Fifteen months is where it's at

This is the golden age.  For now, I have decided that.  Maybe next month or next year I will decide differently, but in my limited wisdom of baby age, I have deemed fifteen months where it's at.  While it is difficult to always understand what he wants, he can't verbally argue back with me.  At least not to where I understand what he is saying.  And while there are tantrums and biting, there is a ton of fun.

Gideon's favorite thing to do right now is give "knucks."  You know, the fist bump.  He hasn't quite reached the vastness of exploding knucks, but Taylor is working on it daily.  He randomly decides when it is time to give "nus."  The other day I was driving and heard "nus, nus, nus" and looked back to find a fist pumped high in the air, waiting for the reciprocal acknowledgment.  The best are his Skype knucks.  Those lucky grandparents get about fifty knucks every time we Skype.

It amazes me how much he is retaining and how often he can remember or associate things. A while back, at my parents house, my mom kept telling him that her coffee was hot and would let him touch the side to feel it.  Now, anytime someone has a coffee mug, he says "haa" and needs to put his chubby little fingers on it.  He's quite helpful and will even blow on it for you.  Spit is free.

Gideon loves exploring and has searched through every drawer and cranny in our apartment.  His new game is to take everything out of the drawer and then put it all back.  He slams that drawer shut afterwards and claps for himself.  Mama likes the putting away part.  He is totally picking up on his parents OCD tendencies.  He even smoothed out the kitchen rug last week when it got wrinkled up, and of course accompanied the action with an "uh oh."  Each night while I fill the tub for his bath, Gideon goes into the cabinet under the sink and gets a washcloth to throw in the bath.  I didn't teach him that.  He decided it on his own.  He also decided he needed to throw a rubber ducky in the toilet while Taylor was filling the tub last night.  I thought we were going to skip the everything-in-the-toilet phase.  Guess not.

A couple evenings a week, I head to our YMCA to do yoga and pilates.  Gideon chases me to the door waving bye and sometimes crying.  I can't help but stop and wait for him to plow into me with a hug and a kiss.  It is the sweetest and I love it extra because I know when I get home he will be sound asleep in his bed.  And while walking out to my car, I hear our deck door open and see Tay bringing G out to wave. He loves to yell "byyyyeeee"  to cars going past.

Gideon, you are a bright, fiery ball of sunshine.  You have a way of making people fall head over heels in love with you everywhere we go.  It's your friendly-spirit, for sure, or the way you wave at them until they acknowledge you.  You dance every time you hear music no matter how awful you feel.  You give kisses freely, hugs occasionally and you eat non-stop.  Your wild hair has become charming to me and I look forward to it's pizazz after every nap.  Don't change!  Grow, yes grow.  But don't change inside.  I love you because you are you, and you know it!