14 Months Old

It's hard to believe, but I can see it right before my very eyes, my baby boy is gone, and a precious little boy has taken his place. Today Eli is 14 months old and I am just amazed at how much he is doing, saying, and understanding these days. It's amazing how far he has come just since he turned 1! He has developed the sweetest little personality and I love watching it develop day by day. I'll break his developments down into categories; it's the easiest way I can think of to show how much he is learning.

Personality: ACTIVE still describes Eli perfectly. He would love nothing better than to just play, play, play all day long. Sleep? Only if he has to. Eat? Can he do that and play? Then, yes, otherwise, forget it! Drink milk? Only if it's on the go. He doesn't stop until you make him stop these days. He is very determined and gets frustrated when he can't do something. Case in point...He's been trying for several weeks to walk in other people's shoes. He takes my shoes out of my closet on a daily basis, says "shoos", and then proceeds to put them on his feet or try to make me put them on my feet. Just recently he discovered that he could navigate around the house in a pair of my shoes, but got so frustrated when he couldn't get over the threshold and when the his foot kept slipping out. He is still a very very happy baby. Very rarely do we hear Eli cry around our house and we are so thankful. He is so loving and enjoys nothing more than being with people who love him and know him. He is stubborn. Josh and I have already reserved our copy of The Strong Willed Child by Dr. Dobson because we're going to need it! He has heard, "No" a lot lately, but will continue to do whatever he's not supposed to be doing until you either distract him or physically remove him from the temptation (mostly stereo systems, DVD players, remote controls, and computers). He is so smart (I know every parent says that!) and I am amazed at how much language he understands now. Even without gestures, he is still able to follow our verbal commands with lots of accuracy. You can almost see the little wheels in his brain turning as he processes what you say.

Physically: He can make the signs for "more," "all done," and "bath." Can identify his ears, nose, and mouth 3 out 5 times. We're still working on it :) Walks much more steadily these days, but still manages to get the occasional bump or bruise on the head (sporting one this week in fact!). He has even tried to run on several occasions, prompting a worried mommy to warn him to "Slow down!" He loves wrestling with his Daddy when he gets home from work. They do this almost every night and it's one of my favorite things to watch. He's pointing to EVERYTHING and jabbering away like you understand exactly what he's saying. He is able to stack blocks and Legos like a champ. He also loves to sort shapes (thanks, Vera!) and has fallen in love with his stacking ring lately. He holds your hand when we walk and you ask him to. This makes my heart melt every time :) He most recently climbed 3 flights of stairs at his Daddy's work and wouldn't even think about letting me carry him up any part of the way. Crashing and falling into pillows is still one of his favorite things to do and he loves playing the game, "I'm Gonna Get You!" Playing ball is his most favorite thing in the world. He will follow you anywhere as long as you have a ball in your hands. He loves them!

Verbally: Understands so much more language now. We gesture and use signs, but it's amazing how much he understands even without these cues. He can say lots of words now (he puts his own twist on a couple, but you know what he's saying): light, ball, banana, bottle, ma-ma, da-da, cheese, sock, shoe, outside, Maggie, Papaw, Pop, juice, and blocks. It's almost like he learns a new word every day. I love this! I can't wait until he can fully communicate with me (I'll probably come back to this statement a few years from now and wonder "What was I thinking?") He shakes his head whenever you say the word, "No." He shakes back and forth like he has a chill when you say the word "Cold". He draw his hand to his chest fast when he sees the stove and says, "Hot". He absolutely ADORES Praise Baby right now and wants to watch it constantly. It's the most precious thing in the world to watch his little face light up from ear to ear when he hears those first little notes. He even knows about the DVD player in the car now and points to it every time we get in for us to turn it on for him (doesn't happen, but it's still cute).

Eating: Picky, picky, picky! He used to be such a good baby food eater, but since we've switched to finger foods, he's gotten very picky on me...new textures, I guess. He could live off snacks if we'd let him. He loves goldfish, raisins, cheese, yogurt, puffs, crunchies, cereal bars, fruit bars, and graham crackers. Some foods I can get him to eat MOST of the time are spaghetti, gumbo, soup, grilled cheese, chicken nuggets, chicken pot pie, pizza, sweet potato fries, and any type of fruit. I hope this gets better as he gets older. We haven't given up on vegetables, even though it appears like he has. We continue to expose him to them, but he spits them out every time. Also, since he is very independent, he has to have a fork for himself at every meal and he attempts to feed himself with it most of the time. I usually load the spork for him and then let him do the rest. He's making lots of progress. It does get frustrating some times though, because I want to just grab the spork and feed him without all the mess, but I am thankful that he is wanting to try to eat on his own. He hasn't weaned off the bottle just yet. We're still trying very hard to do this. I think we've managed to cut out one bottle feeding successfully during the day and have switched it to milk in a cup with a straw. We've even tried milk with Ovaltine in the cup just to encourage him to drink it from the cup and not the bottle. It's not going to be a switch overnight, but he is doing better.

Sleeping: We've been blessed with one of the lightest sleepers I know. He seems to wake up with any loud noise, which makes for some sleepy nights for Mommy. There have been many nights when it was just easier to lay down with him on the couch or in the bed with him. Awful, I know, and not what I ever intended to do, but at 2 and 3 AM in the morning, sleep sounds good and I'll take it any way I can get it. We've tried the cry it out method (just go ahead and kill me) and that doesn't work because he just gets M-A-D. I'm talking, jump up and down, throw his pacifier out of the crib, scream, and climb MAD. That's usually the only time he's ever like that. So for now, I'm going to keep rocking and enjoy all the cuddling I can get from my little man. Plus, it's fun now because whenever I put the blanket on top of our feet in the chair he snuggles even closer to me and giggles. He thinks having the blanket is funny for some reason. I know I won't get to rock him very much longer (simply because of his size) so I'm going to enjoy it as long as I can.

Life is so much fun with our little boy! He makes us both light up :) We're so very thankful for our little blessing :)