Thomas Jay Adams: 14 Months

14 months stats: 22.4 pounds, 30 inches tall. 3 new molars sprouted this month for a grand total of 12 teeth!

At 14 months old, Tommy was a wild and funny guy. He was the friendliest, most playful little dude, and loved to wave to people and say "hi!" with a big cheesy smile on his face. Every morning when Daddy left for work, and when friends left from play dates, he would want to go outside and wave goodbye and watch them walk down the stairs and into the parking lot. He would get very upset if anybody left the house and he was not allowed to do this. He was always on the go and surprising us with a new trick or a new word. Some new words/phrases in his vocabulary this month were "baby" (bee-bee), "bath" (ba), "book" (buh), "ball" (bah) "no no," "uh oh," "hi mama," "hi dada," and "Momo" (Elmo). He learned a couple of animal sounds- "baa" and "moo." He would also say "Heidi" all the time, but we don't think he knows that it's Mommy's name. If we counted, "one..  two..." then he would say "THREE!" (tee).
 

 

His obsession with Elmo continued this month. He would run to us with the remote saying "Momo! Momo!" so that we would turn on an episode of Sesame Street for him to watch. He would get excited whenever he saw any toy, book, or other object with Elmo on it and would point and say "Momo!" He was thrilled when his Elmo Halloween costume came in the mail, and equally excited about Mommy's... stay tuned to see our Sesame Street themed costumes in a few weeks :)
 

His appetite was still insatiable, so he spent a good portion of the day eating snacks. Some of his favorites things to snack on this month were grapes, fruit snacks, bananas, "Scooby Snacks" (graham cracker sticks shaped like dog treats), Clif Kid Z Bars, popcorn, animal crackers, and Plum Organics Little Yums (teething crackers). Some favorite meals were whole grain mac n' cheese, Mellow Mushroom pizza, quinoa, salmon, broccoli, chili with cheese, and grilled chicken.

 

 

He loved being outdoors more than anything. On our walks around the lake now, he liked to get out and explore the dock, watch the ducks and turtles, and run around collecting rocks. A new favorite activity was gathering rocks and tossing them into the water so he could make a splash. He also went out in a little boat with Mommy and Daddy and helped us catch our first Carolina bass.

When he was indoors, some of his favorite things to do were reading books, building block towers, reorganizing the pots and pans in the kitchen, doing his puzzles and shape sorter, playing in his ball pit, taking baths, tackling Mommy, having Daddy throw him on top of pillows on the bed, and dancing. Another thing he would do often is to gather various items from around the house (toys, clothing, deodorant, cell phones, hairspray, kitchen utensils, etc.) and toss them all into the empty bathtub. He loved to play hide and seek, and some of his favorite hiding spots were behind the shower curtain, in his bedroom closet, under Mommy's desk, under his crib, and behind the glider chair in his room. He was obsessed with throwing things in the garbage (especially dish towels), and Mommy will admit that she even once this month caught him eating a stale piece of bread that he took OUT of the garbage can! YUCK!!! He was also getting to be very tech savvy and loved to play games on the iPad, delete and rearrange apps, send gibberish text messages, set alarms on Mommy's phone to go off at various times throughout the day, and of course he was a pro at taking selfies. :)

Our friends the Taylors come to visit from D.C. and he loved little four-month-old Gracie. He gave her kisses and called her "bee-bee" (baby). He also got to go to the lake with friends on Labor Day and had so much fun swimming and playing on the beach with them. Tommy loved meeting up with friends at the playground and to go on walks. He liked to have friends over for play dates, too. It was so fun this month to watch him interact with other kids and to see his friendly personality develop. It was awesome to see him sharing and laughing with other kids since, being an only child, he doesn't get a lot of practice with that. He has such a fun, outgoing personality, and is very silly and loves to make people laugh. We just love this little guy so much!

Photo credit: Yolanda Taylor (above left photo of Tommy on the beach as well)