14 Months Old!
Natalie is 14 months old this month! She wants to walk all the time and refuses to hold our hands, which makes walking anywhere near cars or streets (pretty much everywhere) difficult. If I pick her up, she arches her back, raises her arms and kicks her feet in an attempt to get down. I used to think they were cruel and stupid, but now I totally understand why someone invented leashes for kids. I may break down and get one, but in the meantime, I’m trying to teach her to stay on the sidewalk.
Natalie is always happy to go for walks:
She gets very excited when the wind blows:
Five of the six teeth she’s been working on since she was 11 months old have popped, so she now has 13 teeth, including her first two bottom molars. She seems to be teething again still, so she may get even more teeth soon. According to this chart, Natalie’s teeth are coming in way ahead of schedule. With 13 out of 20 teeth popped already, maybe there’s hope that she’ll be finished with teething sooner rather than later.
One of the things we love about Natalie is her sense of humor and infectious laughter. We never know what is going to cause her dissolve into hysterics. Lately, she’s laughed hardest over unexpected things like dirty water pouring out of an outdoor planter, watching Daddy spinning a basketball on his finger, me trying to balance a giant exercise ball on my head, or kicking a rock on the ground as we walk. Since Natalie’s laughing fits take us by surprise, we never have the camera ready. By the time we try to recreate the situation for the camera, the joke is old and Natalie doesn’t laugh.
This month Natalie became very adamant about using utensils to feed herself. Since she’s no longer content to pick up food with her fingers, mealtime has become very messy and long (it takes forever for her to get things onto spoons and forks). We started by giving her sticky foods (like yogurt and guacamole) so she could practice with the spoon and have some success before having to learn the actual scooping motion. She never liked yogurt before because she didn’t tolerate being spoon-fed, but now that she’s doing it herself, she’s a big fan. Now she’s practicing stabbing food with a fork.
Getting yogurt all over her face:
Enjoying guacamole:
Eating pasta with a fork like a big girl:
