14 months

Happy Easter Little Brother! I know that you are not a little brother, but that's what Grandma calls you and I've taken to calling you that lately, too. I guess you can be Uncle Willie's little brother, and since I call you Willie at least once a day these days, that's okay.

So, where to begin? The last month has been a pretty exceptional one for you with the learning continuing every single day. It seems that with a lot of milestones in your life, I had nothing to do with them. Grandma taught you to go up the stairs, Haley taught you to come down. You started walking this month - on the afternoon of Tuesday, March 11 to be exact and your dumb mom and dad weren't even around. Haley and Willie were tending you and by the time dad got there to pick you up - you were walking all over the house and you haven't looked back since.

I am so proud of you for walking - almost running - everywhere you go. It is still a little unnerving to turn around and fine you right next to me, or long gone. I'm used to hearing you thunder down the hall like a dinosaur and now you're quiet as a mouse. Luckily, when I call out your name, you usually answer with a grunt so your whereabouts are never hidden for too long.

You are continuing to eat everything in site with the exception of macaroni and cheese and scrambled eggs. You won't touch those with a 10 foot pole. However, you do fancy ranch dip and will probably eat almost anything (maybe even an egg?) if it is covered in ranch flavored sour cream. In addition, one of your favorite snacks these days is peanuts and chocolate chips. You seem to love crunching those hearty nuts and sucking on the chocolate. I think you'd do it all day. You definitely have inherited my chocolate bug, little buddy, and seem to not only know where chocolate is hidden all over our house, but at Grandma Petersen's house as well. You go right for the kisses every time and - of course, Grandma lets you eat them, but she swears it's only a couple.

Lately, you are becoming quite the dancer, singer, and all around shaker. If I say "shimmie" you do with vigor! You shake your maracas every afternoon as we dance in the living room. Yesterday as we were out and about, you started singing along with the radio, and did a pretty good job keeping the beat, too.

You are learning so much every single day that I am always amazed. If I say, "Let's go get the mail" you are at the front door before I've even finished trying to unlock the bolt. If I say, "Where's your belly" you lift up your shirt and point. If I say "show me your teeth" you stick out your tongue. We're still working on that one. You've learned a new animal sound (snake) and the other day, I know you said "dog" even though you haven't repeated it since. We are working on a few key words that will help improve life around our house dramatically: Up, more, help, again, but so far, no real progress.

These days you are very funny, mechanical, inquisitive, and creative. The faces you pull are hilarious, and the fact that you insist on wearing yoru ducky slippers at least once a day is pretty amusing, too. You've even gotten brave enough to finally play with your Thomas the Train, that you got for Christmas. It's been a bit scary but this week you conquered your fear. You still won't sit in it, but by golly, it's in your room and you do push the buttons.


So, Kiddo, as usual you're my favorite person to hang out with and I can hardly wait to see what you've got in store for me next month. You are such a fun and entertaining little guy and I don't know what I'd do without you!