14 months

Lincoln is now 14 months old and getting more and more mobile...and cute! His sandy blond locks now curl out over his ears and are simply adorable; we can't even imagine cutting them. He is officially walking (as of Christmas Eve) and gives us this monster looking walk currently. It's just so cute. He is beyond proud of himself when he goes from sitting in the middle of the floor, to bent over on all 4's position and then to standing. All without holding on to anything. He takes off walking (arms straight out) towards his destination, all with a big grin across his face. He loves walking and we love his new ability to explore his environment. 

He continues to have an extreme love of books. My goodness sakes it is ALL he wants to do! Unfortunately, he doesn't really want us to read the entire book, just let him sit on our lap while he flips the pages and we get one, maybe two, sentences out per page. And then we read the entire stack over again. He knows just what books he likes and will only let us read those books. If we pick one of his not so loved books, he fusses and tosses it aside or slams the cover shut. And so, we read the same 10 books over and over again. Even Regan whines that she is bored reading those same books to him. 

As for eating, he prefers anything fruit. Oranges, bananas, kiwi, peaches, etc. If it's fruit, he will eat it. Everything else?, well, that's anyones guess. He likes cheese, pizza, sausage, quesadillas, ravioli and sometimes chicken or hamburger. If I'm eating it, chances are he wants it. And recently that included a salad. Most of it ended up on the floor after he sucked off the salad dressing from each piece of lettuce. Oh...the floor. I'm telling ya, he is a messy eater! If the food on his tray is not appetizing, he will toss it. Not just drop it on the floor next to him (sometimes that works for him), but actually wind up and toss it across the high chair, the table and watch as it lands on the floor. I have tried putting my  hand out to tell him to "give it to mommy", but he just grins and tosses. Stinker. 

Sleeping is not his forte. He naps like a champ most of the time (two naps each about 2 hours), but as for overnight, well, that's another story. He's been cutting all 4 molars for the last month and had a cold prior to that so I'm chalking it up to some bad sleeping habits that developed. He goes down well, but wakes up around midnight and in an effort to keep the rest of the house asleep, we plop him between us for the remainder of the night. Some nights we have to hold him close to us all night (flashbacks to Sidney) and my back is totally whacked as a result. I think it's time to get in for a massage :) 

He loves his big sisters more than anything. Sidney can make him laugh and giggle and Regan can come up with some creative distractions. He still has a strong preference for me and that frustrates the girls and I often hear...."why does Lincoln always want you?". If I'm in the kitchen cooking, he wants me to hold him, if I'm getting ready in the morning, he wants to sit near my feet, if I am vacuuming, he wants to be on my hip. I've become an expert in one handed techniques. 

He loves his play time with daddy too, however, and they will toss a ball back and forth for 30 minutes sometimes. 

Besides the obvious "mom" and "dad" that come out of his mouth, he has now started saying "hot" when Ryan builds a fire. It doesn't quite sound like 'hot', more like 'homp' and he says it in a whisper just like we all do. 

He also despises car rides now also. With the recommendations that kids stay rear facing until age 2, we have opted to keep him backwards longer than the usual. Unfortunately, he screams like crazy in the car...often for the entire car ride. And so, we may end up turning him around soon. Yesterday during a short car ride, Lincoln screamed the entire 10 minutes and Sidney mumbled "I would rather be in church!" (if you don't know Sidney, she does not like church because it means sitting still and quiet for far too long). 

He's grown like a weed over the past 14 months and we love him to pieces! 

Happy 14 months buddy.