14 Month Recap

We have a 15 month old on our hands, which means it's time to recap month 14! It was a very momentous month with lots of milestones being achieved. It is so fun to watch our little boy grow so much so very quickly. 

Nolan Lucas - 14 Months

June was very busy with not only with our trip to LBI and Father's Day, but also included a weekend trip to NJ to visit Nonna who was recovering from her hip replacement surgery, and Nolan's big move in daycare from the infant classroom to the First Step (~12-18mo). 

Yes, his birthday balloons lasted another few MONTHS :) Just pretend it says "14 Months" 

On the Move

Nonna is recovering at a superwoman pace (not surprising!) and I hope she is up for the increasingly difficult task of babysitting Nolan as this month he also went from mobile to VERY mobile :) 

Runaway Baby!

Nolan adjusted great to his new daycare room. He moved from a huge room of nearly 20 kids and 4 teachers to a small room with 5 kids and 1 teacher (Ms. Kim) although mornings and afternoons they combine with the "Young Toddler" room which looks like it has another 10 kids or so. Right now they are in Summer Camp, which means they have water play (sprinklers/water table/etc) every Tues/Thurs in which he needs his bathing suit/water shoes/towel/swim diapers and once a week they have a special visitor (musician/puppeteers/magician/etc). On visitor days they have to wear their cute tie-dye camp shirts :)

Nolan Modeling his camp shirt before school

Nolan's new classroom door... "Now Starring" photo

I have to admit I got teary eyed on his last day in his infant room. Those teachers seem like second mothers to me - they have watched him most weekdays from when he was 4 months old to 13 months. I am so appreciative of them, and the fact that I can completely relax at work knowing he is in good hands. Taking away the mommy guilt is priceless as it is easy to see how much Nolan enjoys school with his squeals of delight each morning when we'd enter his classroom. I hope to feel the same with his future teachers as he progresses through school. His last day I brought in gifts for each of his 4 teachers (Ms. Cindy, Ms. Anna, Ms. Johnna, and Ms. Kelly) - ceramic coffee mugs filled with candy and a Starbucks gift card along with thank you notes.

Infant Room thank you gifts for the teachers

Walking: As you can see from this video previously posted - Nolan is freely walking as of this month! He has great balance and agility already and can manuever past fallen toys, stand still for a good amount of time, bend down to pick up objects, and even run! He is delighted by his new-found skillset and wants to explore everywhere we go. And by "explore" I mean pull any and all objects out of drawers/cabinets/shelves and throw them on the ground ;)

Blurry but shows the essence of Nolan

One Man Wrecking Crew Coming Through!

What's he getting into now??

Eating: Nolan has been eating great! He's certainly upped the amount of food he can put down. I think this month I will switch his favorite food from dumplings to pizza. He ate 1/4 of my personal pan pizza hut pizza one night and an entire slice of a large pizza another! Lunch is usually his big meal of the day but occasionally (like on pizza night) he will chow down on dinner too. He eats great at daycare. I do try to monitor him to make sure he gets enough iron/protein/veggies since he's a big fan of carbs and dairy, but he's doing just fine. The fact that he can now drink the baby food packets like juice boxes help esp since they have so many veggie/fruit varieties.

Getting some fruits via Plum packet

A peak into having a meal with Nolan

Snacking in his high chair

Sleeping: Nolan was a sleeping champ during the month of June. This is especially impressive as he has been getting teeth in at an astounding rate. I believe all of his teeth are in (or poked through and coming in) at this point with the exception of his 2nd molars (which don't come for another year or so). Hopefully we're through the worst of teething now. Happily, I can't even recall the last time Nolan woke up in the middle of the night and needed soothing to be put back down. There were a few nights he was especially hard to put to sleep and was up until almost 9pm and a few mornings he woke up especially early (5-5:30am), but for the most part he averages sleeping from around 7:30/8pm to 6am or so. He has one afternoon nap at daycare from 1-3pm. Sometimes he dozes driving to and from daycare but usually he loves silently looking out the car window.

Sleepy Baby

We are considering changing our bedtime routine shortly. Up until now, we've relied heavily on his bedtime bottle and rocking to put him to sleep. Previously, I could do all of this from the glider in his room, but now he is really to big to be rocked there and prefers me to stand while walking/swaying. We would like him to be able to fall asleep on his own so we may switch things up with a bottle during story time then brush his teeth and put him in the crib awake with some brief back rubs and maybe a lullabye CD. I do enjoy rocking him to sleep though so we will see how this transition goes, and like always, do what works best for our family.

Talking: Nolan definitely has been taking strides in this department as well. His favorite word for sure is "Dog". He delights in saying it when he sees any dog (or hears them barking!) and even calls all other animals "Dog" too (ie birds, squirrels, cats, etc). It is very cute (and normal) and it is fun to watch him figure out categories of words. Towards the end of June he started pointing at things and saying "Mmmm Dat!" (What's that?) We spend countless hours every day walking around with him asking and me replying with all these new vocabulary words. It is adorable. He has also been mimicking more - especially our vocal tones and facial expressions. We caught him trying to repeat the word "Elmo" - it sounded more like "Ah-ba, but he's getting there :)

Curious and always learning

Mmm Dat?

Favorite Things:

• Favorite Food: Pizza
• Favorite Word: Dog
• Favorite Toy: Small plastic balls (that fit into the palm of his hand) that he can THROW
• Favorite Color: Joe and I kid that it is orange as he seems to always choose orange objects first
• Favorite TV Show: Tie between Super Why and Thomas and Friends
• Favorite Pastime: Spending time on the swings in our backyard. He cries when I let Dean out there and he doesn't get to go too :)

Outside Please!

Favorite animal - DEAN! (also note favorite activity of pulling off his socks!)

Things to Remember at this Age:

• Throwing balls - Nolan has a hilarious "wind up" that looks like he's about to pitch. He brings the ball straight up over his head then back down and quickly whips it (usually in a downwards trajection) 

Nolan ready to hit a basket!

• Dancing - Nolan does THE CUTEST wiggle when he hears any/all music. It can be just a shoulder shimmy or a full out butt wiggle when he's standing. Daycare comments on it repeatedly - I hope he doesn't grow out of it anytime soon :)

• Baths - Nolan is finally growing back in favor to baths after having a rough go of things after all the sponge baths related to his cast. I bought him the foam alphabet letters that stick to the bathtub and they are a huge hit! He also loves splashing around and doesn't seem to be as sensitive if water gets in his face.

• I know I said this in the 13 month post, but I'll say it again: His HAIR. It is usually pretty wild these days with the humidity and I can't get enough of the adorable curls in the back.

Cute hair alert!

Mr. Crazy Hair

• Pulling out random objects. One of Nolan's FAVORITE things to do right now is to go into Dean's kitchen drawer and pull out his treats and give them to him one by one. He also likes to pull out his brush and try to brush him. He has become fascinated with all the "every day" objects that we use (hair dryer, toothbrush, remote control, hair brush, vacuum cleaner, etc) and wants to use them so badly. It is cute, but can be wearing at times (like when you are trying to get out of the house in the morning!) I just know we are going to start finding the remote/our cell phones in the trash/fridge/toilet bowl very soon and am trying to be prepared for it!

Look what I found Mommy!

Best buds... creating messes together since 2012.

• Locking himself in bathrooms. I don't know what it is, but Nolan thinks it's HILARIOUS to run into our bathroom and close the door behind him. It's a fun game for him to have us try to open the door and him close it right back up. Hearing his little laugh and squeal is worth every game!
• Peekaboo continues to be a big hit! His favorite way to do it is with the kitchen curtains or a piece of clothing over his head :)



All smiles



More photos... really?

So much fun!

Again, I'm sure I'm missing things, but that's my little snapshot of our guy at 14 months! He gets more loveable by the day. Thank you for giving us more uninterrupted nights of sleep, little one... we need the extra energy daily to keep up with your constantly moving little legs :)

We love you - (constant) Runny Nose and all!