15 months old

Theo is getting so much more able. I have started to feel funny when I call him my baby because he is so big and capable compared to how he was as a newborn. 

He climbs some, though luckily not as much as his father was known for. I keep the tray on his high chair so that he doesn't climb into it when I'm not looking -- the real worry is that he will fall onto the tile. He can climb into his stroller on his own and loves to find seats and chairs just for himself. 

A few weeks ago we all got sick with a stomach virus and poor Theo had it for 6 days. I fed him otter pops, one half at a time, to help keep him hydrated. One day when I was sick too and he was feeling somewhat better I just wanted to lie down and he wanted my attention. I periodically would give him half an otter pop and he would wander off happily while I got to lie down for 5 minutes.

My mom came over to help later that day. She watched Theo while I napped and stayed a long time. While I tried to put Theo down for a nap later, she did our dishes. I came out and saw she was mopping. She told me, "There are sticky spots on the floor."

Ummm, I know. I let a 14 month old loose with otter pops all over this floor. If you're wondering, Shout stain remover does take popsicle stains out of pajamas.

We were so glad for her help, and sorry that she, my dad, and Davy all got sick too.

Theo loves fruit and stuffed animals when we are in stores. If I let him walk, he will try to get fruit or stuffed animals from the displays. I buy him fruit -- so far he goes for bananas, apples, and oranges. He eats other fruit too, but those are the ones he identifies at the store. As he has lots of stuffed animals at home, I don't buy him more, but we admire them together.

I am glad he is begging fruit and not candy!

He also will point at bananas and bread on the kitchen counter and say, "Buh," asking for them.

Theo loves to play, read, and to go places. Often when I am busy doing boring things he will bring me shoes to let me know that he wants to go somewhere. One day as I tried to finish up a few things so I could be ready to go, he brought me every shoe in the house he could find. Jay often can't find a pair of shoes in the morning because Theo takes them off the shoe rack and for some reason divides Daddy's shoes so no one has a mate. He often keeps mine in pairs and his are almost always in pairs.

I found some board books at Target and on the way home Theo had been crying. He got quiet and I looked back while at a red light. He was turning the pages of Dr. Suess's ABCs, staring at the pictures.

On Sunday at church while I was teaching 3-year-olds, Jay had to leave his Sunday school class because Theo was too loud. Jay took him to nursery and Theo saw the kids there were having snack. Theo joined and ate so much! Jay said that Theo continued to eat raisins and Goldfish after the other kids were done and back to playing. Hopefully in a few months when Theo is old enough to go to nursery by himself, he will like it. 

Theo looks forward to Daddy coming home every day. Sometimes in the late afternoon Little Foot will bark at nothing and Theo will run to the door shouting, "Da--ddy!" I have to go retrieve him if Jay is not actually home and distract him until Jay arrives.

Theo knows Jay's schedule and so expects him in the late afternoon and is so happy on days that Jay doesn't have to work.

He climbed into the stroller all by himself. Doesn't he look proud?