William @ 14 months

William is 14 months old. He is a busy, walking, trying-to-be-talking, happy little boy. I think I forgot how nonstop this stage is. At three, Henry is able to sit and concentrate on doing something for a small, but somewhat extended period of time. When I say extended I mean maybe 20 minutes. But even so, 20 minutes of seated (sometimes standing), concentrated efforts. William is nonstop on the go. He is a cuddly baby and loves being close to me throughout the day; there are literally times that I trip over him while doing dishes or coming out of the bathroom because he is right there. He makes a game of crawling between my legs when I'm standing. He also loves when I say "no no" and hearing those words is like a special magic to him that makes him want to only do whatever it is that he's doing more and more. I try not to be too dramatic when I say it and just simply move him away and on to the next thing. He and Henry are playing nicely together more and more which is so sweet to see. But I have to treasure those tender moments in my heart, because Henry's still not quite ready for his baby brother to be playing with all of "his toys" and William hasn't quite learned the art of taking turns (versus simply snatching).

William loves looking out the windows and our French doors.Where's William?

He loves playing Peek-a-Boo and starts it spontaneously now.
Peek-a-booThis is the Starbucks accident aftermath. He grabbed my nearly empty, and lukewarm latte off the table and came into the kitchen to show me while trying to drink it. He's a big helper and loves taking things out and putting them back in. He loves building block towers and proudly claps for himself after he puts each block on. Dangerous, I know. But look how proud he is. Another fave place to stand.And after all of this, a boy's got to sleep.

Some 14 month milestones:

• Blows kisses, loves to clap (for himself, or along with anyone else--TV included).
• He loves to read. He sits in his room by his rocking chair and takes books out one by one to read through.
• He is a serious animal lover. Mostly cats lately. But he really loves anything that moves, even bugs.
• He loves cars, trucks and tractors and makes the vrrooom noises as he drives them.
  
• He has his top two 1-year molars.
• He is almost constantly wearing a bib - lots and lots of drool. I've never seen anything like it!
• He's officially done with his bottles. This is always a little bit sad for me. I feel like it's the end of his "babyhood". I had a harder time letting go of them than he did. He has a sippy cup of milk before bed now (his bedtime bottle was the last to go) and sometimes he drinks it and other times he isn't interested.
• Words: car, this, cookie, cracker, juice, kitty, go (if I say, "ready-set", he says "Go" enthusiastically. We do this in the car...a lot!), no-no (sounds like nah-nah-nah, there's usually a few of them).
  
• He's very addicted to his pacifier. These things should come with a warning. Warning: If this thing works and your child uses it for soothing purposes, there will come a day when your child will want this thing nonstop throughout the day making you a nervous wreck worrying about how you will break him of the habit. Something like that.
  
• Still takes two naps, although I'm wondering if he's almost ready to give up his first. There have been a few days recently that he really fights his afternoon nap. I remember this being a tricky transition with Henry, so we'll see. As always, I'm going to try to hang on to them as long as he will!
  

He is a sweet and happy boy. I feel overwhelmed at times with gratitude for the family that God blessed me with. I feel so blessed to be the mother of these two precious boys. I'm really excited for Christmas this year. It will be so fun to experience the holidays through the boys' eyes. It's precious to see their joy, wonder and awe at even the simplest of things.