal with his fork without help.  He still uses his fingers when he wants, but typically prefers a fork.  We're slowly introducing self feeding with a spoon... it's a bit messier!

Growth: Nathan had gotten up to 23 pounds 12 ounces around 13 months, but as of the most recent weight check, he's about 22 pounds and 4 ounces.  All that walking is leaning out our little man.  He's almost 30 inches tall as well.  That puts him in the 25th percentile for both weight and height.  He still wears 12-18 month clothes, although his feet are so big that we have to put him in 2t fleece footie pjs.  They fit pretty well too!  He's in size 5 diapers simply because they hold so much more at night.  He's finally grown enough that his 18 month onesies are beginning to be a little short in the arms and he's finally growing into the length of his pants. His feet are a size 6W.

Signs he uses: cracker, please, airplane, down, butterfly, elephant,  ball, bye bye, book, cereal, hat, monkey, phone, music, all done, drink, light, thank you, help, more, and eat.  He receptively knows the signs for no and wait, although he doesn't use them.

Words he says: uh-oh, nanana (banana), nih-nee (Sydney), puh (up), doggie (calls doggies this, as well as me... hmmmm), daddy, all done, ba-oon (balloon), bubble, nih-nih (night night), gee-ga (Ginga - his great grandmother), diaper, nenene (cereal), nuh (milk), no no, kee-ka (kitty cat), ya-ya (ShaSha), Papa, Nana, bapple (apple), ah uh (some sort of greeting, perhaps hello), and ball.  He can say mama and bye-bye although we've not heard them in a long time.

Animal/Object Sounds: When you ask him, "what does a _____ say?" he can answer for these things: car, dog, cow (although it's a roar followed by baa???), sheep, cat, elephant, monkey, owl, pig, lion, phone, horse, lizard, and a few others that I can't remember. :)

Letter Recognition:  Nathan can now identify these three letters: T, H, and O!!!

Object Recognition: Nathan continues to amaze us with what he remembers.  He knows where the handle and label are on Chad's suitcase.  He can correctly identify a bee, butterfly, dragonfly, snail, worm, and ladybug all on the same page in a book.  He can find the letter "O" within text.  He knows so many things it's incredible. He's now started pointing to himself when you ask him where Nathan is - thanks to our neighbors!  He is a sponge taking in all kinds of information!

Language and Communication: Nathan can get his point across pretty effectively using gestures, words, and signs.  He still squawks when you don't respond immediately, but we're working on that.  It's easy to know what he wants when we're eating or playing, or when he's ready to go night night.  It's hard to tell what he wants in the car however since he's behind us!  He picks up new words and signs weekly and seems to enjoy communicating with others.  Nathan is very vocal and "talks" almost constantly at times.  Other times, he's completely silent and just moves about without uttering a sound.  :)

Socialization: He continues to be extremely social, however separation anxiety has just started to set in and when tired or in a new place he'll cry if a stranger tries to hold him.  He's also not fond of new people, or people he's not seen in a while, who are wearing sun glasses or hats.  He loves to play with his friends and is quick to hug and kiss them when he sees them.  He will wave at anyone from the comfort of our arms or the security of a shopping cart!

Games/Play: Nathan loves to be chased and tickled!  He's recently learned to kick a ball and can throw a ball back and forth with us.  He loves to throw Bailey's ball for her and watch her run back with it.  He loves to empty containers and cabinets and is starting to comply when asked to put them back.  He follows directions well and can sit down and stand up when asked.  He has learned some of his shapes and can put some of them through the shape sorter without help.  He still loves to point to pictures in books and listen to you name them or for you to ask him where things are.  He can point to several of his body parts.  He is INCREDIBLY curious and is into everything.  He loves to play peek a boo and hide and seek under blankets and objects.  Nathan loves the phone and will drive you crazy to hold one if you're even remotely close to one.  He is also an excellent climber and really loves to climb on his swing set and at gymnastics.  He loves to be outside and will swing or slide or climb in a heart beat.  He can almost do a forward roll by himself too!  He loves to play his guitar or play Chad's guitar and will do this for LONG periods of time.  He also likes to play the piano and hear anything musical.  He requests for us to sing constantly and loves to listen to music in the car.  He also enjoys pushing things (boxes, cars, trucks, toys, etc) and riding in things.  Nathan enjoys puzzles and can do some of the shapes/animals/pieces by himself.  He enjoys "writing" with his magna-doodle.  He's absolutely without question terrified of a whoopie cushion and it's hysterical!  He is so active that it's hard to think about all the things he loves to do, but those are some of them!

Paci:  We're doing well with leaving the paci in his bed for naps and night time.  In fact, he'll throw it back into the bed without being asked when you go to get him up.  Too cute.  He still LOVES his blankie and usually has two in his bed.  

Movement: Nathan is walking everywhere and no longer crawls (unless he's in a snowsuit or crawling under or over objects.  He will "run" if you chase him.  When he falls, he stands himself upright again without help.  He is constantly in motion, even in his sleep.  He can climb up and down our stairs and knows to turn feet first and on his belly when going down the stairs and climbing off of objects like the couch.  He now shuts our pantry door if he walks by and it's open because he knows it's a no-no.  He can open doors although he hasn't in a long time.  He can hang from a bar and almost pull his toes up to the bar unassisted. :)  Nathan can zip and unzip and loves to do so!  He can also take off his shoes and socks and a time or too I've found him pant less after a nap.  He also loves to rock on his dog rocker and Zachary's rocking chair.  He enjoys climbing up on his bus too.  He can propel it, the tractor, and his car backward, but can't get them going forward yet.

Temperament: Nathan continues to be very energetic and is quite a "spirited" child.  He's determined and more stubborn that either his mom or dad, which is next to impossible.  He is so loving and friendly and is quite a flirt as well.  He is especially fond of young blond girls.  He is generally happy and laid back, although the moment he's not happy, we know about it.  He also has a high tolerance for pain as long as he's not tired.  When he's tired, the slightest thing can cause him to burst into tears, but they only last a few seconds.  He's recently started to want to put his shoes on by himself.  Of course, he can't, but man he likes to try and if you don't give him the opportunity, he gets pretty mad!  It's very easy to make Nathan laugh and smile and both are incredibly contagious!  He laughs at things that are funny and it makes us laugh which makes him laugh more!

Teeth: Nathan has 13 teeth.  Insane.  On the top he has his central and lateral incisors, as well as a full right first molar.  His left upper first molar has broken the gum line, but not fully come in.  On the bottom, he has his central and lateral incisors, both first molars, and just today his right bottom canine came through.  Here's a picture of baby teeth names... I'm not smart enough to know their names without the help of a diagram, but did I fool you for a minute?

Sleep: Pretty much the same sleep schedule... He goes to bed at 730pm and sleeps until 8am usually however, he could wake up as early as 730 or as late as 9 on the average day.  He still naps from 10-12 and on most days still takes a second nap in the afternoon from 3-5.  I believe we will soon go to one nap though because the afternoon nap is becoming more consistently inconsistent.

Enough talk, how about some pictures!!!!

Nathan LOVES this car and although he knows the correct way to enter it (through the door), he has recently started going in a new way...

mom are you kidding, another picture?

cheese!

strutting his stuff

back in the car... 

practicing his contortionist act

everyone needs a tractor!

You know, we've had some pretty cold days lately.  One night, it got down to 9 degrees, which is pretty cold here.  One morning, I took Nathan grocery shopping and my car thermometer read 19 degrees!  There are two things I LOVE about 19 degree temperatures...

1. bundled up kiddos

2. pooper scooping frozen poop - don't worry, no pictures.  Frozen poop is just so much easier to deal with.  It's hard as a brick, and thus easy to scoop, and has no odor!  

Did my mommy really blog about dog poop?  Yes, she did didn't she.

kicking a ball around the whole downstairs

putting treasures in the shopping cart and pushing them around

We love our friends and we love spending time with them!  We were happy to see little Madison back at our playgroup and Izzy was so happy to see her, she plopped a big wet kiss right on her!

Bowls are so much fun!

I love my friends!

Photos with the lion will come soon!