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So it’s been a long time since I’ve updated the blog!   I think that’s a good indication of how crazy everything’s been.   Lloyd is a busy guy, and the rest of us just try and keep up :  )  Sorry for no 15th month update, but here’s what life is like now:

It seems crazy that just over two months ago he didn’t know how to walk.  Now he walks and runs and stands up in the middle of the room.  He shimmies through tight spaces and practically does figure-eights around the furniture.   His fine motor skills are really impressive – he’s very good at matching his differently shaped blocks to their appropriate holes and he likes to stack and destroy towers.  He can hold crayons and color, but mostly he’s interested in figuring out which small toys can fit into which tiny spaces.  He has also just recently started getting into his stuffed animals – seeking them out and giving them hugs.  That’s super sweet.

His vocabulary is also continuing to grow and develop.  I have to tell you that his pediatrician was really impressed with how many words he was spitting out at the last visit.   Now when we flip through our books we can point at so many different animals and objects and Lloyd will tell us what he sees.    Door, bike, keys, car, cat, nose, toes… lots of hard consonants.  There are also several words Lloyd is close to saying but aren’t quite English yet.  A fish is a “thhhh!”  Bless you is “bayooo” (and he says that after anyone sneezes, it’s nice).

Toddlerhood also has brought a lot of challenges.  For one, we’re still getting used to all the bumps and bruises that come when you’ve just learned to run and you haven’t quite figured out the importance of looking-where-you’re-going.   Last night Lloyd crashed right into a piece of furniture and bit his lower lip.  He came to me crying and smeared baby blood all over me.  It was the first time he’s really bleed (besides his cyst surgery, I suppose) and that was very sad.

Another sure sign that we’re in the toddler-zone is that Lloyd has serious “No”-itis.  Everything is “no” when Lloyd gets in one of his moods.  Seriously, there have been days when I think Lloyd has said “No” about 300 times.   There are also temper-tantrums including the techniques of dead-weight and rigor-mortis.

He has 14 teeth (just those two-year-old molars left to go), sandy blonde hair that just got cut for the first time, and hazel eyes that still look blue every now and then.  He’s really handsome, still wary of some babies, a cuddler, and a ham.   Life is good!