Fatherhood, part 8

Recently I was talking to some friends, who are also new parents, their son was born three months after N. As I was sharing some of the things that N. likes to do, skills he's developing, my friend Hannah recommended that I write them down. So, I'm going to do that. Livia and I have not been great about keeping written records of everything N. does as he develops. She does take a lot of pictures and videos, which I really appreciate, and we do talk a lot on whatsapp about what he's doing and what's happened in his life (which is all archived) so we definitely have lots of records. Maybe we should've bought and filled out a baby book, but, well, it didn't happen. Livia did make an amazing faux-chalk board poster for his first birthday with many of his favorite things on it, which was super fun and cute.

N. is 14 months old and half way to his 15th month. His personality has really been developing recently, and while he certainly isn't talking or even close, we can have much more significant interactions. He is understanding lots of things, which is super fun to see. When we tell him it's time to eat, he walks over to his high chair, when I tell him it's time to change his diaper, he walks with me to his room, Livia has taught him to touch his mouth when she asks where it is, he makes a "mmm" sound when we ask him what sound a cow makes, and he's very good about bringing things to us if we point and ask him to. He's also recently started putting lint or other things he finds on the carpet into the trash can, and just the other day grabbed a onesie that I didn't quite throw into the laundry basket and put it in the laundry basket.

Over the past month or so, he has completely changed his attitude towards books. For a long time, he would almost escape when I would read to him, at best he'd pay attention for a page or two and then would crawl away. But recently, he has started to love books. The first books he was really into were Baby Faces and Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes. He still likes them, but he's moved on to other books as well. He's continued to like Moo, Baa, La La La, which was always one he seemed to like. Recently he's been really enjoying Where is Baby's Belly Button and Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?. We'll play when I get home from work, and two, three, four months ago, I would chase him around, tickle him, play hide and go seek, and that would keep him entertained. Now, he'll go and grab a book, bring it to me, make his whining sound, and if I don't sit down to read quickly enough, he'll start poking me with it. He also likes to repeat books, and if I ask to read it again, he'll make a sound that sure sounds a lot like "again." He has no problem reading the same book three, four, five times in a row.  It's awesome, because I hope he'll become a great reader, and it's fun to share so many books with him and see him engaged and knowing that his little brain is moving a million miles a minute to try and learn everything.

He also loves balls, enjoys throwing them, rolling them, and playing fetch. He can amuse himself for some time just pouring his balls out of one basket into another, then into another block and back to the original basket. He's developed a pretty good throw, which has come back to bite us-in that he also throws blocks and other toys, that probably don't need to go flying around the apartment, but we'll let him have some fun.

The last thing I'll mention is that he loves being ambulatory. He is quite the proficient walker these days, and loves exploring. The other day at Trader Joe's he was doing circles around one of the smaller isles, as he had been fussing a bunch, so I got him down. Livia kept on shopping and I just followed N. around as he wandered through the aisle. We had the same experience the other day at another store, he seemed to always want to go the opposite way that Livia and I were trying to go. He is a bit shy and clingy when he first is in a new place, but soon after, he's walking around wherever he can, exploring his world!