Alexander at 15 months

This sweet little baby of mine continues to insist upon getting older, so I guess he's fifteen months old now. He's still at the age where he's changing a lot from month to month, so I will do another update on him.

At fifteen months, Alexander...

• is finally experimenting with walking, though he still doesn't love it and will refuse to take any steps if he's not in the right mood. He is definitely, and by far, my latest and most reluctant walker. 
• still loves to climb. He likes to hang out on top of his little slide'n'climb structure, which has been a sanity-saver this winter. He can also climb onto the benches for our table, which means that he can also climb onto the table whenever he wants. 

Here he is doing a bit of climbing:

• his one-year molars are taking their sweet time coming in; the set on top is about halfway through now. He loves brushing his teeth and thinks that he should get to do so every time the bathroom door opens. He begs to brush his teeth when he's getting ready for bed. "Ees! Ees! Ees!" he'll plead, tugging anyone who will pay attention to him toward the bathroom. He will also suck on toothpaste tubes if given the chance.
• he does not like having his teeth brushed. So while he loves playing with his toothbrush and chewing on his toothbrush and being in charge of his toothbrush he pitches a fit and alternately screams/clamps his mouth shut when a big person tries to assist him in the actual brushing part.
• he loves putting on socks and shoes.
• he loves pulling off his socks and shoes.
• he will rifle through the winter-clothes box and bring me a hat or some mittens when he wants to go outside.
• he loves to read stories...on his own terms. He'll hang out for story time but is a fickle participant and will try to slam the book shut or other nonsense, which drives the rest of us crazy. The easiest way to do story time with him is to hand him is own book to flip through at his pleasure while holding the book that I'm actually reading to the bigger kids out of his reach.
• he still snaps board books in half on a regular basis and it drives me batty.
• his favourite books are touch-and-feel books or books that feature animals.
• every animal says "ROAR!"
• Alexander is Andrew's newest shopping buddy (which means Mommy gets Alexander-free time on Saturday mornings now, often used to sleep because this baby is still waking up several times at night). They were at the store on Saturday and they went down the pet aisle for some reason and Alexander saw a picture of a cat on a bag of cat food. "ROAR!" said Alexander. He also roars when he sees people walking dogs. He also roared when I drew him a picture of a fish yesterday. Everything roars. 
• Just another quick store story: They had to go to Home Depot to drop off an old battery, which was lumped into the morning shopping on Saturday. Alexander was having a great time with Daddy and was so excited about each store (we typically hit up two grocery stores). He was thrilled when they started walking toward Home Depot. His little legs were kicking with glee as the automatic doors opened. Unfortunately, the battery recycle bin was right at the entrance so Andrew dropped the battery in and turned around to leave and...Alexander threw a conniption fit. He was crushed about not being able to explore the store.
• Alexander is figuring out the fine art of eating with utensils. As you can see from this series of pictures, his training is obviously going well:

 

• He is one of the messiest eaters I've ever encountered, which is saying something. Last night he rubbed his food all over his head (allllll over, and unfortunately I didn't get a picture) so he needed a bath. Rachel offered to give him one while Miriam and I cleaned the kitchen and Andrew got Benjamin and Zoë ready for bed (I'm really not sure who got the short straw in this scenario). Rachel did everything by herself and was so proud! She drew his bath, she played with him, she washed his hair, she diapered him, she put on his jammies, and helped him brush his teeth. Then she walked downstairs, her shirt rather drenched from tub time, and announced, "You and Dad can go on dates again! I think I can officially babysit now!" So, that's good news for us!
• he loves to colour, play in the snow, play the piano, go outside ever, shower, be included in everything...

(this video is from December 22, 2018 (and I was so, so sick that day and thus look glamorous in this video))

• he loves when his siblings come home from school.
• he's pretty trustworthy around stairs (goes up and down with confidence, though still scares Mommy sometimes and we still have our baby gate).
• he still loves to be swaddled for sleeping, though is starting to "break out" more and more.
• he has words for ball, momma, dada, grandpa, Ben, teeth, cheese, snack, yes, hello, bye, book...
• mostly he uses a system of squawks and grunts (and, you know, screaming) to get what he wants. Rachel brought him to me yesterday afternoon and said, "I think he's hungry. He's making that weird chirping sound he makes when he wants milk." So apparently there's that. He'll also grunt and point and try to steer people where he wants to go while they're holding him, rather how Remy steers Linguini in Ratatouille.
• Momma is still his favourite person, with Grandpa being his second, and probably Rachel his third. We are hoping that being Daddy's shopping buddy will help that relationship blossom. And it would be great if he'd warm up to anyone else (he is playing in his room with Zoë right now so that's good).
• I often describe him as a "happy baby, but not very friendly." He's so quick to smile at people that they think they can come up and be his friend, but that is not the case. He only wants to be friends from a distance. So smile at Alexander, yes, but do not try to take him from Mommy. A smile does not mean you are friends and he will sound the alarm if you get too close.
• when I try to put him down he will desperately cling to me with his legs, often wrapping his legs around my leg (or arm or whatever he can) before he reaches the ground.

He's a charming, silly boy and we love him to pieces.