Baby Graham is 14 months old today and…

… at last, I am all caught up!

Finally, after months of falling behind, I have a new computer, all of my pictures are restored, and the blog is up to date.  I went back and published the updated posts on the days when they occurred, so if you are eager to read all ‘new’ posts, then the posts to go back and look for are:

• Halloween (posted 11/1/10)
• Hong Kong (posted 11/5/10)
• Thanksgiving (posted 11/28/10)
• Graham celebrates Chanukah (posted 12/2/10)
• Leslie meets Graham and Zane (posted 12/9/10)
• Hawaii (posted 12/28/10)
• 1 year checkup (posted 12/30/10)
• Play Date at the Park (posted 1/3/11)
• Visit with Grandaddy and Grandma Millington (posted 1/8/11)
• Graham’s first birthday party (posted 1/9/11)
• Father’s day photo shoot (posted 1/18/11)
• Breakfast with Friends (posted 2/16/11)
• Day at the Zoo (posted 2/21/11)

In addition to all the catch up posts, a lot has been going on with Baby (now Toddler) Graham over the last few months (brace yourself, this is a LONG post).

Just recently, Graham has become a talker.  His first word was “Dada," but I didn’t feel like he knew what it meant, it was just a word that he could say.  The first word that meant something to him was “up.”  When being lifted out of his crib or high chair, we would say “up?” and he would point to the ceiling and say “ahhhh” in response.  At 13 months, 21 days old Graham finally put two and two together and correctly pronounced a word that he also knew the meaning of.  So, his first official real word is… “door!”

Here he is doing 3 tricks in one – opening the door, saying “door,” and turning off a light:

Graham had been making some other significant language strides before he said “door.”  At 11 months, 27 days, he finally started saying “Mama” on a regular basis and he began using the baby sign language symbol for “more” at 12 months, 25 days old. 

Now, at 14 months, he signs “more” and “all done” and is able to mimic things that we say, hence acquiring new words every day.  Some of his favorite words right now are: up, down, open, closed, ouch, baby, moo, woof, bottle, book, ceiling, do (from do, re, mi), zipper, and bye bye.  It is cute to watch him wave with both hi and bye :)

Before he was speaking, he had one trick that made us proud.  Our little Graham can sing his A, B, C’s!  He usually sings to himself, so I finally got a video of it, through the baby monitor, as he was waking up.  Get the tune in your head and then listen:

His eating has also advanced a lot.  At 12 months, 7 days old he fed himself a full bottle and the next day he had his first taste of cow’s milk:

At first he ate anything, but now he is getting a little pickier.  He likes variety, so he will have a favorite for a few days and then be done with it.  Here are what his typical meals look like:

Just like Mama, his favorite meal of the day is breakfast and the bananas that he used to hate are officially his favorite food.

Mommy tends to let Graham feed himself (12 months, 14 days old):

while Daddy is going for a cleaner approach (12 months, 17 days old):

One of the reasons that Graham is so successful with his eating right now is because he has a full set of teeth!  The best way to capture images of his teeth is when he cries.  Graham is really good natured and hardly ever cries, so when he does, I can’t help taking pictures or video (12 months, 21 days – with the pictures taken about a month later):

The amazing door trick that you saw in the video above was first documented at 12 months, 9 days old:

After that we needed to upgrade our baby proofing:

Graham learned another trick that we haven’t figured out a solution for yet (12 months, 16 days old):

Now that Graham is more mobile, he has become hazardous to both himself and his mommy.  At 12 months, 21 days old he threw a block and cut Mommy on the bridge of her nose:

and the next morning he dropped a piece of wood on his toe (the bruise is still there today):

While we are on the topic of injuries, Graham also had his tongue burned while trying a new food.  He was a real trooper and I can guarantee you that Mommy won't make that mistake twice (10 months, 24 days old):

Graham has settled into a really great bedtime routine.  When he is tired, we lay on the couch with him and read a story and then sing him a lullaby while putting him into his crib.  Every once in a while, Graham figures out he is tired before we figure it out.  Instead of his usual high-energy self, he will become lazy (12 months, 22 days):

or he will just fall asleep mid-play (13 months old):

Thanks to the new sleep routine, Graham usually wakes up in a really good mood.  I tried to get a video of what he looks like, but since I walked into his room and didn’t give my usual happy greeting to him, he was a bit confused (but I thought he looked so mature in the video, I had to post it anyway) (12 months, 28 days old):

Graham is getting more and more active with his toys.  We don’t keep any toys in his crib, but it didn’t stop us from introducing him to some new toys in that setting (10 months, 20 days old):

and (13 months, 2 days old):

One of our favorite things to do with our happy boy is make him laugh.  Daddy and Mommy each found a unique way to get the giggles out of Graham. (12 months, 14 days old):

and (13 months, 2 days old):

Graham was really excited when Mommy’s new computer arrived so I could finally catch up on the blog (11 months, 21 days old):

Now, I can officially announce that we are all caught up on Graham’s life, EXCEPT, I have a few more pictures and videos that I wanted to share that didn’t fit into any specific categories, so…

Graham and I went on an adventure in the rain and used his cool stroller rain cover.  He had a blast and stayed dry as a bone (13 months, 24 days old):

Graham’s walking took a major step forward (no pun intended) when we went for a play date at the beach (13 months, 4 days old).  He walked and fell and walked and fell and since that day he has become a successful walker.  The only thing still holding him back is that he can’t stand up without pulling himself up, so once he falls, he crawls until he is stood back up or finds something he can use to pull himself up.  

Even though the play date was over and there was no sand, he still wanted to use his beach toys (13 months, 25 days old):

How cute is this picture (12 months, 23 days old):

I also love this picture, he reminds me of a smurf with his big slippers (12 months, 19 days old): 

As always, I like to give an update on Graham’s piano playing.  He has become a little more aggressive (13 months, 12 days old):

Graham is still digging his playpen, but he is getting a lot closer to figuring out how to get out.  Here he is balancing on some toys (12 months, 6 days old):

and I’ll end with some last fun pictures. 

Graham at his buddy Rylan’s birthday party (11 months, 11 days old):

Special Valentine’s Day present that Graham made for Daddy (13 months, 15 days old):

Update on the comb over (10 months, 21 days old):

Modeling his jeans from Hong Kong (11 months, 5 days old):

The closest I could get to a picture of his cute new pursed lips look (14 months old):

Getting ready to go to ‘school’ (Toddler Times) then being exhausted after his first class (12 months, 18 days old):

Playing with Sonos (11 months, 5 days old):

Like father, like son (I love this one) (11 months, 18 days old):

and as always, our smiling boy (11 months old):

At 14 months, our little boy has really grown up.  In addition to his ABC's, Graham also sings Rondo from Mozart's Sonata in C Major K. 545.  He is starting to show glimmers of tantrums with an arched back and cry when he doesn’t get what he wants.  Along with opening and closing doors, he loves to pull zippers up and down and his face is full of new expressions.  When he is sad he says “mom, mom, mom” in a "woe is me" tone of voice and he is a sucker for his own baby iPhone app with a cartoon character that says “peek-a-boo” and stars that appear when he taps the screen.   

Thank you for the best 14 months Graham.  We can’t wait to see what you do next.