15 months

This past month Milo's communication has exploded. Now he can say "dada" "ow" (for when he hits other people) "duck" "fish" "auntie" "ni-ni" "eyes" "vroom vroom" (for his cars) and a bunch of others. Not only that, but he is really beginning to understand what we're saying to him.
"What does a fishy say?" He will smack his mouth like a fish. (Watch the video of this on facebook. You will not regret it.
"Where is daddy?" He will point to, and even run to, wherever Dane is. Even if Dane isn't home he will run and find a picture of him that is sitting in the hallway and point at it yelling "DADA!"
"Are you hungry?" Runs straight to the kitchen.
"Bring me a different book." Runs to get a new book.
"Want to go outside?" Runs to his shoes and sits by the door waiting for me.

I can never get him to smile in pictures! Whenever the camera comes out, he stops smiling. The one and only smiling picture of the day is because Cat was being goofy behind me.

You may have noticed that he often responds to things with running. It is the cutest thing in the world to see his little legs pumping so hard down a hallway or across the lawn. This can lead to face plants in the ground, but he is such a trooper about it he barely cries.
He has started walking really funny...on purpose. It is freaking hilarious. I mean really, it cracks me up every time. One we refer to as his "gremlin walk." He crouches down in a little squat and sort of stomps in tiny little steps across the ground with his arms stretched out behind his back. Almost like he is being sneaky...in a gremlin type way. You guys, I need to get a video of this on facebook because it is funny. Beyond funny.
His other funny walk is a half run, half walk. One of his feet acts like it is running and it whips out in front of him really fast and he stomps it down hard. The other foot walks like normal. It makes me thing of a person skipping, only he's not actually hopping. Just stomp/walking. Seriously adorable.

Uncle Terry helped make this bracelet for Milo when we were in Arizona. Milo LOVES it. So much. He sees and freaks out until I put it on. He even shows off his wrist when he's wearing it.

My favorite development of this past month is Milo's new found love of BOOKS. Nothing has made me happier than his interest in books. I have always had a passion for reading, so this makes me pretty excited. He brings me book after book and want to read them over and over. Often he doesn't want anything to do with his toys (except for his cars and trains...obviously), he just wants to read books. Oh man I love it. I'm not complaining about how cuddly he is when we read, either.

He has become a bit more independent, too. Trying to put his own shoes on, drink out of cups by himself, climbing up and down on everything in sight, and refusing to eat if I am feeding him. He wants to try things himself. This leads to a lot of difficult meals. Like, A LOT. Some days I don't know if he eats more than a few bites at any given meal, but I don't really know what else to do. Tonight he had two bites of dinner, and then wanted down. I guess if he was hungry, he would eat...right?

He really enjoys water. Look at the concentration on his face!

Milo has the most intense concentration of any one-year-old I have ever met. Just look at his face in most of these pictures. He is so intent on the hose and the buckets and even on his popsicle that he barely notices us. But I think this just shows how smart he is that he is able to focus so well. Sometimes it can be hard to get him to be goofy and giggly though...we really have to work hard for giggles. I wonder if being around other kids would help him play around more. Anyone want some play dates? Milo could really use some. For real. If anyone has younger kids, lets meet up.

Milo's lack of fear scares me sometimes. I like that he is brave, and that he doesn't cry about many things, but other times I worry. When I took my sister Cat and my niece Ella and Milo to the aquarium, Milo wanted nothing to do with me. He screamed to get out of the stroller, and then tried to run away from me the entire time. He wasn't afraid of the insanely large crowd, he just wanted to look at the fish and follow other kids around. The day he figures out how to open our gate out of the yard will be a bad day for mom.

Every night when it's nearing bedtime, Milo will bring me my phone from wherever it is and start demanding "dada...dada...DADA!!" He wants me to call daddy and Facetime with him. Iphones might be the best invention ever. Since Dane works 5 nights out of the week, Milo loves calling his dad and seeing his face. The baby child will even lean in and give the screen kisses for his daddy. Tonight Dane read some books to Milo over the phone (poor Dane had the book memorized). It's been the best thing for when Dane isn't here in the evenings, so he can still tell Milo goodnight.

My baby is growing up. To be huge.
Also I feel like Dane must feel left out that he isn't a ginger, and Milo and I are. Poor Dane. Maybe someday we will have a brown-haired child and you won't feel so left out.
If you read this whole thing, I am really impressed. It was long, but I really like having it down for our records about Milo. I suck at keeping a journal, but this is a lot easier for me.

He turned his back on me. On purpose. He was done with the camera. Ha. Take that mom.