Fill Us Up & Send Us Out: Levi: 14 Months

Our sweet Levi is officially 14 months old (well, tomorrow he will be)! And this past month definitely had some challenges! We were away for the first two weeks of January, so it took Levi a full week once we got home to recuperate. I think he was also still battling a stomach bug and a possible Wonder Week at that time, so that made for an extra fun (note my sarcasm) week for us all. He was super grumpy and clingy and whiny when he didn't get his way. But, like clockwork, 6-7 days from when we returned, he was back to his normal self. Cheerful, taking great naps, and altogether pleasant to be around! Here's a summary for his 13th month of life:

EATING
Not much new here! Levi is still drinking 5-6 oz of milk, at 4 set times per day. He. Loves. It.

Solids are pretty much the same as well. Oatmeal for breakfast and then table foods for lunch and dinner! During his bout of sickness while we were in Florida, he basically survived on milk alone. He refused to eat any type of solids at mealtimes and I didn't force him. This month he tried for the first time:

Grilled cheese (super love, just like his mama!)
Turkey, Kale and Brown Rice Soup (surprisingly, he really enjoyed this too)
Mellow Mushroom pizza
Fish sticks
Pastina (teeny, tiny pasta)
Fried Grouper (holy, moly he loved that!)
Cheese grits
Dried mango (the best pacifier I have yet to find)

*A note about the dried mango: I gave Levi a large piece one day as a snack, just to see if he could handle it. Brian had his doubts because it's really tough to chew. Well, one hour later (I kid you not!), Levi had sucked on that one piece until it dissolved inch by inch. He figured out how to keep it in his mouth and go about his normal business--he doesn't even hold it. Since then, he has had it every day as a snack and gets so excited about it. I love it because it's healthy for him...and it keeps him pacified during his sometimes cranky afternoon hours.

SLEEPING
The first 5 nights of our Florida trip, home boy had some issues. It all started the first night we were in Pensacola. We didn't get to our hotel until 2 AM, so we weren't able to get the pack-n-play from Brian's mom until the next day. The hotel did provide us with one, but that thing was nasty. I was willing to look past the staining, because it was 3 AM by the time we got settled and ready for bed (he would only be sleeping in it for 4 hours), but then one side of it wouldn't lock into place, rendering it useless. So...Levi had to sleep in our bed for the night. I'm usually very anti-bed-sharing (besides with my hubby, of course), but we had no choice. From that night on, if we were sleeping in the same room as him, he would not fall asleep unless we were in the same bed cuddling him. Grrr...it was frustrating. That is so not like Levi. That dude usually needs his space and loves to sleep in his crib!

Luckily, by night #5, we were staying with our friends Ethan and Anna who have a new baby girl. Their baby was not yet using her crib, so they offered it to Levi for the night. It was like magic! He went to bed with a bit of crying, just because he heard us in the room over, but he slept through the night until 7 AM--just like at home! The rest of our trip, while we were at my parents, we put him in a different room than myself and he slept through the night every time as well.

When we returned back to Louisville, his nighttime sleep stayed the same, but it did take a while to get his naps back in order. He did nap on our trip, but usually they were very short 45-60 minute naps or in the car from point A to point B. After a week of short(er) naps once back in KY, Levi finally got back on track and continued with his 1.5-2 hours in the morning and 1.5-2 hours in the afternoon. He did officially start extending his first nap (most days to 2 hours) and we've pretty much eliminated his 3rd nap altogether. Some days he seems to want to rest, so I'll put him in his crib while making dinner (5 PMish). If he does sleep, its usually for 15-30 minutes at the most.

MOTOR SKILLS
Levi learned how to pull up to his feet this month! One day, he just figured out how to use those things and has been perfecting his stand ever since. It's fun to walk into his room after nap time and to see him standing up in his crib! Maybe he'll reach our prediction of walking by 15 months?

His fine motor skills have increased this month as well! Levi has learned how to hold his brush and bring it to his noggin, he can also [somewhat] brush his teeth, and he figured out how to put his "little people" in their cars. He sure does love those little people.

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

It's been so fun to watch Levi discover how things work and how to respond to us this month! He figured out that a brush is used for hair, he knows the word "book" (although he doesn't say it) and he will crawl to his bookshelf when we ask him if he wants to read, and he has also surprised us a couple of times with his response of "Yea, yea, yea!" when we ask him a question. This morning, for instance, I asked, "Are you ready to eat breakfast?" to which he responded, "Yea, yea, yea!"

In addition to all of these super cute little things he is learning, Levi is also figuring out to test boundaries and will do things he knows he isn't supposed to. This includes opening cabinets without permission, throwing his food on the ground, or touching breakable items. Brian and I are trying to be consistent with sternly, but gently telling him "no" and redirecting him to something else. Sometimes when we do this, he'll get flat out mad, like he is complaining about the situation. And other times, he'll get the most shameful look on his face, pout his lip and start crying. It's been a new adventure--this discipline stuff--but I can definitely see that Levi is understanding more and more of what we're telling him.

TEETHING
Another little chomper popped on through this month! His right lower lateral incisor, to be more precise. This one is taking a WHILE to come up--only a tiny bit of the corner has emerged so far. Total tooth count: 8.

SICKNESS
Levi got really sick toward the end of this month. He got some sort of viral bug and ran a fever of 103* for two days straight. He wanted to sleep almost non-stop--one day he even napped for 7 hours total. I felt so bad he was sick, but I have to admit, that was a nice break! Other than his fever, he didn't have any other symptoms and he still ate and drank fluids like normal. I did enjoy the snuggles those two days, that's for sure!

OUTINGS/EVENTS

I'm pretty sure this was the coldest month in the history of Louisville--I think I can count on one hand the number of times the temperature was above 40. So, we've been going a little stir-crazy since I really don't want to leave the warmth of our house unless truly necessary. I already wrote about our Florida trip earlier in the month, and especially since Levi was sick the last half of this month, I really don't have too many "events" worth noting here.

We did walk around outside in the snow.