Dane is walking

I will take a pause on catching-up (I am still at the first week of January) to talk about Daner-man (that's what I call him - which is interesting becasue he went from Baby-Dane to Daner-man - ha).  He is walking now.  It took him a loooong time to learn to walk.  All of my other kids were walking by their first birthday.  And when they "started" walking - taking a step or 2 - within days they were "walkers".  By Dane's first birthday he hadn't taken a step.  By Christmas he had taken a step or 2.  By mid January he had taken about 5 steps.  He stayed at 5 steps for about 2 weeks.  Then one day I took him to the library for story time and he saw all these other kids his age walking around and he was like "hey - they are my size and they are walking, I want to walk too".  He tried walking all over the library that day.  Taking 5 steps, falling and instead of just crawling he would stand back up, take 5 steps, fall, and stand back up and try again.  It still took about a week - but pretty soon after that he was walking.  Now he walks everywhere.  I LOVE crawling babies and I was in no hurry for him to walk becasue I loved him crawling - but now that he is walking I am reminded that I LOVE walking babies. We also remembered that babies walk better holding something.  So here he is holding Brock's socks.  Ha

Also I must pause here to talk about my FAVORITE baby stage.  14 months.  I LOVE 14 months.  Anywhere from about 14 month to 17 months is the best!  I am not 100% sure why.  I have most of my "next babies" at 15 months so I think it is because it is my last month with my baby as my baby and I just soak it up and have very endearing memories of my baby at that stage and of my "old baby" when I bring my "new baby" home.I can vividly recall all my kids at this stage and I just have such tender feelings.  They are also all SO GOOD at this stage.  Some mothers hate this stage because they start getting independent and wills and but they can't really talk to it is a lot of tantrums.  That was never my experience.  I naturally give my babies a lot of freedom, independence, and great daily activities so we hardly had problems.  I love how they are so inquisitive at this age and seem to learn something new everyday - sometimes every hour.   So here is the problem with Dane at 14 months (I have been pondering what the "problem" is this last week and this is what I have so far).

I said when I was pregnant with him I had never had a winter baby and I was sad to have one.  Winter babies are the worst for many reasons the obvious is cold/flu/RSV season.  True. But also cuz you can't get out as much and those first few months of a new born you gotta get out sometimes and see people.  But it doesn't end with the first sights of spring.  The sadness of a winter birth continue.  Typically a winter baby will learn to crawl right in the middle of summer.  So at parks and pools and everywhere you go they want to be on the ground putting everything in their mouths.  Their knees get torn up because you are outside all the time, and in shorts, its the worst.  Now at 14 months in the dead of winter he has learned to walk, climb, slide, etc and he just wants to be outside or NOT in our house.  He goes and gets my shoes out of the shoe basket and hands them to me with them a few times a day.  But for the last 2 or 3 weeks it has been snowing and cold here.  We truly can't go outside - plus he has been really sick.  Like snot every 2 seconds and a hacking cough - so I don't want to take him to an indoor play place and get others sick - plus they are also all sick.  With all my other 14 month olds every day we were at the park, wheeler farm, throwing random rocks into random rivers, lakes, or ponds, temple square, feeding ducks, going on walks (they walk - not in a stroller), or children's museums, aquariums, swimming, chuck-e-cheese, etc.  Everyday was an adventure - sometimes several a day.  Also we were going to grandma's houses, aunts houses, and playing with cousins.  Dane really doesn't have any of  that.  We are mostly just stuck in our house.  Now I am only speaking to the last 2 weeks.  We have done some fun things - even in the winter.  But 2 weeks ago he didn't really care if we went and did things or not - but now he KNOWS he wants to leave the house.  And  the last 2 weeks it is cold and snowing EVERYDAY and he has been sick.  The last 3 days he has started throwing tantrums and being fussy almost all the time.  I am hoping it is just the sickness and he will bounce back to happy Dane soon.  But it has reaffirmed my testimony of taking young kids out every day and doing something fun, new and interesting.  Our house is 3 or 4 times bigger then the one Brock and Noah were in at 14 months and twice as big and the girls.  YOu would think that would help.  All this space and places to explore.  It sort of does.  But now, at 14 months, it is not enough.