Letters to Aden: 14 Months

Happy 14 months, Aden Bear!

I'd forgotten how much I love the baby to toddler transition. Oh, how much fun you're becoming! Everyday is something new as you become more interactive with the world around you.

You're a proficient crawler and can be anywhere (and into anything) in the blink of an eye. Though, something clicked for you in the last few weeks and now you're also pulling up to a standing position and cruising along furniture with ease. Best of all, you've mastered walking alone with the toy activity walker. One day within a few hours, you learned how to walk behind the walker and as long as someone's re-directing you from running into walls and furniture, you can navigate throughout the entire main level of the house by yourself. I'm amazed how quickly you've taken to walking -- it's so fun to see.

This month, you also discovered the stairs and seemed to have mastered them overnight. One weekend day at the cabin as we were coming in from outside taking off our coats, hats and boots, you got away from me and bolted up six or seven steps like you'd been doing it your whole life. I showed you how to turn your body around to go back down the stairs and in no time, you started doing that too. I wouldn't exactly leave you to navigate the stairs by yourself, but it is amazing to watch you become independent in those ways. Speaking of climbing, you've also started crawling out of the high chair which nearly gave me a heart attack one morning. I half-turned away from you to set the high chair tray on the counter top and turned back to see you climbing from the high chair seat onto the counter. Gah!

You've learned to blow kisses and wave 'hi.' You like to brush your own hair and teeth while Tory does those things in the mornings. You instinctively blow on your food to cool it down at mealtimes, and you've started making "vroom" sounds while pushing toy cars and tractors around on the floor. Mama bragging alert: your speech is off the charts! In the last two weeks, you've started saying "hi," "ball," "all-done," "yay" and "cheese" (in addition to already mastering the words "mama," "dada," and "uh-oh" last month), which is far more words than Tory said at your age. By the way, "cheese" is the face you make when taking a photograph, not the dairy product as you're still allergic. You make this ridiculously cute face when saying "cheese" for the camera, and I simply cannot get enough! 

Aden, you're quite curious and seem to have already perfected the art of selective hearing where the word 'no' is concerned. You can now open the refrigerator and cupboard doors and absolutely delight in pulling out all the condiments, Tupperware containers and plastic kid's plates and cups so you can throw them onto the kitchen floor. I love picking up after you 17 times a day, really! (Kidding.) You also love Chloe's dog food bowls and bee-line over to them to shovel in as many pieces of dog food into your mouth as possible. One would think you'd be deterred once you realized how disgusting dog food must taste, but nope -- you can't. stop. eating. dog food. Or playing in the toilet, for that matter.

You've turned into a huge mama's boy this month, and are sliding into a separation anxiety phase. You cry when I walk away from you, and don't want to be held by anyone other than Dad and I. You'll flash a smile to friends, family or even strangers in the grocery store but when someone attempts to hold you, cue the waterworks. 

We switched to toddler soy formula as a milk option this month, and your tummy seems to have handled that transition well. You love to eat, little boy, and annihilate a serious amount of fruits, vegetables, chicken or fish at meal times. You're not a fan of breaded foods like, well, bread for instance, or waffles or pancakes. Eggs are hot or cold for you. Some days you love them; other days, you won't touch them with a ten-foot pole. You're wearing size 12-18 month clothes, size 3 shoes and size 4 diapers. Sometime in the last month or so, you gained your 9th tooth -- the bottom right first molar. Maybe that's to blame for those nasty diapers and up-all-nights around the turn of the year?

This past month, we celebrated your second Christmas and New Year's holidays. The weather warmed up this month and we've had a few chances to play outdoors. Crawling around in the snow can't be all that enjoyable, so I understand why you're usually begging to go back inside after 20 minutes or so. I'm looking forward to the next few months when you'll be able to walk around and play more interactively.

Ice fishing with Dad and Tory

Love you, Buddy!

XOXO,
Mom