15 months

Little Hunter Man,

You are 15 months old & just a bundle of joy.  You are one of the happiest babies (although I guess I should call you a toddler now), and you love to laugh & make people laugh.  Peek-a-boo ("Boo) is one of your favorite games, but lately you like to fall over to get a chuckle out of someone.  You also love to clap for yourself when someone says "yay Hunter!" and you'll wait expectantly until everyone watching claps as well.  Riding the rocking horses keeps you busy, as well as playing with the basketball goal, and throwing anything you find (including shoes & remotes) into the bathtub. 

You have really started talking lately, and I'm amazed every day at the words you will repeat or say on your own.  Just tonight, we went to see Clifford the Big Red Dog at a church event and you pointed and said "puppy" over and over!  Your list of words is ever-growing, but some that you say consistently are Daddy, Mommy, hi, bye-bye, sock, shoe, sis, bubba, hat (this is by far a favorite, and always said while tapping your head), eat, snack, cookie, ball, bath, berry (strawberry).  This past weekend, the Oklahoma cousin crew was visiting and you had your own version of "Ava" that you said several times, as well as "Pinkie" for Punkie and some form of Meme.  I should mention that you said "Daddy" long before you said "Mama"...a few months, I think!  When I would ask you to say "Mama," you would look at me with an ornery smile & say "Dada!"  Little stinker.  People are always commenting on how many words you know, and we are impressed too!  You are also good at signing more, please, eat, all done, and milk, which helps us know what you want much easier.  

The other skill you are perfecting lately is climbing.  On EVERYTHING!  In the last week you have climbed on everything imaginable (multiple times), including on top of the end tables, on the back of the couch, up into a chair & over the back of it, on the fireplace, up the stairs just to make sure the gate is locked (if it's not, you head right up the big staircase), on top of the toy tool bench (after you knock it over), into the both bathtubs, onto a chair to boost you onto the table in the nursery at church, and onto the top floor of sister's dollhouse.  Today you taught yourself how to climb up onto Mommy & Daddy's bed & then slide down off the side. You are definitely a little monkey and it's impossible to get you to stop climbing, so I predict an ER visit in the future!

The big kids like to call you "Monster Baby" when you are after them.  You think it's so funny to give them a big hug to knock them down, or if they're sitting in the floor you will tackle them.  You also have a bad habit of pulling sister's hair or grabbing onto Hudson's arm a little too hard.  We're all working on teaching you to show your love a little more gently (and I'm trying to get them to stop calling you Monster Baby before you get a complex, although I might be guilty of coining the phrase in the first place).  

Another nickname (again, we shouldn't call you this too much) is "Destructo Baby" because you love to make a mess.  Kleenex boxes are no match for you.   If you get your hands on one, tissues are all over the floor, many of them shredded, in no time flat.  Toilet paper rolls better watch out, because you will pull all the paper off with a quickness, often tearing off little parts to throw in the floor, the trashcan, and the potty.  Throwing anything in the potty is a fun game for you, as well as knocking over the drawers that hold our pool necessities (sunscreen, goggles, etc).  Although the messes are constant, you are just so happy when you're shredding the toilet paper or toppling over the tool bench that it's hard to get upset!

For awhile now, you have had an obsession with hats!  You have always been fine wearing a hat when we would put one on you, but lately you ask for them all the time.  Whenever you're in our bedroom or bathroom and can see our closet, you point to the top shelf where Daddy keeps his hats & will tap your head & say hat over & over until we get you a hat.  You put it on and take it off & carry it around with you.  We bought you a batman hat that you wear quite a bit, and since it's been chilly a few mornings lately, you get to wear a jacket with a hood that you really love.  It's a plus that you look absolutely adorable in any hat you put on!  You also love socks & shoes.  You get excited whenever I put socks on you, and you carry shoes around saying "shoes", asking people to put them on you, or you just dig in the shoe basket & try to put them on yourself. 

You are finally sleeping through the night consistently, from about 7 pm-7:30am.  You didn't sleep all night consistently until you were 14 months old, but I blame it on all the traveling we have done this year, as well as a couple of ear infections that messed up your sleep.  You nursed until 14 months as well, though we were down to just one early morning nursing session for a month or two before you stopped.  You are really so much fun to be around, even though keeping up with you can be exhausting!  You love to say hi & bye-bye (often to total strangers), and the kisses you blow is just about the cutest thing ever.  We love you Hunter-man!

Love, Mommy