I have almost missed this month. It has absolutely flown by. Aurick turned fifteen months on the 7th of January.

moving rooms

Since last month’s update, he’s been moved permanently over to The Boys’ Room. He was not quite as excited about this as the rest of us were. The boys were excited to have him with them; I was excited at being able to say “The Girls’ Room” and “The Boys’ Room” and have it be accurate. Aurick just rolled with the punches and continued his habits and routine in his new location.

I had to move him because–as I mentioned in his last update–he would wake Beatrice up in the mornings, and they would pal around together until I got them up. Unfortunately, she began using this time to put things in his crib that he shouldn’t have, and for his safety I thought it was prudent to move him in with the boys, who are all old enough to know better.

I wasn’t really sure how the move would go, since the boys are not used to having a baby in their room ever and can be rather noisy at bedtime. (Eldore didn’t move in there until he was old enough to sleep in one of the bottom bunks.) We moved our nightly reading out to the living room (one way to make sure Anselm stayed awake for it) then the boys sneak into their room once we’re done reading and Aurick has been asleep for a little while. They can’t manage to be really quiet, but Aurick has proved himself a much heavier sleeper than I ever knew he was. Their noise doesn’t bother him at all.

And thankfully his early wake-ups don’t bother them, either. I still can’t get him to sleep in for anything. by 6 or 6:30 he starts occasionally screeching like a monkey, hoping someone will come get him. I’ve never had a kid that I couldn’t get to sleep later, and I’m still not sure what to do with him on this except wait for March and the time change.

Mobility

Also since last month’s update he has started pulling up and crawling on all fours. What a relief that was to have him finally start that! I have been watching him closely because of his gross motor delay. I couldn’t quite decide if I was worried or not (I wasn’t worried at all until we hit maybe 14 months, since he was so closely following Anselm and Clive’s motor skill curve.) 14 months, however, was the time that they both started pulling up on things, and I was worried that he wouldn’t start and that would mean something was wrong. Thankfully, though, he started up just at the time they did, starting with small boxes and graduating to bigger boxes, then to places like the side of Beadie’s bed.

The all-fours crawling surprised me, though. Because Anselm and Clive never switched over to crawling properly once they had found another mode of getting around, I didn’t really expect Aurick to either, but to just continue to army crawl until he found the courage or strength to start walking. (And I tried–I tried so hard to get Clive to really crawl!) I am very glad that he began, though, as this saves the front of his shirts and sweaters from the large grimy smear that pulling himself around on the floor produces. At the moment he army crawls and properly crawls interchangeably, depending on what he’s doing, what type of surface it is, and how quickly he wants to get there. He is more likely to crawl on all fours when he’s on carpet.

He also started pushing himself up to sitting from belly-scooching. In all, he’s made great leaps in mobility this month, and I am relieved!

attitude

He is a master of scowling. Sometimes he scowls to be funny, and sometimes he scowls because he’s really ticked off with you. Ticked off about what, I often have no idea. He gets mad when he cleary has asked for his water bottle and you tried to give him more oatmeal instead. He also gets mad when Beatrice so much as looks at him sometimes (I don’t quite understand that.) You can tell he’s mad because the scowl is accompanied by a BAH!, uttered in such a growly tone that Scrooge himself would be proud. The madder the Aurick, the longer the BAH.

(Sometimes it’s just AH, as I am reminded because he is currently looking out the glass door making said noise to something outside that is angering him.)

He likes to crawl over to the glass door and look at the dog. (Woof, woof! He’ll say.) He’s also started spending more time with Beadie back in her room, listening to music and playing quietly in that way that toddlers do–playing alongside, not with. He still likes to stack blocks; he can make a tower of four or five now. He will sing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star (the melody, not the words) and likes to sing along and do the motions to One Little Finger (he actually tries the words on that one). He’s gradually beginning to say more things, beyond just his guttural babbling, which he still likes to do.

He also still loves his Johnny Jump-Up. Now when he twists himself up, he knows how to pull his feet up and let himself untwist, round and round and round.

other updates:

ephraim + clive + anselm + eldore + beatrice