Baby McDermott: 14 Months Old

James is 14 months old!

(OK – James is actually 14 months and 3 weeks old at the time I am actually getting around to posting this!)

Where has the time gone??

I find that I am constantly asking myself this question. It feels like just yesterday that James was a little thing who I held in my arms for hours on end. Now, I look at him and I no longer see my little baby – but instead I see my little man.

James, you are now on the go constantly. You are walking, semi-running, crawling and climbing on everything. You rarely sit still, unless you are eating or drinking!

You chase after the dog all day when you are home. You also love to share your Cheerios with Brandy. I find it both entertaining and slightly gross how you take a handful of Cheerios and eat a few yourself and then give the rest to Brandy with the same hand. And then you do the same thing over and over. You get such a kick out of it when Brandy licks your hands to get the food.

Other than when you have food – Brandy tries to avoid you. You like to hit her on the head and grab her tail or fur. We are constantly reminding you to be gentle. Sometimes we have to put Brandy on the other side of the baby gate just so she can have some peace.

While you do have your aggressive side (think hair pulling and hitting and biting) – you also have a wonderful loving side. You LOVE to give hugs. And you are the BEST hugger ever. I cannot even describe how it makes me feel when I see you running towards me with your arms out and then you wrap them around my neck and hold on. It is the best feeling ever.

You even hug all your friends and teachers at school. They say you are a great hugger too. In fact, one of your teachers even told her boyfriend how you give the best hugs and he asked her if he should be jealous!

You also love to make funny faces. You stick your tongue out a lot when you walk.

Have I mentioned your talking? You love to talk. You say all kinds of words now. Though they may not sound exactly as they do when we say them, you know Mama, Dada, bottle, ball, Brandy, bye-bye, quack quack, beep beep, that and banana.

You also recognize people and objects now. When asked, you can point out who mama, dada, auntie and brandy are. You know where your belly button is and you love to pull up your shirt and show everyone. You also know where our noses and ears are. And you know what a duck is and when asked, you will find your duck toy. You also know that socks go on your feet. In the morning when we are getting your dressed and I tell you its time to put on your socks, you will bend over and point to your toes.

Speaking of pointing. You love to point at things. You are always pointing at objects so Daddy and I will tell you what they are. You are a very curious boy. You get mad whenever we take anything away from you that you should not have.

And boy – do you have a temper! You throw tantrums on a daily basis. You will get mad and throw yourself on the ground. (I think you get this behavior from Daddy’s side of the family! Haha.)

You love to climb. One morning you disappeared and I found you halfway up the stairs! You also love to climb in Daddy’s chair and then crawl over the arm to get to the couch. You think it is so much fun to throw all the pillows off the couch and onto the floor.

You still love bath time and reading stories. If you find one of your books lying around you will pick it up and bring it over to us to read. Or if we start to read a book you will run over and sit in our lap so we can finish the story.

You have become a pretty good sleeper over the last few months. You go down around 7:30/8pm each night and usually sleep sound until about 7:30am the next morning. When we get you up, we bring you into bed with us for your morning bottle. This is one of my favorite times of the day. My other favorite time is when I get to rock you for a few minutes before you go to sleep and you wrap your arms around my neck and hold tight.

Your naps on the weekends are not going so well. No matter what I do, I cannot seem to get you to nap in your crib. You end up either napping in my arms or in the car. I try to enjoy those naps in my arms because I know there will come a day when you will no longer want to be held for naptime. So for now, I will try and treasure these moments.

Before this post gets any longer, I will leave you with some more pictures of the little guy.