14 Months Old!

Griffin is 14 Months Old Today! My how the time flies! This boy is getting more and more active (if that can be possible), more and more interactive, and more and more cute as the days go by! We are having a blast with him. A snapshot of Griffin at this stage:

• Sleep: He is sleeping through the night (Praise the Lord!) with almost no interruptions. Every couple of nights he will wake up crying for a second, find his paci and go back to sleep. He goes to bed between 7-8pm typically, and we put him in his crib awake then he puts himself to sleep. He wakes up around 6:30am most days now, and takes 2 naps a day still (Yay!) which are usually at 9am and 1 pm. 
• Eating: Griffin loves his food! The boy can eat! He has been eating table food for several months now and typically just eats whatever we are having. He seems to be a 'sauce' boy and loves meats that have a sauce on them. Some of his favorite meals have been tacos, porcupine meatballs, salmon, scrambled eggs, and bacon ranch chicken in the crock pot. Mandarin oranges are a big favorite right now (which I ate a ton of while preggo so thats funny) and bananas (ick!). He eats 3 meals a day, plus a 'snack' time around 3pm. He also is now on whole milk and takes about 20-25 oz a day of that. He is off of bottles at this point and uses sippy cups or straws. He can feed himself with the spoon some, but I dont let him do it often right now. 
• Talking: The past 3 weeks have been an explosion of new communication for Griff! The boy babbles all day long, and is also speaking in English some too! He can now say "what's that", bye, hi, cat, go, "jo", no, daddy, mama (but rarely!), and is trying to say uncle d. There are many times he says things that sound dead on like phrases etc, but I think its just happy coincidences right now.  
• Signing: Also in the last 3 weeks Griffin suddenly started signing a ton! I had pretty much given up on teaching signs bc I felt like I had been trying since 6 months with little results. Well I guess he is just ready! He can now sign: more, all done, cracker, eat, bird, cat, dog, frog, hat, water, milk, fish, and kinda of please. 
• Activity:
• Griffin is doing great at following directions now. He loves to be a helper, and will put things back, carry them for you, or go get something when asked. He is really loving being able to pick things up and take them places. We are working on consistently helping cleaning up now. 
• He can point to the following body parts when asked: tongue, nose, ears, belly, head, feet and sometimes the eye. 
• He can make the following animal noises: cat, dog, monkey, lion. 
• The boy LOVES to dance. I mean LOVES to dance! Haha! Tonight we were in Starbucks and he was hardcore having his own little party. 
• He is now beginning to "run" by actually getting on the balls of his feet and not just toddling around flat footed. 
• He is enjoying playing with balls, blocks, being outside swinging or in his wagon, and has fun with some wooden puzzles. 
• He LOVES books as well. 
• Zoey and Joey are his favorite things in the house. He loves to treat the cat like a stuffed animal and give Joey open mouthed kisses (so gross). 
• The Little Things:
• Griffin plays with my hair all the time, especially when he is tired. I love this so much. Makes my day!
• He gives me and Daddy big open mouth kisses with his tongue out now, so basically he kinda licks us! haha! How do you teach a kid they should not be tonguing people? 
• When we tell him to give other people kisses, he turns his cheek towards them so they can kiss his cheek. Ha! 
• He is a great hugger. 

Griffin is a blast. He is in to everything, is always on the go, and is usually telling you something or laughing. He is so sweet and usually very friendly. He can throw HUGE fits now as well (least some of you wonder if its all rainbows and butterflies, lol) and they are becoming more frequent. They tend to come on when he is tired or hungry- he takes after his Daddy ;-) haha! 

Here are random pictures from the last few weeks. Isnt he so grown up?!!!