Tag Archives: baby signs

Dear Emmett – 14 Months

Happy 14 months baby boy!! 14-months-7

Once again another month has zoomed by and you just continue to grow and grow! I definitely don’t mind, I love watching how much you grow and change on a daily basis. It is just unbelievable that you’re 14 months!

Right around the start of the month you began actually communicating with us. You aren’t yet using words, but you’ve gotten really good at the signs that we’ve taught you. It all started one Saturday morning, we were all playing and you got up and walked to the kitchen door. I asked you what you wanted and you started doing the sign for milk. I then asked if you wanted milk and you lifted your little hand up and did the sign faster and with a huge smile on your face. I went to the kitchen, got your sippy and filled it with milk and gave it to you. You were so excited! You definitely seemed thrilled that you had been able to communicate with me what you actually wanted, it was such an awesome moment.

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We bought you your first pair of shoes AND you lost your first pair of shoes. You wore them out with me when we went for our walk, and as soon as we got home I took them off and set them on the floor. For some reason you really love shoes and picking them up and placing them on your hands, so as soon as I took them off they were on your hands. You were bopping around the house, like you usually do, but when it came time to put the shoes back on to go out, one was missing and we still can’t be find it to this day (almost a month later). It’s in the house somewhere, we just don’t know where. We’ll find it someday, maybe when you’re 5. 😀

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Your paternal grandparents got you a bike trailer for you birthday and this month you went on your longest ride with me, 10 whole miles. You did awesome, too! We went for a ride with momma’s friends down to water, on the ride down you fell asleep but woke up once we arrived. We got out and you had some milk and I had coffee with my friends. The way back was just as easy, you fell asleep about 20 minutes in and slept the entire way. We had so much fun! I’m really hoping we can get one more ride like that in before the really cold weather starts.

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You’re not exactly a cuddly baby, you like to be held and hugged, but it has to be on your terms so the first time you climbed into your daddy’s lap with a book, was the most precious thing. In your playroom you have a bookshelf all to yourself, filled with all different kinds of kid’s books, you love to grab one, walk over to your dad, hand him the book and then climb into his lap for him to read it to you. I’m thinking they must read books like that at day care, or maybe it was just a spontaneous thing, either way it’s adorable!

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We also moved you into a new day care this month, it was a really tough decision for your dad and I to make, but it has turned out to be the right one. The first few weeks were very rough for you, being dropped off seemed like torture because you’d cry and cling to me any time I tried to put you down. You’ve been there just about a month and you no longer cry or cling when I leave you in the mornings. When we walk in you now wriggle to get down and once down run over to your cot with your monkey and throw him on the bed (the sight of this melts my heart). I’m so glad you’ve adjusted, the ride for us has dropped almost a total of an hour off of our morning and evening commutes, we get home earlier, with more time for play or exercise.

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In the mornings, when we enter your room, we always warn you that we’re going to turn on the light. You seem to have kind of caught on to what that means and try to cover your eyes. The other thing I love doing with you in the mornings is asking you where your binkie is. I’ll look at you and say, Emmett where’s your binkie? I’ll put my arms out like you would if you were asking a question and you’ve begun to mimic me. When I ask the question, you know what’s coming and put your hands out, like you are asking me where it is. Seriously, I’m not sure you could get any cuter!

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You’ve also learned how to shake your head, no, in response to some things your dad or I ask you. It’s cute now, but I’m sure down the line it will give us trouble. 😉 You’re also big into say “uh oh” when you drop something, or if something is just laying on the floor. You love to look at it, sometimes you point, but you’ll always say, “uh oh.” Cute stuff!

We made these yummy Mexican pizzas and gave you black olives for the first time. I was skeptical and assumed you would not like them but I was SO wrong. You absolutely LOVED them! We only used about half the can on the pizzas and you finished the rest with your dinner, that’s how much you liked them. I keep forgetting to get you more when I shop on the weekends.

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Your dad and I have really limited your screen-time when it comes to all things, including TV, our phones, my iPad, etc. We decided before you were even born that you wouldn’t watch TV until you were two and we’ve done pretty well in sticking to that. You’ve maybe seen a total of 3 hours of TV over the past 14 months. We do occasionally allow football on Sundays and cartoons on Saturdays, but it’s a treat not the norm. We did however, relax a little on our essential ban of the iPad. I downloaded a few educational apps and you play them, but only if your dad and I are with you. The first time you played, you sped through the alphabet but as you have learned how the app works, you now wait for each letter and the picture to show up before swiping it away. It sometimes amazes me how smart you can be

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Alright, my little love-bug,  I hope you know how much you are loved, each day it grows more and more. Until next month, I love you!

Your turn!

What do you remember from when your child was 14 months olds?

You can read all of my Dear Emmett’s by clicking here.

Dear Emmett – 13 Months,

You are 13 months old! Can you believe that? 13 whole months and we are well on our way into your second year!

We’ve been busy since your last birthday! You are more active than ever, and you keep becoming more and more fun. You are exploring and getting into everything and it makes for some pretty exciting play times.

You’re a lucky little boy! Your daddy and I decided to take our dining room, make it baby safe and turn it into your playroom. We cleared out all of our stuff that was in there (we were mainly using it for storage), bought a baby fence and got some foam flooring (from your paternal grandparents) and now it is a toddler’s paradise. You have all sorts of toys in there now too, legos, fisher-price people, wooden blocks, shape sorters, a little table and chairs (from your maternal grandparents), crayons and paper, etc. We need to get some bins to keep the toys in, because as of now things are kind of strewn all over the place but you love being in there as long as we’re in there with you. I’m happy that we could make you so happy!

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You are also firmly in the walking stage, and actually you are nearly running. Shortly after your first birthday you began slowly walking more than crawling. You’d stand yourself up, take a few steps and then plop down. As the month progressed, you became more and more of a pro and now you hardly ever crawl. The only time is if you’ve fallen and are trying to chase us, you will often chase after us in a speedy little crawl.

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We bought you your first pair of shoes. I wanted to make sure we got you shoes that had soft soles with some rubber on the bottom because your feet aren’t fully formed and I didn’t want hard rubber soles inhibiting that. The most notorious for those types of bottoms is the PediPed brand, but we needed something kind of quick and ended up finding a cute pair at Babies R Us, in their Koala Kids line. They’re adorable, and the first time I put them on you was one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long time. They don’t bother you too much now, but you still take them off almost every morning on the car ride to day care. Silly boy!

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I’m so excited to say that you have mastered the signs we’ve taught you thus far. We taught you milk, water, more and all done and you can do them all and use them frequently. You were doing milk really early on, you’d know it was time to nurse and you’d start to clench your little fist, which is your version of milk. However, you’ve slowly but surely began using it whenever you are actually wanting milk, not just when I ask you. You also know that when you’re thirsty and don’t want milk, that you can ask for water. When we are all sitting down to dinner and you’ve finished everything that you want on your tray, you will make the sign for more and we will give it to you. It is really awesome! You’re slowly beginning to gain the ability to communicate with us and it is just so fun.

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You continue to make your different sounds but more and more they are beginning to actually sound like the words we speak. When I ask you if you’re all done, you will wave your hands (the sign for all done) and make a sound that sounds like “alld.” I wouldn’t say it is a formal word yet, more of a mimic of what I said but you are definitely getting closer.

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You and food get along great! You love eating and for the most part continue to eat anything we give you. You do go in spurts where you’ll only eat soft foods, but I believe that’s because you’re growing some of your back teeth (poor guy).

Right now, I’d say your favorite toy is a toss up between your fisher-price farm (that your aunt, uncle and cousin got you) and your legos. With the farm house, you love opening and closing the doors and hearing the animal sounds they make. You also love moo’ing yourself, I’ll show you the cow and go “Mooooooo” and you’ll mimic me. It’s adorable! When you’re done playing with the farm, you like to leave the doors open and if I close them you open them back up. Such a cutie! In regards to the legos, anytime that your dad or I build something, you love to grab it and take it apart. You’ve also begun trying to get them to stick together, you’ll bang bang bang and then sometimes they’ll stick and sometimes they won’t. When they do, you get the BIGGEST smile on your face.

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You love cuddling up with your big brown monkey blanket, it pretty much goes everywhere with us. You’re also really into cuddling up this stuffed monkey that plays music that I got as a gift from some of my staff in Rochester. I love it when you lay your head down on his belly and curl up, it is the sweetest thing.

I just cannot believe you’re 13 months, I love you and can’t wait to see what the next month will bring us.

13-months-1To see all of the Dear Emmett’s, click here.

 

Dear Emmett,

Do you realize that there is only 3 more months until you are a year old? This blows my mind! At this time last year, your father and I were anxiously awaiting your birth and here we are a year later, having the time our lives.

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We celebrated your first Easter this month. Your dad and I didn’t decorate, dye eggs or get you an Easter basket because we knew you’d probably be getting one from your Grammy, we weren’t wrong. You got the cutest basket from her, it is a monkey’s head and inside of it was a stuffed peep (since you can’t eat the marshmallow ones yet), a VERY cute barn with 4 different farm animals in it that make noise and a chicky bird sippy bottle. I think there might have been one more thing in there but I’m drawing a complete blank. It was really cute stuff and I really love the barn, I can’t wait until your a little bit older and can play with the animals with me.

You are so SO mobile! I remember when we used to be able to put you down on the floor to play and you would stay there, now, no way! The second you hit the floor you move, move, move. You continue to do your army crawl, where your right arm is straight out, pulling, your left is bent underneath your chest pushing you forward and your legs every once in awhile will give a good push but mainly it is your arms doing the work. You still get up on your hands and knees and rock back and forth but you haven’t yet done any “formal” crawling, who cares, though!? You are able to get around perfectly well the way you do it now. You’ve become really really good at doing planks and downward dog, obviously you have no idea they’re called that but you have inspired me to start planking or doing downward dog when you are doing them. So thanks for the motivation! 🙂

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Going along with your crawling, you’ve also become really good at standing. Your dad or I can stand you up, holding onto your crib or pack ‘n play and you stand there all on your own for long stretches of time. You actually love it quite a bit because now you can watch your daddy cook. At the start of the month, you were just standing there for a little bit and then falling down, now you like coasting along the side. So if I am in my bedroom and you want to see what I’m doing you’ll slowly inch your way around to the other side so you can see me. You’ve also pretty much mastered sitting down from standing. Initially you’d just let go and fall, sometimes you’d land on your back other times on your butt but at this point, most of the time you land your on your bottom in a sitting up position.

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We’ve even experimented with your toy motorcycle that you can use as a walking prop. When we set it up so that you can hold on and walk behind it, you’re pretty good at taking 3 or 4 steps before you stop and sit down. You seem to get tired or bored of doing this because you’ll only do it once or twice but you’re getting better and better. Sooner or later, you will be walking and then, everybody better watch out!

In your classroom at school they have short plie bar attached to a mirror and then attached to the wall. You love that thing! The second your teacher puts you up on it and you start looking at yourself in the mirror you start talking. You yell and smile, babble and grunt, you just adore it. Your teacher also tells us that you are very talkative, that all day you are making some sort of noises. I have a feeling your dad and I are in for it. But I’m pretty sure I was a talkative toddler, so it only makes sense.

Midway through the month, your dad and I started to get a little nervous that maybe you weren’t getting enough solid foods down. You were definitely getting enough breast milk but at around 9 months you start needing the nutrients from whole foods. We considered starting to give you more pureed food and we even pureed some sweet potatoes for you, but in the end our worries were for nothing. You are a champion eater! You are now eating and swallowing pretty much everything without any trouble, this includes meats like chicken, pork or steak. Vegetables and fruit are no match for you, you grab them tight and chomp away. It has been quite the experience watching your eating abilities grow with each passing week.

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You love to play with everything but mostly with items you shouldn’t be playing with. Your favorites tend to be the outlet that is strangely in the floor, that we’ve put an outlet cover over but you still want to crawl on over and take it out. You also love grabbing for the cable box and Blu-ray player, which gives your dad a heart attack nearly every time (understandably). I’m personally, not looking forward to when you can reach the TV because that is one expensive piece of equipment and it would be very sad if it got damaged. We’ll just need to be extra vigilant when we get to that point.

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We continue to teach you the signs for different words so that it makes it easier for us all to communicate before you are able to speak. Last month you conquered milk and continue to do a great job with that, this month, we’re pretty sure that you’ve mastered “more.” We use it mostly to ask if you want more food, or for you to ask us for more food. We’re still working on “diaper” and “all done.” I have no doubt you will get both of those very soon.

You and I are doing swimming lessons and you are having a blast! When the other babies are bothered by the chilly water or even just being in the water, there you are, happy as a clam, splashing and smiling. I’m so happy we can experience this together. Since before you were born I knew I wanted to do a mommy and me class but couldn’t find one that was the right fit for us, swimming is perfect and something I’m good at. My hope is to continue doing these classes together until you’re 24 months, when you’ll have to start doing the classes on your own with a swim teacher.

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Speaking of water, bath time is a blast! Getting you squeaky clean isn’t the easiest because you like to move and squirm but once that part is done, playing with your toys is the best. I’m not sure how it got started, but one day I started calling your toes vinegar toes, now every time I wash them I say that, it’s pretty funny. You have started moving around in the tub to reach your toys or the hose and sometimes you’ll turn your little self around and moon your daddy and I, thank goodness it is such a cute dupa. You like when I lay you back and let you float with my hand underneath your back, it seems like you find it so relaxing. I think if your dad and I let you, you’d stay in the tub forever.

Your 9 month doctor’s appointment is on May first, so I don’t have any of your weight or height information to share this month, but I’ll make sure I include them next month. I am anxious to see what you weigh and how tall you are because you just seem so ginormous.

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Well Emmett, my happy beautiful boy, I love every precious moment I get to spend with you and can’t wait to see what is on the horizon this go round.

XO

Dear Emmett

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Wow, let me tell you, your 7 month did not gotten off to the best of starts. You continue to crawl and move around quite well but you have been unbelievably cranky and have gone back to at least 1 wake-up a night.

I think the main source of your crankiness stems from your new teeth coming in. For whatever reason, the teeth on the bottom didn’t seem to phase you at all but your top teeth are treating you pretty poorly. You’re constantly trying to put everything in your mouth and are getting cranky very easily. I feel so badly for you little guy.

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You also had to have the second half of your flu shot and that didn’t go so well. It hurt you like it always does when you get a shot but what made it bad was that you woke up twice that night. You hadn’t done that since we switched you to wearing your sleep sack from your swaddler, almost 4 months ago. I don’t mind waking up with you or caring for you but I feel so bad that you’re not feeling well, I wish I could take away all of your pain.

We also had a HUGE development!  We’ve been doing the sign for “milk” since you were about 4 months old. Every time I’d nurse you or you’d get a bottle we’d do the motion and say the word, then give you the milk, well early in the month your dad and I were asking if you wanted milk and you started squeezing your little hand together, doing your version of the sign. We were so proud!  You know your momma had tears in her eyes. I’m petty sure I will be your biggest cheerleader for your entire life. Every little thing that you do amazes me! I created you, my magical little being.

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We also started bathing you in the big tub! You were starting to outgrow your baby tub so we stopped using it. We have a little rubber mat with Elmo on it to keep you from slipping all over the place and you just love it. I think you were starting to feel cramped in your small baby tub because now with the whole tub you splash and squeal and are unbelievably happy. You even learned how to move around in there! The other day you plopped yourself onto your belly and were just trying to crawl around. You don’t quite get that if you go down on your belly in water, your head will go under the water, so I hold my hand underneath your chest but still kind of let you float around so that you get the hang of things. It is so very cute!

That Waffle is as large as his head!

That Waffle is as large as his head!

St. Patrick’s Day fell during your 7th month, as well. We didn’t do anything special, I thought about going to the parade but it was cold and you’re still so young, you wouldn’t really understand. We will most definitely go next year, however you did try corned beef and cabbage for the first time and you loved it. We gave you just a small piece of corned beef because it is so high in sodium but you sucked on that for a little while but then when we gave you a full leaf of cabbage you sucked on that bad boy for a good long while.  You ARE Irish but you are also VERY Polish.  

Watching you sit there and eat cabbage showed me that your dad and I have done the right thing in introducing you to solids this way, you turn almost nothing away! You might hesitate and the first few times you try it and you might feel iffy but you eventually start liking it and will happily eat away. You’re also getting really good at eating too; you’ve started to take small bites and then move it around in your mouth and eventually swallow some things. It is so amazing to watch your progression.

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You have also found a new found love of books. You enjoy sitting on anyone’s lap and listening to a story but you also love playing with your books. If we place you in front of them, you will pull them all out and flip through them, bite them, or throw them. It is really adorable, I enjoy watching you play and learn.

It is so hard to contain you now, we rarely even bother trying. Nowadays, we typically sit you on the floor and surround you with toys and then let you army crawl around the room. We even decided to move our coffee table out of the center of the room so that you have more room to play, it’s no longer mommy and daddy’s house. 😉

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We started using “no” around you. We live in an old house and for some reason a long time ago they placed an outlet in the floor and of course being a curious baby you are drawn to it, like a bear to honey. We put in an outlet cover but of course, since it is in the floor you always want to crawl towards it. Every time you do it, we tell you no and pull you back, you haven’t learned what it means yet but with consistency you will. You’re just too smart not to!

Your sweet baby mood returned once again. You are also very relaxed lately, so when your dad and I are holding you, you will often lay back and relax and cuddle. It is such a change from a few months ago. You’re growing and advancing and it is so amazing!!

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You also are slowly being moved up into the 2nd baby room at your day care. This is very exciting because it means that more and more independent play is coming up. I’m excited to see what things happen in your new room.

About two weeks ago, I went through all of your 6 month clothes and pulled them out of your drawers and replaced them with your 9 month things. You have SO many 9 month outfits and your dad has a lot of fun getting you dressed in the morning. He likes making you look like a young man, not a baby and he does a really good job of it.

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Well Emmett another month has passed and while I absolutely adore watching you grow both in size and in knowledge, it is sad to think that your baby months are quickly passing us by. I try to enjoy each and every moment with you, please know how deeply you are loved by both myself and your father.

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