I'm fairly certain the neighbors think we beat him.

Grayson is trying desperately to take his afternoon nap and is failing miserably. Our windows are wide open to let in any breeze to gently cool us. It is WAY hot out but I really dislike the a/c so I'd rather strip my kid to a diaper for his nap and wear an unflattering beach cover-up to stay relatively cool than turn on the stuffy non-fresh air circulating a/c. Consequently the neighbors can hear all the moans and cries of my little guy and they must think I'm a horrible mother. She must be completely ignoring him!

In fact, I've given his nook back a couple of times and even read Maisy a few times in a row too. I just found these books, and a couple of puzzle/games, (and the cutest pair of red galoshes!) at a garage sale down the street today on our way home from daycare. I'm not sure if they are geared more towards a girl or boy, but they are bright, colorful, and just about age appropriate. We were in desperate need of a few new books that are capable of holding Grayson's (short) attention, we've been reading the same books OVER AND OVER AND OVER. While I know this is what kids his age dig, I thought it would be a little while longer before I knew all his books by heart.

He is almost 15 months old which is just crazy to me. The other night when I couldn't sleep I went back through some of our first blog posts, when I was still prego, and wow! has time flown by. People told me it would go by quickly and it did, they were right. (I thought at the time they might be lying to make me feel better about the sleepless nights.)

We still don't have a walking toddler but I really think he is close. Any day now, I'm almost sure of it. He is getting more and more confident on his own two feet without holding onto anything. Yesterday he threw his sippy back and took a huge drink all while standing upright ALL BY HIMSELF. Usually he'd have to sit down and drink, I'll consider that progress. Pete and I are really hoping he figures it out next week while we are in MN visiting my parents. That would completely make their year since they don't get to see him on a regular basis.

My parents will be blown away with his use of the English language as well. I noticed recently that he really does say a lot of words, I just thought they were gibberish and couldn't be counted as official words. But Babycenter says that words that are somewhat distinguishable are definitely considered part of his vocab. So far we have heard; Dada, Mama, Linda (his daycare provider-sorry Grandma and Grandpa, Nana and Papa), outside, hi, wow/whoa (he sounds just like Joey Lawrence), Bobo, meow, woof, and right there (when asked where something is). He also will sign please and all done. Life is still difficult sometimes when we don't know what he wants and he just melts on the floor into a puddle of crying boy. Breaks my heart to see him be so upset but he's learning more every day and you can see his little wheels turning when he watches everything we do and say. He loves to "make coffee" with me on the mornings I'm home; he sits on the counter and smells the coffee in the jar and watches me go through the whole process. Seems so mundane but EVERYTHING is new and exciting for him, he's just a cute little sponge! And aparently going to love the java like I do!

I'd love to update with pics but alas, I'm still trying to navigate my new camera. Hopefully this weekend I can get it figured out. It takes amazing pics and I'm anxious to get out and experiment. If I have a willing subject on Sunday and the weather cooperates I'm going to try to shoot some.

Other than that, our little guy is LOVING being outdoors now that the weather is finally nice. He loves to swing, throw rocks (and sometimes try to eat them) and look for cars and trucks anywhere we are. I'm hoping the novelty of this won't wear off until we have returned home from our MN adventure...a 12 hour car ride could get awfully stressful if he decides pointing at trucks is so last week.

And in other big news: Grayson will have his first sleep over at Grandma's house this weekend. Um, ya. And Mommy will have her first night away from her baby. We're not going anywhere, there are just a few things we'd like to get done around the house that involve really ugly fumes and we're off to such a good start developmentally I don't want to do anything to slow that down.

I'm sure he'll do fine. I know he'll do fine. I've come to realize in 14 1/2 months that all the stressing I do about him...it's all me. He is so easy going and loves anyone he comes into contact with (seriously, he'll kiss perfect stranges if they are willing) that he won't even shed a tear. Me on the other hand? It'll just be so weird not to wake up in the morning to kisses from my stinkerbug. But a solid nights sleep? And sleeping in on Sunday?

I'm thinking I might be able to pull through for one night.