14 Months
Development: Nicholas mastered 5 signs in just a week. He can now say: more, all done, change (diaper changes), milk and eat. He quickly put his pulling-up skills to the test and started using a walker to walk the entire length of the living room.
Nicholas has started climbing the stairs, but is still working on how to get down them safely. He loves when you call to him on the stairs like he got caught. He then rests his head on the stair above him and tucks his arms under his belly with a huge grin on his face.
We read the same book to him every night before bedtime. One night when Daddy got to the page where we “blow” the dandelion seeds in the air, Nicholas blew on him first cracking Daddy up. Apparently he is taking notice what happens on that page each night we read it. Nicholas is more adventurous than Cooper and loves to be hung upside down and go down slides.
Nicholas loves his brother and is watching him all the time. He will pretty much let Cooper try anything to him so the expression “gentle touches” is used many of times a day here.
Physical: Nicholas’ hair is getting more of a red tint and the darker parts seem to be growing out. He still hasn’t had a haircut since it is growing in pretty evenly. We are keeping him in the 12 month clothes which have so many stains from his high fat diet that we are hoping to start fresh with his diet and 18 month clothes next month. He is still in size 4 diapers and wears a nighttime diaper overnight.
Eating: Near the end of this month I have reduced Nicholas’ nursing sessions from 6 to 3. We thought reducing the nursing sessions would impact his volume of liquid consumed from a cup, but haven’t really noticed a change. We can get by easily with only changing his diaper 3 times a day due to this low liquid intake. Nicholas insists on having a spoon too when you are feeding him and much prefers to feed himself over all. This results in some amazing messes on a very regular basis. He is signing “all done”, but not before tossing at least a few pieces of food on the floor. The biggest mess maker is his milk cup, we just haven’t found the right one that can stand the drop, but still work for him to drink from.
Sleeping: Nicholas is a very light sleeper. Capturing a picture of him sleeping is a very difficult task when the simple click of the door handle turning usually wakes him.
He is in his bed for 20 minutes or so of “sleeping” in the morning, but I must admit when I do look at the camera during his morning nap he is quiet and not sleeping 80%+ of the time. Perhaps the end of the morning rest is sooner than we hoped. He is getting more predictable with the afternoon nap and lets out a cry after an hour, but many times will go back to sleep for another hour if you give him a few minutes to calm himself back down.
Firsts: Ride in a bike trailer, Pulling up to standing, Cruising with a walker, and Climbing stairs
