15 Months!

Didn't I just write our 14 month update? And now another month has flown by and Elias is growing and developing like crazy! He's turning into such a little personality, and he's learning so fast! If any of you ever get tired of me raving about how brilliant and handsome my son is, you may just want to stop reading here... For those of you who can get past the gushing, here's what our past month has been like.

Walking
Elias is walking like a champ now, and he just doesn't stop! I took a video yesterday of what our days look like now that he can walk. It's pretty long, but it gives you an excellent picture of what he does now.

He's no longer satisfied to just sit and play with his toys. Instead, he wanders around the house (well, the part we don't have gated off!) looking to see what he can get into! It cracked me up when he even put his chin up on the table to see what he could reach. (We have definitely learned to not leave water glasses too close to the edge! He grabbed the edge of one once and got a faceful of water!) And then he tried to climb into his high chair. Silly boy!

You will notice, though, that whenever I use my Mommy Voice (telling him not to touch the trash can or play with the cabinets), he listens, for which I am extremely thankful! Of course, I'd rather him not touch them at all, but that'll come. :)

You will also notice that there are no still photographs of him in this update, only video. This is because he's never still! Always up and running around.

Teeth
He has sprouted 5 teeth in the past month, for a total of 10 now. Six on top (the front four and two molars) and four on bottom. And he CONSTANTLY has things in his mouth, so that indicates to me that there are more coming. In fact, he has started chewing on books now, something we're trying to break him of. But the other day I had him looking at a book while I was making copies at the library. I noticed in my peripheral vision that he was chewing on something, so I looked and he had eaten part of the cover off the book! Like totally eaten it! (Photo at right.) Sheesh!

One Nap
He is now officially down to one nap a day. Today was the first day we intentionally did the new one-nap routine, although it has been quite a while that he hasn't napped in the morning. We'll still do an hour of crib playtime in the mornings so he has some quiet time and Mommy can at least get a shower! But he does well with it, and I REALLY like the 3+ hour naptime in the afternoon that I can get things done! (Or take my own nap!)

So Fun
The more he grows and can do, the more fun we have playing. He is just such a little ham! He still loves Peek-a-boo, and we finally got some video of what he does:

He'll crawl into the corner where the loveseat meets the wall, and he'll hide his face there before he pops around the couch to peep at us! I think that is SO FUNNY! That's all his own doing - he's never seen either of us do that. He'll do it over and over again, and it's funny because he really bonks his face into that corner - we can always hear the thud when it hits! Goofy boy.

So Smart
I seriously cannot believe how much this child knows and understands and can do and say! He is talking like crazy, and his vocabulary is really extensive for somebody his age! He can say the whole gamut of farm and zoo animal noises (including rare ones like squirrels, chipmunks, and kangaroos! I'll have to get those on video sometime). He's also getting to where he can repeat a word we say. A couple days ago, I was telling him about his pajamas, which had Winnie the Pooh playing basketball on them. So I said "basketball," and he said "dassss-da-da" which actually sounds pretty close! He really took to that word, and he walks around saying it a lot. So today I got him a little toy basketball and hoop, and he knows that it's his basketball and he knows what it means when we say "Put it in the basket." (Look for that video in a couple days!)

He's starting to learn the parts of his body. He can find his nose, eyes, mouth, ears, hair, feet, toes, hands, and belly!

Justin also made a discovery today that Elias knows his shapes! He has a little toy laptop that has six buttons that are each a different shape. Justin learned today that if you ask him where the square is, for example, he'll push the right button! We were floored! Such a smarty-pants.

Ok, this has turned out really long, but I warned you it would just be me raving about how brilliant my son is! And he is! I'm so proud of him!!!