14/15 Months!

Oliver is 14 15 Months Old!!!

The days are going by too fast.  So fast, in fact, that I have put off writing about month 14 and now it's close enough that I'm just going to group 14 and 15 together.  I hate that.  I tend to think about writing all of these things a couple weeks before the 10th of the month actually comes and then I end up getting busy and don't do it until a week or so later... I especially hate that I put month 14 off because in the last week Oliver has had a lot of developmental moments and I would have loved to reflect on the previous month.

I also typically start writing the months post and then go back and add pictures - which are stored on an external drive compatible with my upstairs computer (don't ask)... so I do things separately, which isn't working for me right now!

(On that note: to prevent this from becoming 16 months, I'm posting without pictures and will add them separately.)

We ended up in the emergency room on Easter afternoon, two days before his 14 month birthday (monthday?).  He fell and bit through his bottom lip.  Surprisingly, I was completely calm and held it together better than I imagined I could have.  They wanted to stitch him, but I requested DermaBond knowing his personality.  That started to peel less than 24 hours after it was applied, but he was completely healed after about three or four days.  So thankful we had a good experience in the ER.

Moving on...

Here's what I know to be true:
Weight: 21.5lbs
Height: no idea, but probably just a half inch taller?
Teeth: 9, four on top, four on the bottom and one bottom molar

Wears: mostly sizes 12m and 18m, some 6-12m but mostly 12-18m.  I do have a couple 18-24m shirts I picked up accidentally thinking they were smaller, but they seem to fit okay and will last quite a while.

Diapers: Still going strong with cloth.  bumGenius 4.0 are the current go-tos.  When we use disposables he's still in a size 3.  (I think he's been a size 3 for 8 months at least!)

Words: Mama, Dada, Hi (very southern!), Bye (even more southern!), 'Nay Nay' (for Nola) - when I call Nola I tend to use some voice inflection and he uses the same tones, its' cute to hear his little voice go even higher in pitch.  He's very recently started saying 'Ba Ba' when he wants to nurse.  I find this interesting because I've never called it that.  He can almost say 'bubble,' he said something that sounded like 'chicken' when he heard it said just today (5/2/12), and he says 'Mmm' for 'moo.'  I think he's trying to say 'kitty' because he often takes off after Luka or Finley and says the same thing each time.

-He's very into imitating us and will try to figure out how to make certain noises or wrinkle his brow.  He likes to stick his tongue out and enjoys seeing himself in the mirror doing it.  He recently picked up a tissue and tried to wipe his nose.  He also has taken initiative to try to fork pieces of food - we have not encouraged this or shown him how to do it yet so we were excited he had picked that up from observing us feed him (which we only do with something like yogurt, otherwise he feeds himself).

-I always blow him kisses after I give him real kisses before I leave his room for nap and today (5/9/12) he blew me a kiss!  So sweet.  He even made a little sucking noise that sounded like a kiss.

-He likes to stand on his toes to reach inside his dresser drawers and the shoe drawer is his favorite.  Yesterday, he pulled out one shoe and continued to pull out shoes and put them back until he found the match.  He then sat down and looked at them as if checking to be sure it was correct.  It's fun watching him make these associations!  Speaking of shoes, he loves them.  I am NOT a shoe person at all, I like them fine, but I am not crazy about shoes so it's hilarious that he likes them so much - especially when I try to keep him barefooted as much as possible.  Go figure.  He thinks it's the most fun in the world to find shoes and try to put them on.

-He can walk, but doesn't.  He prefers crawling still.  I'm more than ready for him to be a full-time walker though because crawling in mulch and on concrete is no fun and that's his plan when we're outside.  He has moments where he'll walk for a good half hour, then it's back to crawling. He loves how excited we get when he does walk and he's getting better and better.  He literally runs with his push toys, so we're in for it when he does walk full time. We've found that he walks more when he's tired.  I think this is because he has less energy and can focus better because he isn't go-go-go.

-He nurses 4-6 times each day and the week after Easter is when we really started to notice him eating more during the day so he's finally getting three meals of solid foods each day.  Before, it was hit or miss during lunch, but he's eating consistently around lunchtime lately.

-Favorite foods include: any fruit, especially strawberries, pears and peaches, macaroni and cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches, a red/white sauce pasta dish I make, pancakes, yogurt.

-He continues to nap twice each day, but his morning naps are sometimes as long as his afternoon naps.  I usually try to keep his morning nap to an hour or hour and a half max, otherwise he's napping later in the afternoons and I try to be sure he's up by four o'clock so we have a decent bedtime.  Overall, he's sleeping 3-4 hours during the day.

-He's usually awake between 6:30 and 7:00 AM and is in bed between 8:00 and 8:30 PM.  Sometimes he's up closer to 9:00 PM, but that's only when he napped later (i.e. not awake until 6 or later).

-His favorite toy since his birthday has been a white and green Hess car.  He also enjoys his wooden shapes sorter and he's gotten really good and learning to move the shape to find the right fit.  He is also crazy about pushing his riding toys.

-He LOVES animals.  Loves them.  I keep talking about taking him to the zoo.  Chandler thinks he's too young to appreciate it, but finally agreed that we'll go when Oliver walks.  (Lovely, so instead of having fun I'll be chasing a wild toddler who refuses to be carried because he can walk... fun time....)

-He got a Learning Tower for his birthday and I cannot wait to use it in the kitchen.

-He enjoys 'talking' on the phone.  It's hilarious to watch, especially since the phone is usually being held behind his head.  I remember other children doing this too, it's way cuter with my own child and it was super cute then :)

I'm sure I could think of a hundred more things to write, but for the sake of all who read this, I'll stop here.

Happy 15 months sweetness!