Will it ever end?

Every month that passes, Alex grows a month older. This month marks number fourteen. I've noticed myself calling him "baby" lately, I suppose because I am subconsciously trying to keep him from growing up. Well really, it's too little too late. My baby boy is most certainly a little boy now, at all of 14 months old, and I'm just gonna have to deal with it. Until time travel is perfected, of course. I'll be all over that.

But for now, we are enjoying watching our little dude grow and learn and be all kinds of cute while he's at it.

Walking was obviously a big milestone for us this month. He's just truckin' along as if he never didn't know how to walk. And it happened exactly as we thought it would. One day he would decide that he was gonna start walking, and then he'd be unstoppable.

We thought it would be a long process before his instinct to crawl went away, but within a couple of days of his first "real" steps, he left the urge to crawl far behind. Now, when he falls down, he immediately stands back up and picks up where he left off. Which is about the cutest thing ever. I shouldn't admit it, but watching him fall down is about the funniest thing ever.

Other than walking, his vocabulary has really expanded this month, in terms of his comprehension and the words he's able to say. "Bat" and "bite" are common, although they usually come out as "bap" and "bipe". He does the sign language for "more" and says "mo'" when he wants more of something. I guess he does both to emphasize his point. If you ask him what a bird does, he tweets and flaps his arms. If someone enters a room, you might hear him say, "hhiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeee!!" If anyone leaves the room, including himself, he yells, "bbbbyyyyyyyeeeeeeee!!" He's especially fond of addressing his father, i.e. "Hi Dad!" or "Bye Dad!" although Mama rarely gets such a direct greeting.

He tries very hard to say "milk", which usually ends up as "me-me". He holds random conversations with words that sound like they should make sense, but we have no idea what he is saying. Of course, that never stops us from responding to him. His favorite mystery word is "bish", which he says at seemingly random times, such that we haven't been able to pin it down to a single meaning. And just today, he started saying "truck" when referring to his toy trucks as well as real ones. To be accurate, he really says "gruck". But I know what he means.

Of all that he says, the most effective words he's added to his vocab are "this" and "that". Sure, "ball" and "truck" are cute and all, but they aren't particularly effective at communicating exactly what he wants. Unless he wants a ball or truck, of course. Now, he asks to be picked up and chauffeured around the room, while he points at things and says "this!" or "that!" He uses them interchangeably at this point, but he enunciates them so clearly that you'd swear he knows what he's talking about. Sometimes he doesn't even know what he wants, but he so appreciates having the power to communicate that he'll point at random things around the room just to see if we'll do as he asks.

I've also seen some glimpses of a fourteen-months-going-on-fourteen-years attitude lately - apparently that trait is hereditary. Case in point. Sometimes when he's playing, I will attempt to engage him by getting down on his level and talk to him or sing silly songs. If he'd rather keep playing than to humor me by smiling or singing along, he will - and I kid you not - furrow his brow, push my face away with his hand, and sigh, as if to say, "Ugh, Mom, you are soooo lame". All while never looking up from his toy. Call me crazy, but isn't he a little young for such behavior?

He certainly has his bratty moments and is quickly realizing that throwing a hissyfit won't always get him what he wants. On the other hand, he is sweeter and more affectionate than he's ever been. While he's normally going ninety-to-nothing...

...he will now take the time to sit and cuddle with me while we watch TV, read a book, or have a snack. He loves to come over and lay his head down on my shoulder, hug me around the neck, and give me big sloppy kisses on the mouth, completely out of the blue, as if he just had the urge to let me know how much he loves his mama.

What a sweet boy I have.

When it comes to eating, Alex fancies himself a big boy, meaning he no longer likes to have his food cut into convenient, bite-sized pieces. If I'm eating a banana muffin, he wants a banana muffin. Not tiny little pieces of a banana muffin. A whole banana muffin. At that point, he likes to shove the entire muffin into his mouth, chewing as much as he can and letting the rest fall out onto his tray. So far, he hasn't choked...much.

He still eats just about everything, but is more selective when he realizes that he has options. These days, I'd say that all varieties of melon are his favorite. The other morning he ate a bit of muffin and one third of a large cantaloupe. His entire body glowed a lovely shade of orange for the rest of that day. I think he'd dive headfirst into a watermelon if I'd let him.

However, fruit and fruit-flavored treats of all sorts are fair game.

His increased efforts to feed himself have increased the frequency of his post-dinner baths.

Not that he minds.

He has been sleeping pretty well, although his wakeup times have been terribly unpredictable. He went from sleeping until 9 one week to waking up at five, whining for a while, then going back to sleep until 6. Those 6am mornings were killing me, but they only lasted a couple of weeks. Lately, he is back to sleeping until 7, but who knows whether that'll continue. He is getting all four of his one year molars in, and I suspect that may have something to do with his erratic sleep patterns. There is one good thing to come out of it - he actually looks forward to his one nap a day!

He is learning so much every day and is still so curious, which makes it harder and harder to keep him out of trouble.

He loves his guitars and music in general. His favorite song right now is called "Birdie Bye-Bye", which he will sing if the mood strikes.

To keep the two of us from going stir-crazy, I've had to create errands and activities for us to do to keep busy during the day. We've hit most of the parks in Dallas, the malls, the grocery stores, and Target has seen its fair share of Evanses.

The next plan of action is to get A enrolled in a Mother's Day Out program because, let's get real, it's high time the two of us started hanging out with folks our own age. Then I will have to hire a photographer to follow him around and take pictures since I won't be able to.