14 months

Little tidbits at 14 months!

At 14 months, Sam:

is much more interested in words lately.  Everything is "what's that?"  and he tries so hard to say the words back to us.  His favorite word is "that!" right now and I'm working on getting him to learn "please" so that his requests don't sound so demanding!  He just learned "Baa" for sheep and "mOOOOO" for a picture of a cow.  Sam loves his Bella dog and excitedly signs "dog" when we get home from daycare and he sees her.

understands more and more every day.   Sam likes grabing his jacket and trying to put it on.  He'll move towards the door saying "dada...?" as if to ask if we can go for a walk already.  When you tell him to "be gentle," he'll stop patting the dog or Anna on the head and start petting instead.  Sam likes to challenge things he knows he should not do, like opening the fireplace doors or grabbing things he knows he's not supposed to touch.  He'll wait until you are looking, shake his head "no" and with a big grin on his face, touch it anyway. 

At 14 months, Anna:

loves to dance, dance, dance!  I can't hold her in the baby's room without her gesturing me to turn on the ipod dock so we can dance.  Her favorites are all over the board from Black Eyed Peas to Jason Mraz to Michael Jackson (or maybe that's her momma...)

is a big jokester.  She likes to give her hat to Sam and put his hat on her head and gaffaw at how silly they look with the wrong hat on.  She likes to kiss your nose with a wet sloppy kiss nd laugh before going in for another one.  She lifts her shirt when you ask her "where's your belly button?" and then giggles when you touch it.  But not stopping there, she will lift YOUR shirt, touch YOUR belly button and then giggle some more.

At 14 months, they both:

are showing lots of interest in beginning to use utensils on their own.  We given them forks and spoons now and both of them think it is a riot when they actually get food into their mouths using them. 

are fighting more and more over toys.  They try to rip the toy out of the other's grip with high pitched screams of unhappiness.  Then if they don't get the prized toy, they will have a massive temper tantrum in protest.  Anna tends to throw herself backwards when she's furious, while Sam throws himself forward.  It's hard not to laugh at how cute their tantrums look, but on the other hand, they are getting a little old already too!

are taking more and more steps.  I said I wouldn't worry about walking until they were 14 months old, and now here we are.  Each one will take 3ish steps in a row, but neither one really stands independently for any length of time.  Sam's too impatient to go slow enough to keep his balance right now.  His legs can't keep up with where his head wants to go.  His max is 10 steps in a row.  Anna's not willing to take the risk to take many steps on her own.  She likes to reach for your hands and hold on with a death grip so you can't attempt to let go.  I am getting impatient to meet the walking milestone so we can enjoy the warmer weather outside to its fullest potential.