14 months old and starting to walk and talk!

I am sure I sound like a broken record but it has been another amazing month of growth.  Logan is changing in looks and behavior to be a little toddler instead of a baby.  It is fun to see him develop his own personality.  He isn’t unlike me, Charles, and Julia in his zest for life and his sense of humor.  It is fun to see us all rub off on him but see that he is his own individual.

 

Movement

Holy smokes Logan has changed physically a lot.  Early on in the month he started crab crawling everywhere (walking on hands and feet with his but in the air).  He was fast at it and used it about 50% of the time.  Either with that or regular cross crawling, Logan has been able to move from place to place very quickly.  He loves to explore the house and loves to play in different rooms with different toys (or things we wouldn’t consider toys but he does).  He can sometimes be persuaded to go where we want him to, but usually he likes to be in charge of his own destiny. 

Obviously the big news of the month is WALKING!  Logan is still only taking 2-10 steps at a time and not often on his own (we have to encourage him to do it).  However, this wasn’t the first or only big development of the month.  On valentine’s day, Julia did part one of what we dubbed “baby boot camp.”  She was able to stand him up and let go and have him try to balance on his own (with Charles and I this would lead to crazy crying but he did for Julia – always trying to impress the ladies ;)).  She did it all day, generally motivating him by only letting him hold her car keys if he was standing.  He went from only standing for a second at a time in the morning to 30 seconds by the night.  We continued to work on it over the weekend and by the next week Logan was standing of his own volition many many times throughout the day.  Over the next two weeks he would more and more often pull up and then get a toy, let go and play with it.  Over the same time he learned to have stand up without using furniture, getting himself in a half crouch position. 

On Thursday 2/27 Julia instituted baby boot camp day #2 after Logan stood up and shuffled his feet a little bit.  She quickly got him taking several steps at a time.  See below.  He did it over and over and was super pleased with himself.  By the afternoon, he would take up to 10 or 15 steps at a time.  He also learned to bend over and pick items up and stand back up (without any support) and also stand up in the middle of the room.  It was pretty exhausting and overwhelming for him, and there was some intermittent melt downs although he was super happy when he was walking.  On the 28th he walked as well but we pushed a little less hard so he wouldn’t burn out.  Several times he would just stand up in the middle of the room.  Very cute!  Based on how quickly standing became commonplace, I expect that by the 15 month blog, he will be fully walking most places (we’ll see though).

He also is very good at closing doors and will often go into a room and then close the door behind himself.  He can also turn on and off light switches (if we help him reach them).  He knows exactly what door knobs do and tries to reach them, but can’t reach enough to turn the knob (thank god we don’t have level handles). 

Reading

One of Logan's favorite activities lately is to sit and read.  He will crawl up to a book and sit or stand with it as he carefully opens to a page, closes the book and then opens again to another page.  Usually they aren't in order, but sometimes.  He gravitates toward the books that we have read most to him over the last year.  When he opens the book, he likes when we read him the text on that page.  He usually smiles really big at us. 

Communication

Logan has figured out many ways to communicate.  Physically, he communicates by crawling where he wants to go for playing (he is always one for taking the initiative and often seems to not care whether you follow, but often will look at you like “you are coming right?”).  He will crawl to his high chair and pull up to standing when he is hungry.  When I get ready to go out the door, he will get his jacket if he can reach it and bring it to the door and sit there.  If we get his snowsuit out, he will sit on it ready to be zipped up.  He also gestures a lot more at things he wants (or wants us to do), like turn on the ceiling fan in our bedroom.  When we leave the door open to our room, it used to be that the first thing he would do is go to the bathroom to play with the drawers and cupboards but now he goes into the middle of the room and gestures at the fan and yells little yells until we turn it on. 
He is also really expanding his verbal language.  He says the following words and seems to know the meaning and uses them consistently, “up,” “done,” “uh oh,” “on,” “off,” “duck,” “car,” and “crash” (though he says “cra—“).  He also understands when we say these words but it seems like he understands so much more.  If we say “put a car in zig” he will pick up the toy car and put him into the truck named Zig.  He also says other words but they don’t mean what we think or it seems like he is just parrotting: “mama” – he seems to be using it more for me, but not exclusively.  “dada” – usually means “hi” to one of his favorite people or that he is excited.  He parrots “hi” and “arm,” “hola” and “Ella.”  His favorite new sound is “skyr” but with a slobbery “s.”

Other

In general Logan is social and amazing.  He is a great sleeper and although pickier, still a great eater.  I stopped pumping when I got a really bad cold in mid February, but Logan has still had breast milk exclusively as his milk.  He has less than 10 days probably of pure milk left before we will start mixing whole cow’s milk with the breast milk.  Logan is really starting to bond strongly to Julia.  Although I am glad for it, it is sad to see how much he loves her and walk away and back into my office. He shows me love to, but it is strangely and irrationally (emphasis on this part) hard knowing I’m not getting all of it.  I really have no major issues with this, but it is interesting how the more he communicates and connects, the harder it is for me walk back into my office.  Sometimes logan pounds on my door after I go in.  I am not regretting or second guessing my decision to work, but I know (and knew) it would be hard missing out and saying “goodbye.”

I know a lot of women who are pregnant right now and I am so excited for them because although kids are so much work, it has made me unbelievably happy.  Everything has changed but I would never want it to go back.  Furthermore, I have changed, and although sometimes I find myself surprised by new or past interests coming and going, I like who I am and I like the life that Charles and I have built.  I’m so excited for the future with Logan and hopeful that we will make a second and can’t wait to see what will happen as we complete our family.