14 months old

Since I completely missed the 13 month blog, I thought I'd better make time to let y'all know what Riley's up to since he turned a year old. The times they are a changin'...

Gross Motor: After a couple of months of cruising, Riley took his first independent steps on Independence Day. In the past 2 1/2 weeks he has been perfecting this skill and is walking all over the place and navigating the thresholds with ease. He's even mastered drinking from his sippy cup and walking without falling down. That's my boy!

Walking naturally leads to climbing...in and through things:




























Words: He says da da, ma ma, light, uh-oh, ball and has said diaper & water, which sound curiously similar to his generic, all-purpose word "dat dat". He loves to hear the sound of his voice. When he's in the upstairs hallway which echoes, he's particularly loud with his vocal exercises.

He can understand simple commands like "Give it to mama", "Go get your ___", "Put it in there" and "No no, don't _____", although he usually chooses to ignore the last one.

Sleep: He sleeps from 8p-6a, give or take a half-hour, and takes a 2-3 hour nap during the day.

Eats: 3 meals a day plus 2 snacks and wants finger foods he can feed himself. Frequent menu items are yogurt, chickpeas, blueberries, carrots, green beans, watermelon, avocado, mango, cheese, hummus on whole wheat, pasta, chicken, sweet potatoes, black beans & brown rice.














He snacks on toasted seaweed, which he eats like potato chips. Sushi lovers will understand.

He's essentially weaned off the bottle, though I'm using the last of the formula by giving him 4 oz before bed. I don't anticipate any problem once we're done with it at the end of this month.

I give him plastic cutlery to use, but he ditches it within a couple of bites since fingers are faster:














Play: His favorite game is to turn lights on and off. His favorite toys are two lighted bath toys that I picked up at Target last week. When you push the button they blink on and off.














His favorite book is "First Words" by Bright Baby and Barnyard Dance.














When I look at the above picture I can already imagine what Riley will look like when he's older...(sigh)

Teeth: Riley has 7 teeth and we think he might have a molar coming in. Besides the excessive drooling, he's been in pain several times this week, crying inconsolably. I gave him some baby Tylenol and topical gel and that seemed to help.

Temperament: We're definitely seeing his desire for independence now. I've seen the first maneuvers of a tantrum --he goes limp and arches his back, but nothing more...yet.

Another thing we've noticed is that he gets impatient if he can't get something to do what he wants right away. He'll throw said object within 5-10 seconds, showing himself to be his mama's boy.

Otherwise, he's still an easy-going kid. He doesn't like anything on his head though, so he's not too keen on the bike helmet we bought him. Don't let that smile fool you, he was whining shortly after when he couldn't pull it off!














Sports: For now, his outdoor activities include riding in the jog stroller/bike carrier, swinging and playing in the pool. He took a spin in the kayak with mama last week. We'll do that again since we bought him a float vest. He'll get to try hiking when we go to Maine later this summer.

Those who told us that it just gets better and better were right -- we have always enjoyed our boy, but the joy increases as his personality becomes more apparent and we can interact enjoy more activities together.

We love our boy!

Shelby