14 Months

Little Dude is officially 14 months old today. It's pretty amazing to me that two months have already passed since his birthday, and in those two months he's made some big changes. In the first place, he has officially decided to walk. He no longer starts crawling when he falls down; instead, he picks himself back up and keeps going. His balance is still unsteady and he falls often, but he's quite good at squatting, sitting, and standing. Little Dude has also figured out how to go down slides the right way, and I love the joy on his face as he climbs the stairs, sits down on the edge of the slide, and slowly inches himself out far enough to go down.

That's one of the funnest things about this age that I had completely forgotten: toddlers find so much joy and fulfillment in figuring out how the world works. Little Dude is obsessed with shoes lately. He gets very bothered when shoes are not put away in the closet. When the closet is open, he will pick up our shoes and bring them to us so we can put them on. He has also learned how to take his diaper into the bedroom and throw it in the trashcan, so that is his new job after every change. And he puts his clothes in the hamper when it's bath time. Thankfully most of our trash cans are not accessible to him, but I'm keeping a close eye on what he chooses to throw away.

I sometimes have a hard time not comparing Little Dude to his sister who was much more vocal at this age. He still only has three words: Mama, Dada, and "gack" (duck/quack, I'm not sure which). Most of his communication is accomplished through pointing, grunting, and nodding. Little Dude also knows a few signs, and we're trying to remember to teach him more. He is very intelligent and is obviously learning, but just not expressing himself through words. He did say "og" for a while when he saw animals, but after I told him that the squirrels were "squirrel" and not "og", he stopped saying it. His favorite noise to make is "gunga gunga," but we haven't figured out yet what it means.

Most of the time Little Dude is a lot of fun. He's sweet and easy-going, though sleeping is still a bit of a struggle. After a particularly bad night we decided to do let him cry himself to sleep in order to learn. It took about a week and I hated it the whole time, but he now sleeps all night and wakes up happy in the morning. Unfortunately he still doesn't fall asleep easily on his own every time; we still sometimes have some crying to listen to. But now we've gotten to the point where he won't let me sit and cuddle him in the rocking chair, so we just have a few minutes of snuggle time before he blows kisses and goes to bed. Some nights he and S-Boogie will giggle at each other before falling asleep. I just keep reminding myself that at some point he will get in bed and fall asleep happily without crying. Part of it is just the attachment phase; I'm flattered that he loves me, but not flattered that he needs me to help him fall back to sleep at two in the morning.

So, at fourteen months our Little Dude is officially not a baby anymore. It's bittersweet; I miss the cuddly babyness, but I love the smiling, giggling little guy we have now.