Fourteen Months

Dear Brendan,

Friday marked 14 months since you came into this world. I can't believe the time has gone by so quickly. I watched you play on the playground and found myself wondering where my baby went.

You have so quickly turned into a little boy. You toddle almost everywhere. Sometimes you fall and decide standing back up is too much effort but you normally choose to walk to get where you want to go.

You hate to have anything on your head. You refuse to wear a ball cap and can't stand it when we put your hood up.

You got your first booboo at the playground Friday.

You fell climbing the steps. You were going too fast - trying to keep up with a bigger boy.

You have made drastic changes since we got to Okinawa. When we arrived in December you had one tooth. You couldn't crawl and you didn't say any words at all. You now have ten (!) teeth and walk all over. You wave (when it suits you). You say dada constantly. You grin, shriek his name and make a beeline for him when he gets home from work. You still refuse to say mama (thanks a lot). You can say doggie (it comes out "gie") and you are working on kitty and car and blowing a kiss. You can point out the animals in your books and can do the sign for "more." You dance, and as of this morning you give a kiss. You also refuse to perform on command, preventing me from capturing these sweet moments on video.

You have a strange fascination with shoes and no matter what we do we can't get you to leave them alone.

Throwing your toys is your favorite game. It's exhausting for those of us who have to pick them up.

You make us infinitely happy, while driving us nuts at the same time. We love you, our little Peanut.

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

xoxoxox

P.S. I'm still dreading the first real haircut. I'm perfectly willing to let you have a mullet for a while but I don't think Dad's on board with that.

I Caved

Baby's First Haircut

Or maybe "hair trim" would be a better term. I only had his bangs trimmed and left the precious curls in tact. Even so, I cried.

His big boy haircut deserved a new big boy chair.

He can also do the sign for "more." I don't think anyone in my family has attempted baby signing so click here to see the sign. Sometimes a baby's sign doesn't look exactly like it should, but the parent can usually figure it out. Here's Brendan's version:

Tom says he's doing pat-a-cake but I know better. If I prompt him, he'll do the sign instead of yelling for another bite.



Goodnight from our little big cutie!

Play

I love living here. We've been to three different playgrounds in three different days. Four if you count Round 1 last Friday.

Check out those dirty knees!

He's mostly interested in playing in the dirt.



I think we're going to have to get these bangs trimmed.

We went shopping. Brendan walks around fairly well. However, I still keep him in either a cart or stroller when we're in stores. It was Dad's bright idea to get him out of the stroller. And then it was also his bright idea to let him walk around.

And then guess what happened.

He bailed. And he left me with this.

We got these new shoes.

Can anybody honestly tell me these aren't the cutest shoes ever?

And I got this pair out of the hand-me-downs that we were so fortunate to receive.

They're pretty cute, too.

Brendan wasn't a big fan.

I love his cankles.

We went for a nice walk on the sea wall.

On our way home we came across this sign. Lots of things get lost in translation. The point usually gets across, but I'm not quite sure what this one means.

I want to make sure that everybody knows I'm not making fun of these signs. I absolutely appreciate the effort to post things in English. I think it's endearing.

It's our last week at home together. We're going to live it up!

Improvement

He woke up in a slightly better mood after his nap.

I bet you had no idea he was a yogi.

He thinks he should get everything we have. He was determined that he would get some of Daddy's drink. I would have put my foot down because he had already brushed his teeth. He's got Dad wrapped.

Today was infinitely better than yesterday. We went to Round 1. Again.

This was the first time since he started walking.

I think he was pretty excited about it.

He thinks he's a big shot because the stairs are blocked off at home.

I laughed out loud when I got home and saw this picture.

I had to pick up a few things from the commissary and figured I better give him some lunch before trying to stick him in a grocery cart. Poor thing fell asleep in the car and wasn't thrilled when I woke him up. Surprisingly, he perked up and was excellent at Pizza Hut. He's great for portion control. I usually share my food with him, unless we're at Popeye's - then he gets his own kid's meal. Anyway, we split a supreme personal pan pizza. He pretty much ate one-quarter of it, plus almost all of the sausage.

We went to a different commissary today since it was right on our way home. Our favorite playground is right beside it. He hadn't been to a playground since he started walking either. It was so beautiful outside that, tired or not, we had to play.

This is one super blurry photo but I had to post it because he looks like he's having such a great time.

None of my swing pictures turned out well, which is a real shame since I'm severely lacking on the swing pictures.

He has gotten good at squatting down to get something and then standing back up on his own.

See?

So thankful for a better day! Happy weekend!