14 Months

Caden turns 14 months old today! He has changed so much in the last month! This little phase is so much fun. Here is a rather long list of some milestones, cute things, etc that he mastered in his 13th month:

-He's more vocal. He babbles at books like he is reading them all the time now.

-Says 'guck' for book consistently, but also uses the same word when we point to a dog or duck (a real one or a photograph)

-Prefers to read his own books most of the time, but sometimes he will let us read it, especially if it is a lift the flap book or a book with crazy sounds that make him giggle. His favorite books this month are "Doggies" by Sandra Boyton, "Open the Barn Door" lift the flap book, and 10 Little Ladybugs.

-Says 'hello' in to his toy cell phone. At first he put it up to his forehead, but by the end of the month he'd mastered getting it to his ear. Also, anything that looks like a cell phone is fair game for being 'talked' into, his favorite being one of Daddy's (dorky) cell phone belt/hip holsters.

-He says 'uh-oh' when he drops something or sees someone else drop something. It's definitely his favorite word this month and we hear it multiple times a day.

-Caden cries when Daddy leaves for work in the morning and will run to the door after it closes. At the same time he is SO excited when Daddy, or anyone else, comes in the door. Except he's figured out the whole babysitter thing and after his brief period of excitement he starts clinging to my legs and pulling on my shirt trying to get me to pick him up. I must admit, I actually love this. I know the time will come that it will drive me crazy, but you have to remember this is attention for ME coming from a child who has never wanted to be held, rocked, or cuddled.

-Separation anxiety has kicked in and Caden cries when dropped off at church nursery or the CDC (Child Development Center). The CDC is the on-base day care we have here. I have been able to get him in a few times lately. It's great for him to have the social interaction with the other kids and he really enjoys it. They do crafts and eat 'big boy' meals in little chairs. It's so cute! He ate fish sticks and broccoli for lunch one day and beef burritos another!

-Still pushes things around all the time... loves anything he can push including suitcases, diaper boxes, etc.

-He is starting to understand what things are more and more. For example, when he sees a sock he tries to put it on his foot, he understands that is where it goes. Same thing with shoes, especially Mommy and Daddy's shoes... he likes to try and put them on. I can't wait for the day he actually gets them on... don't worry I'll snap a picture for the blog! The other day he somehow got hold of my hair brush. He carried it around for a good 15 minutes and occassionally would bang it against his head. I think he was trying to brush his hair like he has seen me do with it. He also is learing to feed himself and when we give him the spoon he will attempt to pick up food with it. He's getting better at this skill each time we try, but it's a messy experience so we don't do it often.

-He's mastered climbing. If you take him to a playground he will climb all over it. He 'crawls' up the stairs, but for some reason he likes to WALK down them... holding on to the railing. He likes slides, but can't yet get himself situated on his own to go down facing the correct direction. Usually he ends up sitting with his legs pointing UP the slide going down backward... we still have to help him face forward. He has no fear when it comes to playgrounds. I think I lose a year off my life every time I take him to one.

-He likes toys, but he prefers non-toy items such as baskets, Tupperware, spoons, cups, boxes, paper, coasters, and any kind of food item he can sneak out of the pantry when my back is turned. He will walk around with bottles of salad dressing or BBQ Sauce, fruit cups, and cracker packets... he loves anything new he can find to play with. He also amazes me that when he gets in to his 'sippy cup' drawer, he manages to find coordinating sippy parts and will try to put them together. I have 4 or 5 different kinds of sippy cups, and he gets the correct lid to go with the cup he has chosen. Coincidence? Who knows!

-He loves to dance, clap, wave bye-bye, give a high five, head butt, give kisses, throw the ball, and share stuff with us (we really love when he wants to take his partially chewed cheerio out of his mouth and share it with us... he loves feeding us and sharing his sippy cups). He can do a lot of things 'on command' now... for example, when we tell him to put the ball in the hoop, he walks to the basketball goal and puts it in.

-He says: MeeMee (that is what he calls me instead of MaMa), Daddy (instead of the typical DaDa he usually uses Daddy) guck (book), hello, baby, uhoh, and he mimics a LOT of other words. For example if we say milk he will babble some kind of sound that starts with an "Mmmmm."

-He signs: milk, all done, up, more, eat, shoe, and fish (thanks to a recent trip to an acquarium)

-He refuses to eat baby food. It happened right around the time he turned 13 months old. He hasn't had a drop of baby food since that time. Unless you count Gerber Graduates Pasta Pick Ups. It's the only Gerber thing we can get him to eat now days. He likes the more flavorful stuff now. His favorite things this month are: chicken nuggets, grilled cheese, bananas, and pears. He really loves to eat what we are eating. Some of his favorites have been beef tips with gravy, two different Mexican Chicken dishes, Chicken and Broccoli Casserole, and Baked Ziti.

-No more bottles! Dishes are SO much easier to do now that we don't have bottles. He had his last bottle the day he turned 13 months old. From 12-13 months he was only having one bottle a day (in the morning when he woke up). At 13 months I changed that to a sippy and he's been on it ever since. He takes an 8oz sippy of milk when he wakes up at 7, an 8 oz sippy when he wakes up or eats lunch at 11, and then it's juice/water for the rest of the day because he can't have dairy wit his iron drops (he was slightly anemic at his last check up).

-He loves to put things IN other things. For example, he loves to carry an empty cup and put a block in it and then take it back out. He also likes things that have lids and will take the lid on and off over, and over, and over. He loves drawers. I think his obsession with drawers though is because they are all off limits. It's a never ending battle at our home. He's one hard-headed little man. He keeps testing those boundaries and we are trying very hard to make sure we watch him closely so we can be consistent with telling him they are off limits.

-Caden is very independent. He prefers to play alone, but likes to have our attention as we watch him play. He will bring things to us every now and then, but mostly just plays alone and makes sure we are watching and smiling at him.

-He is slowly transitioning to one nap a day. It was funny how it started to happen. On Monday two weeks ago I was saying to someone how Caden was still taking TWO, two hour naps AND sleeping 12 hours at night. And by Friday of that same week I couldn't get him to take two good naps anymore. If he takes two naps, they are shorter and often are accompanied by some fussing when I put him down.

-He loves the indoor pool. He walks around the baby pool with NO float. I have to hover over him the whole time because he tends to topple easily. I wish he'd stay in his float, but Mr. Independent wants to play like the big kids.

-He's finally getting more teeth! He cut his first two bottom teeth at 10 months, and hasn't cut another since! Finally last month we saw a few new teeth pop through and several more are on their way! His third tooth was also no the bottom, and a few days later he cut the top two middle ones! These came at a price: a sleepless night for us all. His first two teeth were so easy! The next one left us very tired after one night of sleeplessness. But, the positive side to this is that my baby boy LET me rock him and hold him in my arms. He even slept in my arms for 40 minutes one day!

-He got his first haircut. Yep, the mullet is gone. He looks like a little boy with his new hair cut. It happened so fast... snip, snip, snip, and all his baby locks were gone. :(

Well, that just about sums it all up! I can't wait to see what new adventures and milestones his 14th month will hold!