Declanisms - 15 Months

Declan's distinct personality has been shining bright since he was a tiny little baby. He's bubbly and cuddly and sweet, but he's also my little daredevil. If there is unseen trouble lurking anywhere nearby he will find it in 2 seconds flat. Last month we spent an afternoon at my sister's pool and he walked up to me with a black widow in his hair. Several hours in the ER, and a day and a half of fussiness later, we realized just how lucky we were that he hadn't been bit, but oh my God, that was a rough day and a half just waiting to see if any symptoms showed up. This week he dove teeth first into our metal bed frame and now one of his front teeth is slightly shorter than the other. Again, we're lucky that he didn't knock the whole thing out, but if I had to nominate which one of my kids was gonna give me a heart attack, I'd choose Declan. I love you baby boy, but you gotta give your mama a break.

Yeah right.

Here are a few more classic 15 month old Declanisms:

"GET down!" He either screams this at us right before he knows we're about to yell it at him, or he politely asks us "get down?" when he wants out of his high chair. He also says get down when he wants to be picked up, so apparently it's just a universal phrase for him.

"Goooo!!!" when he's playing race cars/motorcycles/planes, or when he's being carried and wants us to go faster.

Vroom vroom engine sounds, also when he's racing cars.

"Deh-ckles!!" when he's doing something he knows he shouldn't, especially messing with the remote control. 

"Goo ja" (good job) followed by clapping, usually also when he's doing something bad. I think he's trying reverse psychology on us.

We've officially removed the child safety gate from the stairs because Declan figured he can just lay down on his stomach and rapidly slide down the stairs, screaming like the house is on fire the entire time.

If there's music playing within a five mile radius you can bet Deckles is dancing. He LOVES dancing. Especially if we join in with him. The hotdog dance practically turns into a riot in our house. Lots of screaming and stomping and running and yelling.

"Baaahhh!!" followed by a charge to the kitchen whenever he's demanding milk.

This kid has mastered the playground. I was still helping Ez climb stairs and slide slides when he was two, but my little fifteen month old doesn't even need me anymore.

He's a biter. I don't remember Ez doing this, but he grabs the comforter, or pillows, or my knee with his teeth and shakes his head back and forth like a little bulldog.

He's also a barfer. Ez has barfed once in his entire life, and that was when the stomach flu swept through our house about a month ago. Declan barfs once a week. And almost always on me. The doctor says some kids just throw up a lot, and have sensitive gag reflexes, and lucky us, we've got one of those kids ;)

If we happen to feed him anything he doesn't like (which is basically everything) he'll spit and shake his head no for the next 10 minutes like an angry little camel.

When he has too much pent up energy that he doesn't know what to do with he'll run in circles with his head tilted to one side like he's literally gone haywire.

His classic running form is to swing one arm really fast with his head bowed forward while his little feet move as quickly as possible.

Blowing spit bubbles is his new favorite thing.

Bath time continues to be a favorite, and he comes running in the bathroom to pound on the sides of the tub while screaming like a little frat boy as soon as I turn on the water. He's been doing this since he could walk at 9 months, and apparently it never gets old.

"Caaaattt!!!" whenever he sees a cat. Obviously this makes cats love him. <sarcasm>

He says "ba" and waves, whether he's saying hi or bye.

He blows me kisses and it's pretty much the sweetest thing ever and instantly negates whatever craziness he's already gotten into that day.

And just for fun, here's a better glimpse at Declan's craziness, condensed into a three minute highlight reel: