15 month update

Well I think I officially have a toddler now!  It was easy to call you a baby before, but now that you're walking and getting so much more opinionated it's pretty obvious that I can't treat you like a baby anymore.  You are so fun but I get exhausted trying to keep up with all your new demands!

 

Some things about you at 15 months:

 

*You've become very attached to the monkeys in your crib.  For the past few months you've been sleeping with two monkeys - one is a prize Daddy won for me when we were dating, and the other one plays a lullaby when you pull it's tail (the mobile music on your crib broke so we bought this to replace it).  Lately when I check the babycam to see if you've fallen asleep yet I'll see that you've pulled both monkeys over your eyes.  I don't know what the purpose is but it's cute!  Then in the morning you'll clutch a monkey in each arm and call for me.  When I come in and lift you out of the crib you'll hold on to your monkeys tightly, and if one falls you'll start to wail and reach for it frantically until I pick it up for you, and then we all snuggle on the rocking chair while you drink your bottle.  Only after that are you willing to let go of them and get on with the day.

*If mommy or daddy are eating something that you want a bite of, you'll come over and open your mouth wide to try to get us to put some in it.

*If you want help with something you'll bring it over and hold it up to us now - a book you want read to you, a toy you need us to adjust, a snack you've found that you want. . .very good communication skills!

*You have a tooth on the top now!  It's on your left.  You got it on 9/27/12.  The one next to it is close to coming through but not yet.

*Daddy taught you how to clap, and the concept behind clapping.  You're very pleased with this new skill and applaud yourself regularly when you do things!

*You walk like a pro.  I'm always amazed at how quickly you master skills once you put your mind to it.

*I pulled out all your 9-12month clothes the other day to see if any of them would fit you.  I'm just so sick of your 6-9month clothes since you've been wearing them for 6 months now.  Unfortunately most of them are way too big still, but there are a couple pieces that don't look too ridiculous, plus I went and bought you a couple new pairs of pants since it's getting colder and you mostly have shorts. 

*You interact much more in your playdates.  You will try to engage the other baby in playing with certain toys, and will also get jealous if they're playing with something you want.
*We've pulled your old newborn bouncer out again.  You like climbing so we thought you might like a little chair to climb into, and I thought the bouncer might be just the right height.  You like to climb into it and push the music/vibrate buttons, and then you'll either bounce up and down or just lay back and chill for a while.  Glad we're getting a second use of that!

 

Quiet Book

In anticipation of the plane ride to New York, I decided to make Bennett a quiet book for those awake times on the plane where he'd have to sit still.  I'm not really crafty in the ways of fabric but I've been doing a lot of little projects in the last few months on a borrowed sewing machine so I thought I'd attempt it.  I thought I'd put pictures of all the pages I did.

 

To those who are thinking of attempting such a thing:  Don't.  That's my advice.  Just buy one if you can.  This took way too much time and by the time it was all over it was more expensive than if I had found one online.  When I was first looking up patterns and things everyone was like "just make it out of scraps you have lying around."  Well, I don't sew, so I had no scraps.  No fabric, no buttons, no velcro, nothing.  Which made buying everything very expensive very quickly.  Of course, if you're already a pretty good seamstress and actually do have things lying around, then making your own book probably wouldn't be as big of a deal.

 

Anyway, all these little projects have definitely improved my meager sewing skills tenfold, so while I'm still not ready to sew any clothes or anything, I do have an increased confidence around a sewing machine, and that's what it's all about, right?  Plus I learned a lot about what tricks I used that worked well, and what totally bombed that I should do different if there is ever a next time.

 

Left: Brush the monster's teeth (which are foam so they don't fray).  Bennett just brushes his own teeth instead.
Right:  The wheels are buttons so he can kind of turn them.  I need to sew them on better.

Left:  Sensory page with different fun ribbons.  I think this would've been a bigger hit when he was a little younger.
Right:  Mix 'n' match animals, velcro.  I'm probably most proud of this page, it took a lot of work.

Left:  I used Pocket's old collar and leash so Bennett can actually leash the dog.
Right:  Magnetic fishing.  Bennett surprisingly LOVES this page and will spend half an hour on it.

Left:  Practicing tying a bow.  Wayyy above Bennett's head right now, obviously.
Right:  Put candles in the cake.  Real candles was a mistake.  They break and fall out easy.

Left:  Match the socks in the washing machine to it's mate!  Little old for B right now.
Right:  I sewed a little LED keychain to the inside of this rocket so the flames light up when you push it!

Left:  Monkey parachuter.  Except I still haven't got around to sewing a parachute on. . .
Right:  Fill the piggy bank!  Coins from the Dollar Store.

Left:  Tent was supposed to have a zipper, but I ran out of time.  Hugely unpopular page.
Right:  Abacus.  Bennett doesn't really get the point of it yet but maybe when he learns to count.

Hogle Zoo

Daddy went on a business trip and when he came back we had to pick him up from the airport.  He had the rest of the day free so we decided to go to the zoo!

 

You were absolutely enchanted by the monkeys we saw at the beginning.  They were probably your favorite animal there.  We had to drag you away to see the rest of the zoo.

Looking so tiny in the arms of this giant gorilla.

I had a hard time getting you to stay still, but I wanted the traditional "compare your size to a gorilla" picture that everyone takes.  I'm sure there are pictures somewhere of a childhood me in front of this wall (I hope so anyway!)  Anyway, you measured the size of an infant gorilla althought your arms aren't as long thankfully!

We really wanted a picture of you on this cool elephant statue.  You weren't so sure.



Daddy pointing out the baby elephant to you.  We got there right at feeding time and got to watch the elephant family eat lunch.  The baby tried to stockpile some food into a hidden pile, silly thing!

Playing inside a log at the bear exhibit.

There was a new baby giraffe that was only born a few weeks ago!

We thought we'd try taking you on the merry-go-round.  I meant to just hold you on the giraffe, but you got scared being so high up so I had to climb up with you.

On our way out we stopped and let you play at the big water marble.  We had to make sure you didn't see it on the way in because we know how obsessed you are with water and were afraid we wouldn't see any animals if you saw the water first.  Sure enough, you were loving it and we had to pull you away kicking and screaming!  This is a cool picture because you can see our reflections in the background.

First sleepover

 

This is the sole picture I have from your first sleepover.  The last time you woke up during the night was months ago, so we decided it was time to try to spend a night apart.  I couldn't bear the thought of being far from you though, so we left you with Aunt Kav and Uncle Joey and went to a Bed&Breakfast only half an hour away.  You did really well and thankfully slept through the night just fine, but we still missed you a lot!

Little sneak

Today when I uploaded all the September pics from my camera, there were 54 pics of the ceiling. I was super confused until I came across this picture. . .mystery solved.

Bubbles!

Today you were finally old enough to understand the magic of BUBBLES!

 

 

You had so much fun watching all the bubbles floating around and popping.  Still kind of confused when you try to touch one and it disappears though.  Naturally, after the initial curiosity wore off you wanted to try to blow the bubbles like mommy.

 

 

Instead you just kind of ate the wand. 

 

 

At the end you grabbed this milk jug by the trash and brought it over and tried to dip it in the bubbles.  It was all very deliberate, but I have NO idea what your intent was!

Grape juice!

 

 

 

I love love love homemade grape juice. My mom got her hands on some a few years back and let me bottle some and I've been addicted ever since. I've been hording my last bottle of juice for over a year because I wasn't sure when I was going to get more. Well, this was my lucky year!

 

I was so fortunate to have access to both red and white grapes this year, so I went bat-crazy picking as much as I could and spending tons of money on new jars to store it all.  I was up to my elbows in grapes for 4 days straight just picking grapes and steaming and canning them.  It takes SO LONG to steam the grapes into juice, then can the juice, but so worth it.  I wanted to build up a nice big stock in case I'm hording them for another few years!

 

My friend Lacee grew up in a house with a vine, and her mom generously let me take as much as I want, so we took our boys over and let them play while we picked grapes.  The boys had fun smooshing grapes in their hands.

After I had some of the juice canned Bennett had fun taking all the rings off the jars.  In fact, he was having a grand old time leaning over the baskets of grapes playing in them. . .until he lost his footing and fell in!  He cried for a long time - more out of fright than hurt, because the grapes provided a nice soft cushion for his head, but he did manage to juice quite a bit of grapes in the process!  Mike had to take care of him and clean him up because I was hiding in the corner laughing.  I'm pretty sure I won the Worst Mom award for that because I couldn't stop laughing at how he had looked toppling over into the basket and then covered in juice.  Poor kid. 

 

Looooving my grape juice!  Here's hoping I get to do this again next summer!