14 Months

14 months

We are so enjoying spending time with our little BOY! Wilder is animated and happy most of the time. He laughs often and likes to tells us things in baby language. He hums as he eats his food, whether it's a few puffs or a delicious meatball. Doesn't matter--he'll let you know he's enjoying it. It is amazing to watch how he observes things in his surroundings. He's still cautious, but definitely an explorer. He'd love to be outside all day long. He has a sweet disposition, he is constantly trying to share, but he does show his will at times when we don't let him do something like go down the stairs on his own. He's got his own ideas about things! We're so happy God put Wilder in our lives, and we love watching him grow in mind and body.

This month, Wilder:

• Weighs 19 pounds (with clothes on and a slightly wet diaper, so that could be off!)
• Still wears 12 month old clothes, but he just got a pair of big boy shoes from Stride Rite size 4W.
• Still has 8 teeth but he has been teething off and on.
• Got a real, honest-to-goodness, little boy haircut from our friend Les.
• He can stand up ALL BY HIMSELF! This happened during our anniversary dinner. Sharon sent us a video at the restaurant! He's so proud of himself! Most of the time he cruises quickly grabbing onto things or the wall, but he's also taken a few steps toward a ball. And he's pushed a walking toy all over the place. But not really walking yet.
• This week he learned how to climb up the stairs and he can go up the entire flight. We follow right behind him but he's a man on a mission. The gate is a necessity now... we had it down the other day and he made it up three stairs in the time it took me to take away one of Wilder's toys from Ellie!
• He can make connections. He can go around the room from one spot and point at each photo of Zach and I together on the wall. If we read about a horse, he'll go point at his rocking horse. If he looks at a photo book with a picture of Pierre the cat, he'll go point at Pierre in real life. He'll pull out a stuffed elephant from a fabric box, point at the fabric stitched image of an elephant on the outside of the box and make an elephant noise. He recognizes people in photos and will then point to them in real life. He knows what the moon is in books and points it out in every book he has, just like he'll point at the moon in real life.
• He's obsessed with airplanes. He hears one and has to go look for it in the sky.
• He uses a spoon just about all of the time with his meals. He eats a lot now! Right now his favorite foods are stir fry rice, yogurt, pomegranate seeds and pears. And puffs. He also likes toast or bread.
• He pretty much only uses a straw cup now, no more bottle when I'm not around! He's not nursing as much as he was, but we still enjoy that time together.
• The biggest change this month is sleeping. We've dropped to one nap, but it averages starting at 10:30 or 1. We shoot for 1 and sometimes he doesn't make it that far. Either way, he's napping about 1.5 hours. We've moved his bedtime up to 7-7:30 p.m. and he happily sleeps till 7 am. Sometimes he'll wake once in the night.
• He is such a snuggler! He hugs often, cuddles when he's tired, hugs the kitty, hugs his stuffed animals--he is a lover.

We took these photos today after Wilder got to visit the zoo for the first time. These are in the front yard. :-)