14 Months

On May 9th, Sam turned 14 months old.   I'm trying to live in the moment every day, but time is zipping by way too fast for me to keep up.  Can't believe we are headed into his second summer --- lake time, pool time, and walks outside after quite a long North Dakota winter.

We had a VERY exciting month with Samboni.  

New Happenings:

Sam had been doing his usual hopping around on his knees, but on April 27th, he just stood up with no help from anything or anyone.  He was by the front door and we were on FaceTime with Zach (still in Alabama).  He did it a few more times that day, and I was so excited for him.  But the next day, we saw his first steps!  Again, we were on FaceTime with Zach playing in the living room.  He was leaning up against the ottoman, but wanted a toy by the window....so he just walked over to it.  It took Zach and I completely off guard.  I was convinced he wouldn't do it again, but he continues to take 3 to 4 steps to get to things now.  I finally caught it on video...and in the video he decided to add some hops on the end, so he must have known I was filming.  Show off.  :)   Crawling is still his preferred way to get around (and knee hopping), but we were so thrilled to see that he has it in him to walk.  We're hoping he'll start doing it more this summer so he can be outside walking through the grass.  Little steps at a time.

He has started to put his toys back INTO containers, which is nice.  It has gotten the ball rolling on how to clean up toys.  He still loves Jayhawks (Hawww-Jayyy), can't get enough of ceiling fans, loves taking a bath, pushes buttons on anything, LOVES going on walks in his wagon, and he plays peek-a-boo with himself in the mirror.  My dad introduced him to foos ball, so that is pretty hilarious to watch.  He would go up and down the stairs all day if we would let him (we don't have carpeted stairs in our house), and he is constantly bringing us books to sit down and read to him.  One book that has been a favorite this month is "Once There Were Giants," which was my favorite book as a little girl, so I didn't mind reading it over and over....and over and over and over again.   I've tried to let him be more independent and explore things on his own around the house.  Sometimes when I go check on him, he has gotten up into his plaid lounge chair and is looking through a book.  It is so precious.  He is a very active and chatty little boy.  

He has TEN teeth!  They all popped through around the same time, so we had a few restless weeks.  He is pretty predictable with naps though (10:30-12:00 and 3:30-5:00), so the days were not unbearable.

Food:

He is still at three bottles a day, but they are majority whole milk.  He prefers a bottle over a sippy cup, and because we have so many changes coming up, we are only really focusing on the formula to whole milk transition right now.  He gets a bottle when he wakes up, we try a sippy cup throughout the day, and he gets a bottle before bed.  At first he would only take water and smoothie through a sippy cup during the day, but he is getting better with milk.   New foods he likes are salmon, yogurt/fruit/granola parfaits, and pizza.  He'll eat a bite or two of almost any fruit and veggie I give him, but he throws the majority of his food on the floor.  It is frustrating to me...but he seems healthy.  At his last weigh-in he was 24 pounds, so he is doing just fine.   :)

Clothing:

He looks the most comfortable in 24 month/2T jammies, and 18 month onesies.  Most of what he wears now are separates though, so 12-18 month tops and 12 month pants work well.  We've started being a little more pushy with him wearing shoes when we go outside.  He needs to get used to them because he is surely not walking around outside barefoot this summer!

He is such a blast to be with.  I love watching his puzzled face when he is trying to figure something out, and it is really interesting to hear people tell me how much he has changed even when they haven't seen him for just a few weeks. 

I've stopped a few times in the last month to just look at him, and it is a strange to see that he isn't really in the baby mode anymore.  He can be clingy during the day, but most of the time he wants to be off exploring.  He has his own agenda these days!  :)