Yolande

Fourteen Months

A whirlwind of a month over here. This calls for bullet points and a fragmented monthly update for my precious 14 monther.



-Truman is walking about 8-10 steps now and his balance has improved exponentially in the past few weeks. He's getting so brave, walking to us or even away from us without warning, but always with a purpose. He isn't walking around the house just yet but his favorite walking activity involves reaching out for one of our hands, and then strutting around the house in laps until his poor legs just give out from exhaustion. It's really the cutest thing ever.



- He's playing ROUGH with Henry. Loving him, laughing at him, chasing him. I think that Truman loves Henry more than any other creature alive. And let's be honest, Henry is pretty fond of his baby brother, too.

-He's imitating like crazy. Kissie noises when mom and dad smooch in front of him. Loves to clap when he hears a studio audience do the same on TV. Trying to say 'doggie' and 'baby' and basically anything else we say---just not very successful yet.



-He weighs about 25 pounds and is about 32 inches. Totally guesses here, based off his official one year stats. Actually he might be about 50 pounds by now because he feels like a giant lug when I pick him up. Still wearing mostly all 24 month clothes, bought some 2Ts for the summer, too.

the fam at Easter


-Bottles/Milk. The saga. We tried to cut out all bottles except for the nighttime one and that lasted all of two days. He would NOT drink anything at all during the day and I was scared he'd get too dehydrated. So we went to a morning bottle of 7 ounces and a night bottle of 7 ounces. Then I started to get tricky and played around with warming the sippy cup milk and keeping the bottled milk cold. I swear the hatred of the cup has more to do with the cold temperature than anything, and my trick worked pretty well. He started drinking a tiny bit of warm milk from cups during the day but also demanded his nighttime bottle was warm, too. At this point in time we are down to just the nighttime bottle, and it's usually cold. No other bottles during the day and I am proud to say he will even drink about 8-14 ounces of cupped milk in addition to his nighttime bottle. Next up: getting rid of that last bottle. Should be fun!

-Solids. A true statement from Lori at daycare: 'Truman is eating more than some 3 year olds.' But the thing is, he is still very finicky with his food choices. One day he'll adore string cheese and granola bars and the next they are dead to him. One night he ate an entire turkey dog, part of the bun, mac-n-cheese, grapes, strawberries, milk, and a cookie for dessert. But then there are the nights he will have a single crumb and claim he is full. I just don't get this child but I'm starting to relax about his eating habits because he is obviously growing just fine and seems to know when he is hungry (practically all the freaking time).



-Sleep: was doing great, just trying to decide between one long late-morning nap and two separate ones. But lately just started teething so all hell is breaking loose again. Not really, just waking up at 11 and 3 and then 5 for the day. But I know it's a phase and we'll get back to normal pretty soon (right?)

-Pacifier: we were totally weaned off the thing at home, and he still used it at Lori's on occasion to help with his separation anxiety. But then the molars starting disturbing our lives and our sleep and thus I succumbed and let him have the paci if he was beside himself at night. But only rarely and only when sleeping. I figure he's only 14 months and if he really needs to suck on something right now to get through this teething process then I should let the paci win temporarily. I'm a softie who wants my sleep, what can I say?



- Words: Ma Ma, Da Da, Duh Duh (doggie??), Ya Ya (grandma??), Ba Ba (who the heck knows). Babbles like it's his job. Always cracking us up with his new sounds. Loves to pretend to hold actual conversations with his toys and with Henry. I die over it.

-He seems to be a very cautious soul. Likes to test the waters a bit first with a new skill, observe, think about it some more, and then MAYBE try it out if he's brave enough. I'm totally fine with him being cautious, by the way. Hope it lasts.



-Really into giving kisses without being asked. Best thing ever. Also still has his awesome fake laugh and even a new 'forced' loud laugh he tries to do when he is working himself into a chuckle.

-Truman is doing light years better with daycare drop offs. Lori says he is really having fun there and loves his friends, rarely cries more than a little whimper when I drop him off, and gets super excited to see me when I arrive.

-He has really good fine motor skills now. Can manipulate our cell phones like a teenager, puts them up to his ear to 'talk', and has mastered the shape sorting toys. Also loves to hammer and throw and smack everything together. Getting kind of rough and tough...

I love you, mister man, this month and every month. You keep us entertained and we wouldn't trade you for the world.