Aiden: 14 Months and Growing

This kid is OUT OF CONTROL! I just mentioned to Alexa the other day that there are so many small steps he is making in his mental growth that are not really blogworthy. But! Maybe if I put a few of them together into one post, it will be worth reading.

First, I have really been meaning to get a photo of Aiden with Mr. Lion. This photo was taken during his nap on the ride to Louisiana this weekend. This stuffed animal is a gift from Rachel that is just the perfect size for Aiden to carry around and sleep with. When he gets tired, the first thing he does is search for Mr. Lion. Lately, he's been chewing on his face and mane, which leads me to wonder if those 1-year molars might be working their way out.

Here is a short list of words Aiden uses on a fairly regular basis. Although, they are all his form of the word. No perfect English just yet...

• Shoes
• Bye
• Light (as in the one on the ceiling)
• Momma/Dadda
• No (and the head shake to go with it)
• Yes (sounds like 'nine' though - weird)
• Callaway

When he's hungry, he does the hand sign for hungry. He likes to meow at the cats. And whenever he farts or poops, he waves his hand in front of his face and says pssshhew! Occasionally he'll copy a word I say, but he hasn't picked them all up in his daily usage so far.

Aiden has two books that have sounds and hand movements to follow along with and he is excellent at that. His favorite includes a bunch of animal sounds that he copies to the best of his ability. The other is a 'wiggle your fingers, touch your nose' type of book. He steadily amazes me with his consistent learning.

Pointing has also become a favorite game with our son. He points at everything and usually says "ooo" at the same time. I try to figure out what he's pointing at and relay the proper word to describe it. Although, sometimes I'm pretty sure it's just a distraction method he uses when we're trying to get him to do something he doesn't want. Like when I say, 'let's go change your diaper' and Aiden points behind me at something that must have my attention now. Ha!

This past Saturday, Aiden was ecstatic to find Travis at home when he woke up in the morning. I was holding Aiden and we walked into the bathroom to watch Daddy in his morning ritual (brushing teeth, cologne, hair, etc). Travis and I were crying from laughing so hard when Aiden copied his entire hair routine: splash water in hair, squirt gel in hands, smear gel over hands, run hands through hair. Aiden copied every step along the way.

What to Expect the Toddler Years told me to expect our toddler to start copying us soon. It was right.

There are a zillion more small things, but I won't bore you with hours of reading on my 14-month old. I just wanted to put it out there how much fun it is to raise a kid. Constant amazement.