14 Months Old!

Over the past month Oliver:

1. Learned how to clap!

2. Started to seem like a toddler rather than a baby because of how much trouble he can now get himself into. We reinstalled one baby gate because he loves to climb up the stairs, but then he figured out how to go through a few rooms to find another way to get to the stairs. We didn't want to install both gates again, so we are now using a gymnastics mat as the barrier at the bottom of the stairs. When he is caught on the stairs, he has this impish grin and often laughs. He also learned the art of pulling all the books off the bookshelf. Lovely.

3. Switched to all size 12 month clothing and is now wearing "real" shoes (rather than those soft leather ones).

4. Is doing a lot more walking with the use of the toy shopping cart or the lion toy. He also can stand without holding on to anything for about five seconds.

5. His weight was pretty much unchanged over the past month despite what a good eater he is. These photos were taken tonight of him eating ravioli and peas.

6. When he is holding a toy phone by his ear, he says "hi", which is so cute!

7. Many times he doesn't cry at all when I put him down in his crib, and then other times he cries up to 30 minutes. His morning nap is always 30 minutes long. His afternoon nap is at least 45 minutes long. Many days it's 60 minutes long, and there have been more times that it has been closer to two hours long in the past month, although that has never happened two days in a row. Sometimes he wakes up too early in the morning, but the earliest I'll get him is 6:30am. It's rare that he sleeps past 6:45am, but he actually slept until 7:30am this morning (that has happened less than five times in his life).

8. Has gotten better about not crying so much when I leave him in the nursery.

9. Now drinks 3 sippy cups a day (the sippy cup holds 5 oz) of whole milk and an average of 2 sippy cups a day of juice - apple, orange, grape, or cranberry.

10. Has learned to flush the toilet. I am scared to see our next sewer bill. We try to keep the bathroom doors closed due to his love of #1 splashing in the water in the toilet and #2 flushing the toilet umpteen times in row. He also loves to climb inside the refrigerator and inside the dish washer.