Brooks at 14.5 months

I'm enjoying Brooks tremendously right now and just thought I'd update you on what he's up to.

During the day, he likes to "help" his momma with the laundry. His favorite job is pulling the dry laundry off the rack or "sorting" the clothes readyfor drying, but he's learning that the wet clothes go on the rack so he's starting to experiment with getting them on there himself. Stacking and throwing blocks and fitting shaped pieces into a slotted lid are also great fun. He loves a good story. Llama Llama, Red Pajama still tops his list, but Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel is gaining popularity.

In the last four to six weeks, Brooks' vocabulary has expanded quite a bit. He now says Mama, Dada, Hello, Goodbye (his current favorite word), Up (as in "pick me up!"), All Done (which sounds like "goodbye" but he seems to have a distinction in his mind), Ot (as in "Hot" - both the oven and his daily oatmeal), Um, Um (that would be "yum-yum" - almost everything he puts in his mouth), Bess Oo (as in "Bless you!" - we've both been sneezing a lot lately), and his own strange version of "thank you". Occasionally, I'll hear him trying to say something that sounds like "more" but that's not consistent yet. We're working on animal sounds, and every so often, he sings along with Old MacDonald "E, I, E, I, Oh!" If that doesn't seem like a lot of words, please note - it's not that he's sometimes quiet. When he's not saying words we can understand, he's creating and using his very own language. The flood of words rarely slows down. Watch out when he can actually put together sentences!

He loves to give and receive and throw kisses. Giving high fives is also a lot of fun these days. He's still a huge cuddle-r, which I'm certainly never going to discourage! He loves to ride around on Daddy's shoulders and will often pull himself to standing saying "up, up!" only to get into our arms and launch himself in the arms of the person standing next to us.... back and forth and back again!

He loves to dance. When I go get him out of his crib, he's usually standing up in it, in the corner closest to the door, just waiting for me... We'll often take a few minutes and "dance" - with him in the crib and me standing right by him, just wiggling and bouncing and expressing all our joy to see one another! :) Also, he dances at his piano, or when I have iTunes playing, pretty much whenever a song is playing, and sometimes when it's not... Just moving and wiggling and squirming! Our church does "family worship time" during the Sunday morning service before the kids go to the creche, so he's getting familiar with the singing and sign language and motions. It's a hoot to see his face light up when we all sing and dance along!

Right now, he really hates being away from me or Eric, so I guess that's some new separation anxiety. Even with that, he still loves to explore and meet new people. His current favorite pastime is trying to coax smiles out of his fellow passengers on the Tube or bus. This morning we were squished into a very crowded Circle Line train, and he started saying HELLO!!! really loudly to all the passengers he could see. When one business man ignored him, Brooks grabbed for his trouser leg and newspaper to get his attention.

He's still eating well and sleeping/napping well - though he has his times in both of these where he's not as cooperative. I think most of his difficult sleep moments are when he's excited about seeing us and doesn't want the play time to end. He usually ends the day with some rough-housing with Dada in the living room. I love watching them roll around on the floor and laugh together. It's the best! Bath-time is still a special treat - he would stay in the water until he was as shriveled as a raisin if we'd let him. Then stories and a bed-time snack and then sweet dreams til tomorrow.

We're still waiting for his first solo steps - I'm both eager for them and not, if you know what I mean. This crawling stage has been such fun and he's quite happy right now exploring on all fours. When he's walking and running, it will be "ready or not, here he comes!"

I continue to remind myself how blessed we are to have such a happy little guy. We're spoiled by him!!