Fourteen Months and Counting...

Tomorrow, our sweet, exuberant, mischievious, persistent and loveable little boy will be 15 months old. 
So, before he leaves 14 months behind, here is a post I've had written for a while and just found in my drafts.

Joy.

I would say that fourteen months is an age of joy.  Yes, there may be the occasional tears and screams, but overall there is just so much joy radiating from our little guy, and that makes my heart so happy.

I figured it was time for a Kai update, more for my sake than yours.  Sometimes life just gets away from me, and I need to sit down and reflect on what is going on in the present.

Favorite Activities:

- Walking - yes, we have a walker!!  He took his first tentative steps just after he turned a year, and is now a full-fledged walker/runner.  This has resulted in many many bruises, welts and goose-eggs but he perseveres as we applaud.

- Throwing and kicking any and every ball in sight.  Kai still has a great obsession with balls and would be entirely content if he had no other toys.  The other day he was at a friend's house and after pawing through all of the toys and not finding a ball, he settled for playing with a plastic tomato for the rest of the day :)

- Playing in the snow - sledding and skiing!! (much to his father's delight)

- Reading, either to himself or with us.  Often he'll sign "more" repeatedly so that we'll read the same story over and over to him.

- Hide and Seek.
- Being chased and tickled (okay, maybe I just like doing the last one to him!)

Least Favorite Activities:

- Being held for too long (unless we're reading to him).

- Riding in the car seat for long periods of time.

- Having his diaper changed.

- Pretty much anything that requires him to stay still!

Favorite Foods:

- He is currently obsessed with kiwis.  His appetite surpasses mine (no small feat!) at many meals.  And, he hates to have an empty plate sitting in front of him.  As soon as his plate is clean he holds it in the air until we take it away from him or refill it.

Idiosyncrasies:

- Still loves to eat anything fuzzy - from dust bunnies to lint.

Attachments:

- His "heehee" blanket.  This is a blanket that was originally my brother's, then mine and now Kai's.  As I've mentioned before, he adores it but we don't let him take it out of his room (otherwise I'm sure it would go everywhere with us, and it's not small!).  The other day I decided to wash it before his morning nap, and when he went up to his room to play after breakfast, he walked around for about 5 minutes looking in every conceivable hiding spot, saying "oh no" in a sad pitiful voice the whole time.  Then when I showed him that it was in the washing machine, he wailed "oh no" until it was finished washing, and then wailed again when I put it in the dryer.  "Oh no" is right! 

Words:

- He understands so much these days, but still doesn't say too many words.  His current favorites though are "oh no" and "wow".  He uses them repeatedly, and will even create situations in which to use them, such as hiding one of his balls, saying "oh no", removing it from his hiding spot and saying "wow!".

- He is also very expressive with his hands, and has some very funny gestures (thankfully all appropriate ones!) that he uses consistently.