Fourteen Months

This has, of course, been another big month for Aiden. Don't I always say that? But this month has been a month full of development with communication, for one thing. It seems like Aiden is learning so much and wanting to learn so much more.

Favorite things:

• Cars. And how do they suddenly know to make the car sound? It was like the very first time he decided to pick up a car and roll it...he also knew that the car went "vrrrr." Crazy.
• Reading. Aiden has always loved books, but over the past few months, he's been too busy to sit long enough to do anything other than quickly flip through a couple pages. Now, he brings a book to me, and then sits down on the floor - regardless of where we are - to listen to the whole thing. And he does this over. And over. And over. All day long. (He doesn't understand...wait - Mommy's cooking. Wait - Mommy's doing laundry. Wait - Mommy's cleaning the food you threw on the floor. He expects it now.)
• Flowers. He loves stopping to smell flowers outside. Anytime he sees a flower, he goes over to it, leans over, and makes a loud sniffing noise. I have a hard time getting him away from the porches because he wants to stop and play with the flowers.
  
• Music. He has now discovered other sources of music in the house, such as the radio in our bedroom. As soon as he wakes up in the morning, he starts signing for music. Anytime he is in my bedroom, he asks for it. And he asks for music downstairs all the time, too. Loves music...and dancing to it, as well!
• His toothbrush! I wouldn't be surprised if this child grew up to be a dentist. This is another thing he asks for ALL THE TIME. For one, it will reach back to where those molars are, so he can teeth on the toothbrush some. But he also just likes to brush his teeth. We actually do not leave the house without a toothbrush these days. He really likes it that much. He also likes teeth. He's been sticking (forcing is more like it) his fingers in my mouth to touch my teeth - fun times. (And he says "teeth" while he does it. He also says "toothbrush," though it sounds more like "oosh-uosh.")

Aiden with his "play" toothbrush (the one for cleaning is not for playing!)
He is showing where his teeth are.

• Baby Signing Time. He doesn't actually sit through a whole video at a time, which is fine by us, but he asks for it all the time (though he only gets it about once a day - twice if it's been a long day!), and he will stop what he's doing for certain songs.
• Grabbing at things from the table or computer desk. This means we have to watch how close things are to the edge. He doesn't see what he's getting...he just knows he wants to find out what he CAN grab.
• Strolling. We go for walks around the neighborhood most days after taking Camden to school. Aiden likes it because I point out all the things we see and sign them and sing about them. There is a song on one of the Signing Time videos called Strollin' - and it's about the trees, grass, flowers, etc that you see while out in the stroller. There are also songs about the weather, so we sing the ones that have to do with what we see and what the weather is like that day. The funny thing is I can ask Aiden if he wants to go for a walk, and he doesn't do much. But if I ask if he wants to go "strolling"...he gets all kinds of excited. He makes the connection with the song in the video.
• Being outside! He's constantly going to the back door and looking out - then signing "outside" because that's where he wants to be!

How I LOVE this kid...

Least favorite things:

• Being taken away from Mommy when he wants to nurse. You want to see him get MAD...do that.
• Certain textures of food. It's not that he throws a fit or anything, but his new thing is not wanting to eat certain things (that he loved before, of course). Mostly meats and things that are harder to chew - I wonder if it has something to do with his molars being in and the food feels differently in his mouth now that there is less room...? Anyway, he will put the food in his mouth, make this whispery "bleh" sound (that is HILARIOUS, by the way - so hard not to laugh, but we don't!), and take it back out and set it on his tray. It's funny how foods he has always loved are suddenly no good anymore. Kids are silly. And finicky. He discovered he loved pomegranate, then one day, he spit it out and wouldn't touch it; the next day he loved it again...
• Having something he wants taken away. (Ummm...duh.) Kid's got a tight grip! (I'm having a hard time coming up with the things he doesn't like...can you tell?)
  

Aiden showing where his toes are.

New developments this month:
This month has seen an explosion of new developments!!

• Talking. Let me try to list all the words he now says (I might miss a couple)... Hi, bye, dada, mama (doesn't happen nearly as much as dada, but he does call me that sometimes - usually when he really wants to nurse!), cheese, juice, tries to say teeth/toothbrush (both sound similar, but I can tell the difference), trees, he's said please a couple times... That might be it. He also calls socks "shoes." In fact, he insists they are called shoes when I try to tell him they are socks.
  
• Animal sounds. He's been saying "quack, quack" for duck for a while. We went to a small farm with animals over the weekend, and he was also saying "baa baa" for the sheep and goats. I also have this magnet with two tigers; he loves it and I told him ONE time that the tigers go "roar"...and now whenever he has the magnet, he makes this cute, whispery "rehr" sound. Back to the ducks, though...he LOVES ducks. I'm not sure where that came from, but he loves them.
• Signing. Seriously - this is just awesome. If you have considered signing even just a few words with your baby...do it! In fact, do more of it. They pick it up so easily; it's crazy. I'm going to post soon about the signing just on its own, but Aiden is now signing more than 25 words. There are also 5 additional new ones that he is trying and partly has. And then there are even more he understands but doesn't sign yet. There are probably more than he can do that I don't even know about. Today, when reading, he suddenly showed me banana, cat, and boat when he saw the pictures - I had no clue he could do those! I do them, but he just hadn't done them back yet.
• He's learning how to manipulate things and control his movements. For example, he can stack a couple blocks on top of each other. He gets a little frustrated when it doesn't work and the tower falls. (The blocks we have are actually really smooth and kind of slippery, in all fairness.) But when he gets it, you can tell he is very proud of his accomplishment, and he claps along with us, grinning!
• Running. This child not only walks...he RUNS.
• Not sure where this fits in, but today, I showed him once how to do a high five. Since then, whenever we say "high five!" - he does it! And thinks it is so much fun and is so proud of himself for doing it.
• Naps...we're working on transitioning from two naps to one a day. Basically, he just takes the one, but if it happens to be in the morning...he doesn't take an afternoon one, and then evenings are not too much fun. If we don't have much going on, I can usually keep him up to take one afternoon nap, but if we're out and about...he might fall asleep in the car, and that is never what I want. The other problem with going to just one nap is that he doesn't combine the two! He was sleeping for about an hour and 15 minutes in the morning and an hour in the afternoon. On a one-nap day...it's still just about an hour or so regardless of whether he falls asleep by 10:30am or 1:30pm! We're working on it. (Well, I'M working on it. One hour a day is NOT enough for him.)
• I've already mentioned the reading...but I think it says a lot that he is suddenly sitting down for entire stories. And then asking you to read it again. And again. And these aren't just baby board books. No. Some are longer books meant for five-year-olds! His favorite is Big Words for Little People by Jamie Lee Curtis (LOVE her books!). And the funny thing is...this literally just changed overnight one night!
  

Aiden flipping through his Big Words for Little People book. I love how intense his expression is.

• Aiden is also working on feeding himself with a spoon or fork. I put the food on the utensil, and he'll feed himself. If I let him put the spoon back into the food...he ends up putting it in and out, in and out because that's fun to do on its own. Some foods are becoming impossible to use because they're too thin for him to feed to himself, and he usually wants to try and might not let me feed him if he can't do some, too. (We usually have two spoons...one for him and one for mama.)
• We have successfully taught Aiden to "say" please when he wants something. I wondered at what age this would really be fair to expect, but went with it anyway. After just a couple days of guiding him through the sign and explaining "you sign please and mommy will give it to you"...he got it! He now signs please when he wants something. He signs it over and over if he really wants it! If he's reaching for something and hasn't signed it on his own, we can simply ask "what do you say?" - and he signs please! If he wants a toy turned on, he'll come to me, stick the toy out to me, and will sign please, all the while making cute puppy-dog eyes that I wouldn't be able to resist anyway. (Seriously, don't wait until your kids can talk to teach them these things! They can get it now.) He's even trying to say it now, as well. And yes, he sometimes is told "no." He doesn't always get what he wants just because he signs please. We're working on "thank you," but that one seems to be taking longer. I think it is a little more difficult to grasp because with please, we could wait for him to sign before giving him what he wanted. With "thank you," it's after the fact...but he'll get it.

Aiden being silly. He will say "dadadadada" very quickly and loudly, while squinting
and making a funny face. It is hilarious!