Dear Bob, you're 14 months old.

Well, Bob, your sweet little face has been a part of our lives for 14 months now, and we couldn't be happier.

You took your first steps a couple of months ago, but you are just now finally getting a handle on walking and starting to use your feet as your primary mode of transport.  Your little waddle is so funny, you have us cracking up all the time.

You're a master at climbing up and down the stairs; you even climb up on your feet for the first half where you can use the rails.  And you are driving us nuts because you are so obsessed with this activity; it's pretty much all you want to do all the time.  Due to this obsession you finally say your first two syllable word: downstairs ("doe-stays" or something like that is how you say it).

You're also obsessed with the video I posted on my blog of you walking with your balloon; I showed it to you once and that turned out to be a big mistake, because now every time I sit at the computer you start chanting "walk, walk" until I play the movie for you.  The instant it ends you chant "walk, walk" until I start it again.  In fact, at this very moment you are sitting on my lap, watching yourself on the left-hand side of the screen while I type on the right.  You don't laugh or smile at yourself; you watch the whole thing very seriously.

Over the past couple of weeks you've suddenly grown tall enough to reach up and pull things off tables and the bathroom counter.  A new level of diligence is going to be required on our part.

You communicate a lot now, both speaking and signing.  Over the past few months you've grown from stating your observations to sharing your wants and needs and feelings.  It's so amazing to watch you learn!

You've got tons of toys but of course you prefer anything non-toy to anything that's yours.

You are just starting to get over your fear of the central vac system.  You want so badly to lift the cover and turn it on, but you're too scared most of the time.  When on occasion you lift it and the vac turns on it scares the crap out of you and you say "scare, huh" and hurry over to me for a hug.

When I used to show you cute things I would say, "ohhhh, it's a bunny," or "ohhhh, so soft."  Now you say "ohhhh" to everything in the sweetest little voice imaginable.  It melts my heart.

Your favorite joke is to put everything on your head and say "hat."  You think you're so clever.  (And so do we.)

Two days later, I just have to add a couple things that stuck out since I first posted this...


You love food.  You eat pretty much anything and everything.  Tonight we had chicken stir fry with all sorts of vegetables and you gobbled it all up.  I'm trying to think of your favorite food but I don't even know if I can because you love so many things.  You do -- perhaps -- seem to love meat the most; most of the time, if you have a variety of foods on your plate you'll pick up the meat first.  Whenever you eat chicken you say your "ohhhh" -- I guess because you're eating an animal you love.  I tell you, "say thank you chickens, thank you for giving us food!"

I've mentioned it before, but I'd be amiss if I didn't mention it again: you LOVE the bath.  We can't even say the word until it's time for you to go straight up to the tub because you'll head for the stairs and say "ba, ba" until we're in the bathroom.  You've got rubber ducks and other rubberized aquatic creatures, and a hoop with three balls, cups and a squirt gun and all sorts of goodies.  Possibly your favorite game to play in the tub right now is "cape" -- basically I just toss a wet washcloth onto your back like a cape, and you giggle and say "pay."  You don't mind water in your face at all.  You "swim" on your belly, kicking your legs and blowing bubbles in the water; I lay you on your back and you flip yourself over onto your stomach.  You play until you either get too tired, or you get too eager to brush your teeth, or I get sick of being your lifeguard and declare that pool time's up.  It'll be fun when you can swim for real!

Love you, Robert!