Little Dude {14 Months}

You are my Little man! In many different senses of the word, and I adore you more and more every single day. 

I can't believe how much of your little personality has come out these past few months and let me just say that you had your mama fooled believing you were a passive, quiet, laid-back kind of kid during the first year of your life!

You have decided to challenge your mommy and daddy in ways I never experienced at this age with your big sister! Every single day you are fighting to establish your independence and let us know that you want to do things the way you want to do them. Such a strong will for such a little dude!

You have finally tipped the scales at 20 lbs!! The only reason we know is because you had your first ear infection and we had to take you to urgent care on a Sunday morning to get you some antibiotics! Poor guy. :( Other than that you have had a clean bill of health so far, only going to the doctor's office for your well baby check ups. 

I'm experimenting with your sleep schedule to hopefully get you on a more do-able one before itty-bitty gets here {in 1.5 months!!!} but so far you are letting me know loud and clear that you have your own plan and you'd like to keep it that way. But mama is desperate for you to sleep later than 5 AM every morning!!

You were waking up at 4:30 AM and while some may count that as progress, I'm still hoping for a little more give from you. That's why I've been taking away your morning nap only putting you down for one nap, when your sissy goes down. {Except when you had your ear infection, you needed all the sleep you could get!} But so far I'm just left with a fussy, sleepy 14 month old most of the day.

Resulting in this: falling asleep in your chair during snack time...

Although you aren't walking....yet {all I want for Christmas...} you have taken an interest in making laps around the kitchen and living room while holding on to mama or daddy's hands! They say practice makes perfect. You love to just stand up in the middle of the room and then just stand there while everyone says "Yay, Bubba!!" and claps. Then we all coax you to take a step towards us, at which point you drop to your hands and knees and take off, usually grinning ear to ear. You are a stinker!! Or should I say Stinker Pot, as your sister so graciously calls you!

Your favorite word as of late is "No" and I wish I could describe in writing how you say it because it isn't just a plain "No" but with a little attitude at the end. The real challenge is to keep a straight face and remain firm when you tell us no to something. Both daddy and I want to crack up and laugh at the cuteness of it. But we can't let you know that, because you are, undoubtedly, testing your boundaries {already?!} and we want to establish with you that you, my sweet little man, are not in charge. :)

The latest trick you are most proud of is taking your dirty diaper to the trash can, crawling of course, and standing up to lift the lid and drop it in. I think you have purposely been filling your diapers more often just for that simple thrill of getting to throw away your diaper. But you are so proud of yourself when you do it and other things too! You love to clap for yourself and say "Eh ob, Bubba!" {Good Job, Bubba} when ever you do something you dub worthy. And of course, we all follow suit and clap along with you. ; )

Another new word in your vocabulary is "elp" {help}, and there are others but I can't think of them right now. You're just at the stage where you understand so much more than you can express in words and I try to figure out what you are trying to tell me but I fail many times. Then we see the very short fuse you have {and admittedly got from your mother}.

Over all, sweet boy, you are a delight to our family. And even though you know just the right buttons to push {and at such a young age} we wouldn't dream of doing life with out you and can't wait to see how you continue to grow and develop into just the little man God created you to be!