Fourteen Month Favorites

First, an update on the walking. It seems that John is most inclined to walk for anyone who isn't one of his parents. Last night he stood by himself for the longest amount of time we've ever seen, captivated by the toy Mrs. Sayles was holding out for him. And then this morning at church, he shuffled two little half-steps towards Mr. Parker, who was holding out a twig for him. So today we tried a little bribe of our own - a vanilla wafer. And, after much cajoling on our part, he did take about three steps towards the cookie, and sat down as soon as he grabbed it. I'm still not willing to say that he's actually walking -- he still obviously prefers to crawl -- but I will concede that he CAN walk. :-) We'll try to get it on video to share...

Anyway, this Tuesday marks John's fourteen-month birthday. He's turned into such a little boy, hardly a baby anymore, so we thought we'd share some of his favorites.














Favorite foods -- We've been very fortunate that he's not that picky of an eater. He loves green peas, banana, avocado, pears, and black beans. One of his favorite meals is black beans with a warm tortilla and some avocado and corn on the side. Which is one of the reasons we go to Maudie's as often as we do. ;-)

Favorite toys -- John loves the air-compressor ball-popper thingy that Owen sent him for his birthday. He laughs when the balls come flying out and then scurries to pick them up. Lately he also spends a lot of time with his nesting blocks and his star stacking rings (dancing in place when the music plays!). And he loves the shape sorter castle from Adison -- especially the little knights that sit on top. He stacks them on top of each other and takes them in and out of the castle. Of course, he still spends a good part of the day pushing his John Deere tractor around the house, and has figured out how to climb on and off it by himself and how to get to the farm animals inside.

Favorite books -- Even more than toys, John is now really into books. We've been reading to him since he was born (OK, since before he was born), but while he was sick he started holding up books for us to read. Most often it's one of his dog books -- Baby Einstein Dogs or Sandra Boynton's Doggies. (He mouths along to the "Yap Yap" part, but doesn't say it out loud.) His attention span is pretty short, though, so usually a few pages into a book he'll hand us a new one. We read Mama Loves You before each nap, and Llama Llama Red Pajama at bedtime.

Favorite words -- Up! (which means up, out, in, down, away, etc.), Uh-oh, Mama, Daddy, Digga (Dog), Tika (Kitty), and Num Num -- which isn't really a word, but how he communicates that he is hungry and/or wants what we're eating. There are other words in John-speak that we still haven't translated.

Favorite things to do -- Climb up and down the stairs, slam doors, hide things in cabinets, turn the TV on/off, float in the pool, bother the cat...

So you can see he's keeping us very busy and very entertained! He's a joy and we're having so much fun watching him grow up. I'll try to get more pictures on this week before we leave on our trip, and then when we get home I should have a lot to share from his first summer trip to Minnesota!