what can a 14mo do?

Well, a 14mo can start to walk into his big brother's bed room, until he notices the robogator standing guard in the doorway. Then the 14mo stops, considers, and then carefully walks backwards until he's a safe distance away, at which point he turns and finds some OTHER room to go into.

A 14mo can drop a ball at the head of the driveway and watch it roll all the way down until it's in the street. He'll start chasing after it, at which point mom will catch up with the ball and kick it back up the driveway. Seeing mom kicking the ball with her foot, the 14mo will be completely fascinated. He'll hurry over to where the ball is, slow down, stop, and then try to kick the ball himself. If he's lucky, he kicks the ball a foot or so. If he's not so lucky, he kind of steps on the ball and may even fall down. But, being the resilient and determined little fellow that he is, he just gets back up and tries to kick the ball again. When he does, he beams with pride, then watches as the ball starts to slowly roll back down the driveway into the street again.

A 14mo can screech an amazingly loud and high pitched vocalization when he's being ignored, particularly if he wants something to eat or drink. Once he has your attention, he may smile and will reach in the direction of whatever it is he wants. He'll look intently at the desired cup of water, glance at you to see if you're paying attention, and screech again if you're not. If you are paying attention and begin to move in the right direction, he will start smiling and laughing, glancing back and forth between you and the cup until he finally has it in his hands.

A 14mo can try to put his hands and feet in the sleeves and legs of his clothes when you dress him. When you take his shirt off, he can raise his hands up over his head to make it easier. When you put it on, he may bite the shirt as it goes over his face, and then smile at you with the shirt stuck between his teeth. He thinks this is hysterically funny.

A 14mo can decide it's time for a bath and start trying to get his diaper off. He can also pull at his shirt to tell you he wants the shirt off too. If you pull his pants down while he is standing, he will carefully step out of his britches and to the side so he isn't still standing on them. Then he'll start trying to throw one leg up and over the edge so he can get into the bathtub. Sometimes he may just succeed at that. When he's finally ready to get out, he can come to the edge of the tub and hold his arms up for you to wrap him in a towel and lift him out. Then he can wiggle and squirm when you try to get a diaper and clothes back on him because he'd really rather run around the house wearing nothing at all.

A 14mo can think footie pajamas are weird the first time you put them on him, especially if he still doesn't wear shoes and hasn't worn socks for months. But then he'll decide that they are different and fun. Then he'll start picking up everyone's shoes and putting them in piles or delivering them to some lucky person who then drops them in piles. If you later put shoes on the 14mo, he may think they aren't so bad after wearing footie pajamas a few times, though they still won't stay on his feet for too long.

A 14mo who still nurses can be very good at saying his first two real words--"mom mom mom mom" and "boooooooooob!" If he's gotten mom to pick him up, he can pull at mom's shirt while saying "boooooooob" just to make his wishes a little more clear. If thinks he's going to get some boob, he'll start smiling and chuckling. Once he's happily nursing, he'll stop, look up and grin like the dickens, and then get back to business. Somewhere along the way he may take a break for the express purpose of blowing a bunch of zerberts on mom's belly. After a while he'll grin at her, laugh at himself and how funny he is, and then get back to his booby. A nursing 14mo is hysterical!

A 14mo can also be quite good at speaking feline. When one of the kitty cats meows, a 14mo can reply with a nice "Eeooooooooooooowwwwwww" in a really high and soft squeaky mewing pitch. When a kitty walks by quietly, a 14mo may start pointing and saying, "gack! gack! Eeoooooooowwwww." He will also try to pet the kitties, whack the kitties with sticks (or whatever else he may have in his hands), and give the poor kitty a bear hug. Fortunately, we have very patient kitties!

A 14mo can wave bye-bye when he or someone else is leaving (unless it's mom, in which case crying and having a fit is more appropriate!). He can wave at neighbors ariving home from work, or at daddy leaving for work, or at people left behind at the train station at the zoo, or at cashiers in stores. A 14mo can also be learning and using two more real 'signs' as well, such as "all done" and "more." Of course, he'll still prefer his loud attention getting screech to a less noticeable but more polite "more" in sign language, in which he brings his right and left fingers together in front of him to let you know he wants more of whatever it was he was getting. He also likes to use the screech to get your attention let you know when he's done eating. You can then ask him if he's all done, and he will very quietly and politely make his "all done" sign, waving both hands in the air over his head, indicating that he is indeed done eating and ready to be let down from his chair.

A 14mo can get up in the morning and want to go right outside to play. He can walk over to the back door, point very nicely, make his funny little narrative baby talk noises, and glance around to see if you're noticing he wants to go outside and play. Then the cat will walk over to the door, thinking you'll open it. When you open it to let the cat out, but you keep the 14mo inside, the 14mo will try to climb over or around you to make his escape. When you close the door with him still safely in the house, he'll have a fit and proceed to give you the evil eye. He may then go over to the garage door instead and try to get you to let him outside through the garage. A 14mo very much enjoys being outside. He may especially enjoy the rain, reaching out to feel the rain drops hit his hand.

A 14mo can see your hairbrush and want it for himself. If you give it to him, he will try to brush his own hair. Likewise, he can see you sweeping and want the broom for himself. If you give it to him, he will try to push it around on the floor, banging it into all sorts of things. A 14mo can see you open the refrigerator door and will try to get all the bottles in the door out before you get it closed again. He can also empty the drawer of kitchen towels you just put away yet again.

A 14mo can see your toothbrush and want to brush his own teeth. He can see you getting ready to take a shower and drop what he's doing, making a bee line for the tub, because he wants to take a bath too. A 14mo can pull all the tissues out of the tissue box, grinning at you after each and every pull.

A 14mo can pick up your cell phone, hold it up to his ear (probably upside down), and start making cute little narrative baby noises as he talks on the phone.

A 14mo can find every cabinet you forget to put the child locks back on, and then pull all the pots and pans out. He'll also dump out everything you just picked up, especially if it involves blocks and multiple pieces. He can pull book after book off the shelf, sometimes leaving them in the floor, sometimes bringing them to you, sometimes sitting and flipping through the book (multiple pages at a time, half the time with the book upside down, pointing at pictures or words in the book and making his funny little narrative baby noises, occasionally glancing up at you to make sure you're aware of what he's doing, and sometimes he'll decide to tear the pages too).

A 14mo can help you unload the silverware from the dishwasher, even if it's dirty and you're trying to load the dishwasher. He will hand you one piece of silverware at a time, giving you a little baby noise comment with each utensil. He may sometimes wait for you to take the utensil he's offering before dropping it and going after the next utensil, but you can't count on it. He'll do a better job if you keep up with him, rather than him keeping up with you. A 14mo will enjoy beginning sorting the silverware as he selects which piece to pull out next. He may sort by going front to back, or he may sort by getting all the knives, then all the spoons, etc. This is easier if you also put your wood handled steak knives in the dishwasher (pointy side down, of course, for safety). After a while he'll lose interest in his self-created sorting and just go back to grabbing a piece and handing it to mom with a very "Tim the Tool Man Taylor grunt." A 14mo will think helping mom with the dishes is wonderful, but mom has to be willing to have the occasional breakable dish dropped on the ceramic tile floor (ouch!).

A 14mo can hear an airplane flying low overhead and run over to the door to try to get a better look. He will point in the direction of the plane or noise, and he will comment with his little narrative baby noise grunts. When he loses sight or sound of the plane, he'll turn and look for you to see if you were as amazed as he was at the low, loud plane flying by.

A 14mo can bonk his head or toe, and then look right at you and make the most hysterical face with squinty eyes, a scrunched up nose, and an "ooooooo" mouth when he bonks and it actually hurts him a bit. Once he gets validation from you with a comparable "poor baby" face and comment, he will continue on with his business as if nothing happened. Meanwhile, you'll be cracking up at how cute he is when he looks at you with that squinty, scrunchy, puckery boo-boo face!

Yeah, those are all things a 14mo can do, assuming he's not autistic of course. SB3 is so NOT autistic!