Elliot is learning and growing by leaps and bounds, and I really want to record some of his milestones. At 14.5 months:
- He can now say a lot of words. A lot of the words are still "baby talk" that only we can understand. This is not an exhaustive list, but here are some of his more frequent words: No, yes, hi, bye, bus, dar (car), Dosh (Josh), dis (this), peas, bao (bread), mama, dada, tee/dee (tree), shoes, egg, beh (belly button), moo (milk), wa (water), box, gas (glasses), ABC, boon (balloon), ball, nose, knee, head. I'm sure there are more. He's very good at pronouncing words that end in an "s" sound.
- He can also pretty much mimic most single syllable words we say.
- He can identify lots of body parts. He also recently started having a sense of self. At least I think that's what it is. He can point to himself and say "me". (It could be fluke - but he's done it a few times now.)
- He loves to play with trains, and likes to push the train into the paper box tunnels his grandparents have made. He can also make the accompanying car/train sounds too!
- He has an obsession with buses. Everytime he sees a bus, he'll yell excitedly, "Bus!". Even Josh has caught on and whenever we see a bus in the car, J will say "look Baby E, it's a bus!" It's really endearing how J does this.
- He's running now. :/ The phase between taking a couple of steps by himself between objects to full on walking was very long (maybe 6 weeks!). But the phase between walking and running was very quick (maybe a week!).
- I'm pretty sure he's a lefty now. I had a suspicion very early on (like around 4-5 months) when he started grabbing things. He always grabbed with his left hand. Now, whenever we give him something, even if it's to his right hand, he will always switch it to his left. He holds a writing instrument with his left hand. He holds utensils with his left hand. I know people say that handedness isn't really determined until at least age two. But from my limited experience of two, I could tell very early on which hand was dominant. It was the same with J - I knew from about 4 months that he is right handed. (J is clearly right handed now.) I find all of this very fascinating!
And a milestone for both of us - we are still breastfeeding. I originally intended to start weaning him, but I've changed my mind. I've decided to let him self wean instead. As he is my last baby, I think I'll relish and enjoy this last link to infancy for as long as we both want.
Overall, I really love this age. He's like a sponge! Quick to learn, quick to repeat. Quick to tantrum too, I might add. :P
