Matthew at 14 Months

Our baby just turned 14 months. He is turning from baby to full fledge toddler before our very eyes. This is of course bittersweet for mama. Sad to see my baby get bigger but embracing each new stage as it seems to bring more fun and personality than the previous stage. 

At 14 months you...

- really love to be with Heidi and Nathan. Last week you started calling Heidi "Sissy", which of course she loves. Still working on saying Nathan's name. You used to say "mama" or at least I thought you did but that has stopped this month. Mommy is on a mission to make sure you start saying it again :)

- are OBSESSED with Daddy. You are in his arms any chance you get and follow him around the house saying "Dada, Dada!" Even when you hear his desk chair creak in the basement it makes you want him. It's really sweet.

- love to be outside. The back deck has a gate (thanks to Daddy's handyman skills) and you really love playing out there or in the yard with the rest of us. 

- have turned into an eating machine. You can down a lot of food in no time. 

- started loving the garbage truck this month. Happy day each Monday!

- seem to be starting to learn some "rights" and "wrongs". Usually if you know it's something Mommy has told you not to touch or do you go over by it and say "mumbo" which is copying me saying "bumbo". We tell him this when it's something that could hurt him. He gets really sad when we have to tell him to stop doing something. It's sad to see him heartbroken (and we aren't even mean about it..haha) but happy to see a little sense of conscience forming. 

- just got two new teeth last week to add to your eight existing teeth. We were surprised that they were the canines as you don't have molars in yet. Your gums appear swollen so molars will probably make their appearance soon.

- learned how to give sweet hugs! Sometimes accompanied with an "ooohhhh" sound.

- love to play with pillows and blankies and say "nigh-night" when you play with them. The kids will say, "Wanna play nigh-night pillows?" and they pull them off the couch and lay on them and have fun.

- church is pretty tricky right now. You want to move and explore nearly constantly and are not a huge fan of sitting in sacrament meeting. I usually end up sitting in the nursing mother lounge (even though we usually don't nurse at church anymore) just so we can have a contained place and I can still listen to some of the meeting. Having said this, today you made it through the whole meeting. Amazing!

- speaking of nursing, still nursing 2-3 times/24 hours.

- this month you have almost completely transitioned to one nap- usually about 2 or so hours long.

- started some new signs- drink, eat, Jesus, where, potty (you do this when you are pooping!)

- dogs and birds are your favorite animals right now. You like to stand out on the back deck and talk to the neighbors dogs. You sign "dog" and say "daaa" or sometimes bark to them which is my favorite. You can't say bird yet but sign it often. When you are grumpy I can often distract you with suggesting we go look at birds. You also love it when Mommy imitates a pig sound and just started making the sound this week also. 

- to say you are obsessed with balls would be an understatement. You are usually toting a ball of some kind with you around the house saying "ball!" The love of balls has now even gone towards fruit- the melons, pears, and avocados on the counter have proved to be very intriguing to you. Not to mention the big bin of watermelons at the store this week. As we approached you yelled "ball! ball!'" over and over again. 

- you are looking more and more like Daddy and everyone around us comments on it. We get many "mini me" comments and it really is true!

We all love you, love you, love you Matthew!