14 Months Old

You are 14 months old today. Still no new teeth besides the six that you have had.

Things You Are Doing Developmentally Right Now:
* Saying bye-bye (which sounds more like dye-dye)
* Try to be a big boy by stepping up and down steps like a grown up instead of climbing up and down them.
* Blow kisses to people when leaving.

Things You Are Doing That I Love Right Now:
* When you get really excited you squat down and bounce a little. It's adorable.
* The other thing you do when you get really excited is to make this sound that is similar to a chipmunk. It is hilarious and you make everyone laugh when they hear it.
* We have a series of blankets throughout the house that are all the same. Fuzzy, creme, and extremely soft. Dad and I have one on our bed, we have a throw downstairs, and then I have a crib mattress cover in your room that is the same. When you get very tired you will take the blanket downstairs from anyone who might be using it and you grab it from them and lay it down on the floor so that you can lay on top of it. Frequently when your Dad is watching you during the day this is how you fall asleep. It is so precious to see. I tried to snap a picture of it the other day and you woke up right before I got ready to snap the shot.
* You used to be oblivious to my hair and the fact that it is everywhere. Now when you hug me and you get some in your mouth you make a funny face. Or if you get some stuck in you mouth or on your bink you will try to pull it out and you stick your tongue out as you try to pull it out. I find it very entertaining. It's nothing different than what anyone would do, but it just shows how much of a little person you are becoming.
* Chase continues to be the game of choice for now. We have mixed it up a bit by chasing each other around the kitchen table and peeking in between the chairs to see where the other person is. You laugh hysterically at this.
* You are now tall enough to reach the door handles and can open the kitchen cupboard door. Let me preface this one with this is not something that I love that you can do on a daily basis by any means since it means more work for me! Anyways... now when you are hungry you make a mad dash to the cupboard and pull anything off of the shelves to bring to us that you can. The other day you managed to pull a box of teddy grahams off of the shelf and it fell onto the floor and you shook it upside down and proceeded to dump all of the teddy grahams onto the floor. Then you filled you two hands with your jackpot and proceeded to run to the living room squealing in delight over what you had accomplished. Then to continue your orneriness, you came back for seconds as I was cleaning them up and grinned at me with a mouth full of teddy grahams. This was not a moment that I could be mad at you. All I could do was laugh right along with you.  

Here Comes the Sun....

Spring has finally sprung! I was 68 degrees out today and a Friday. Can't get much better than that! So, to celebrate I decided to take you and Bailey to the park for a walk and some playtime. We had a fabulous time. You crawled up on the playground and made it into one of the little tunnel tubes and you giggled and squealed as you went through with me following you. Then I got to take you down the slide and you giggled again as you leaned back in to me. It was a perfect evening of playing. Followed by more running and chasing around the house once we got home. I love you.

Recent Goings On

I'm sorry for falling a bit behind on posting to this. I am swamped at work with budgets during this time of year and so by the time I get home and am done playing with you and putting you to sleep I am usually too exhausted to post anything. Plus, now that you are one although you are developing like crazy still, it has certainly slowed down some. Now it seems like overnight you will develop extensively and then plateau for a period of a few weeks. This last week has been one of those busy weeks of seeing new things from you.

First off, Dad is staying home with you now over 50% of the time. Since he got laid off of his job we have cut back on your daycare time. This has been great for you and Dad. The other day I had just recently come home from work and you had given me my welcome home snuggles and loves. Then you leaned over to Dad who was sitting next to us on the catch and you wrapped your arms around his neck and snuggled him tight as if to say "don't worry Dad I still love spending time with you too." It was such a tender moment and my heart melted at the sight of it, I'm pretty sure I saw your Dad's melt a little too.

Speaking of Dad watching you...I have to admit he is doing a fabulous job and I have told him this on many occasions. However, I do have a funny story that I have to write down for posterity's sake. I called him while I was at work the other day and asked how you guys were doing. He responded that he was pulling off into a random parking lot. When I asked why, the response was that you were being awfully quiet in the backseat and when he began to wonder why and looked back behind him in the rearview mirror, you were in the carseat, but the carseat was lying on its side in the backseat! We had gotten a new carseat given to us and apparently Dad didn't make sure it was secure and strapped in properly so you were lying on your side just chilling. He said when he went in the back to fix it you just giggled a little like "that was a fun adventure!" This reminded me of the movie "What to Expect When You're Expecting" and all of the things that dads do when they watch their children that they don't tell the moms because of the mistakes. Despite this, your Dad is doing wonderful with you and it is so great to see your bond growing even stronger every day.

Sunday you got your first official haircut from the barbershop. I did cut your hair around Christmas, but this time I felt like it was time to take you in and get your hair cut. Since it was your first and we didn't need anything fancy, I took you to Great Clips. The lady was very fast and efficient. You sat on my lap, and although you didn't love it, you did pretty good. There was a little fussing, but no significant tears.

You have really in the past few weeks begun to try and communicate with us what you want. Before you wanted things, but you weren't as assertive at trying to communicate what those wants were. This is a great thing to see, though it can also be a bit frustrating for you when we can't figure out what you want. So it has been challenging. You point frequently, give us a look with your eyes that lets us know you want something, and if all else fails downright cry if we can't figure it out.

Last weekend you had your first sleepover. Nana Kay watched you so Dad and I could have our first night without you. You did great. I was told you did spend some time after a few hours wandering around their house looking for Dad and I, but after that you settled down. I did okay without you, but don't think for a minute that I didn't miss you like crazy!! Probably the hardest thing for me is seeing the after effects of it since you don't fully understand - you cried the next time you saw Nana because you thought she was going to take you away so you clung to your Dad's leg. Then when I tried to drop you off at daycare the one day this week that you went, you didn't want me to leave. This only reaffirms why I won't do this on a regular basis yet and why I won't do it for more than a night any time soon. You still need to be older to understand what is happening and that we will come back (in my opinion).

You have been very sick lately. I was feeling great because during all of January and February you won't really sick at all (probably some due to the warm Hawaii weather) but once March hit you got sick. You have had a cold for weeks, the cold turned into an eye cold which caused you to have one morning where your eyes were sealed shut. This was heartbreaking as you screamed not knowing why you couldn't open your eyes and it took me about 5 minutes (or at least it felt that long) for me to get your eyes opened. The cold eventually turned into an ear infection. So we were off to the doctor because you had a fever. The doctor gave you amoxicillin, which I questioned in my mind since it never seems to work for you, but I went along with it. Then the following week we were back at the doctor for your well baby check up and immunizations. The doctor said the fluid in your ear hadn't cleared up completely but to give it a few more days. Needless to say, we were back at the doctor a week later (this week) again. You had a fever of 103 degrees on Sunday and Monday and the ear infection was back in both ears at full force. So new antibiotics were given. You are feeling much better now and I think I might finally have my little boy back to normal.

I forgot to mention another unfortunate thing that happened to you about three weeks ago, that I wanted to write down again for record keeping. You had your first tumble down some of the stairs. You are so very proficient at climbing up the stairs at the house now that although we watch you, we don't stand behind you every time. My mentality is just like you can't be there every time one crosses the street (at sometime you have to let go) I felt the same way about the stairs. You have successfully climbed the stairs by yourself hundreds of times, and this one time you caught your pant leg and fell down. It was very sad. There were tears, on your end and mine. Your Dad would want you to know that I closed my eyes - and yes I did. But that was because I knew I was too far away to save you from the fall and it was traumatizing for me to hear, let alone watch. You got a black eye from it and it lasted for about a week. Very sad, so that is that.

Now on to something funny and happy. This week you were eating berries with me on the couch. You LOVE berries, particularly blueberries. So I just let you go to town on them and you were making a mess and it was adorable. So I asked Dad to get the camera to take some pictures of the moment. Not a moment after he got out the camera and held it up did you give us the biggest ham face that children give when they are trying to smile but don't know how to naturally. It was hilarious. Jake and Jessica were over and we all just started laughing at you. Of course we have all seen children do this, but it was the first for you and I'm pretty sure the youngest I have ever seen a child do it. Normally this is something that happens around two or three. You are so hilarious! I have drawn the conclusion that apparently this means I take too many pictures of you. I'm just kidding this isn't possible in this day and age. ;o) The fourth picture down is the one where you were hamming it up for the camera.

Well that is my update for now. Below are pictures we have taken over the past few weeks. I love you more  and more every day Marcus.

13 Months and Counting...

Things You are Doing Developmentally Right Now:

* You understand lots of phrases now and show that you understand them. Such as "let's go upstairs", "are you ready to eat?" "go get a book"

* You have really gotten into books now and love to be read to and actively seek out books and bring them to us. 

* Calling me mom to get my attention. You have been using Dad for a few months to call to him, but not my name. 

Things You are Doing Right Now that I Love:

* You have gotten into cleaning (as evidenced by the pictures below!) We actually just got out the toy vacuum for you to start playing with. 

* Figured out how to lift your leg up to put yourself on your rocking horse and bike to rock back and forth on. This also includes climbing on your Dad's office sofa. You love to climb up and down since you can do it on your own.

* You LOVE to go outside now. Every time we put our coats on you run to the door and if we take Bailey out without you, you get very upset. Once you go outside your favorite thing to do right now is put rocks in your mouth, then you realize they are gross and you spit them out and proceed to try another one. 

* You know now how to cheers with a drink, give kisses, and high five. (You have been doing the high five one for a while, but all of these things are adorable and you will always do now).