15 month duck photo

Here is Otto...15 months already. I seriously can't believe it. He has gotten so big so quickly. But man, I think he's gotten cuter too...if that is possible. He is super into snuggling things now. If his duck or dog rug or sheep skin or a blanket is on the floor he will dive head first onto it and snuggle it. He is saying car and ball and hot and clock and cat and cheese and keys and mama and dada and balloon and moon and ha pa pa (bottle) all the time. He woke up the other day saying car...CAR in such a sweet little way. We looooooovvvve it and will try to get a recording. He is also jumping now. He squats down and stands up really fast while we say JUMP. He like to walk with his hands upside down behind his back and will immitate us if we immitate him doing it. He is dancing to music now. He holds one hand up in the air and pumps it up and down and will occasionaly do a little spin. He immitates us a lot. Trevor will tell him that the fountian by Nights and Mornings (the coffee shop that they go to almost every morning) is "TOO WET' while he waves his arm and Otto will do it now too. Everytime I say the word wet or he sees water he waves his arm. He says no by shaking his head now. If I start to sing a song that he doesn't want to hear he very clearly tells me no by shaking his head. He's climbing on things a lot more now and does this little trust fall which scares the heck out of us. He will just throw his body backwards head first and we have to lunge to catch him. So far we've caught him every time but hopefully he'll grow out of that one soon. He still holds his arms up whenever he sees a pony or we say the word pony and he opens and closes his hand to signify a zebra (black and white). His communication skills are amazing and he really understands language. We need to get that Mandrian speaking babysitter FAST!

Grandpa

This is a very hard post to write and the reason I have not updated Otto's blog. Otto lost his Grandps on January 4, 2011. We are devastated and I am so sad for Otto. He loved his Gramps so much and I feel the loss for Otto so deeply. We had such a wonderful happy family and household. Every morning Otto and I would come over and his Grandpa would either be up reading the paper or Otto would shout and bang the cabinets until he woke him up. Grandps would drink his coffee and Otto would sit on his lap and try to spill it. Or Otto would play with his feet or pat his back or pull his belt loops. Otto's Grandpa always had the biggest smile for him and always made time for him and would reserve all his energy (which was very hard) to swing Otto on his leg or give him raspberries. When we would give Otto baths we would put him on the kitchen table to dress him and his Grandps would come over and kiss him untill he giggled like crazy. No one could get Otto to laugh like his Grandpa. They shared such a special relationship. Otto loved him like crazy and Grandpa loved Otto like crazy. He was the best...what other Grandpa would pick up and move across country just to be next to his Grandson? Otto's Grandps would immitate all of Otto's sounds and they would laugh at their shared language and it was his Grandpa who taught him sign language. Gramps taught him the sign for fan and it became his universal salute to refer to everything he loved...mostly fans though! I cherish all the photos that we took of Otto and his Grandpa. There aren't too many but the ones we have are so representative of their relationship. Like the one on this post. When we brought Otto home from the hospital his Grandpa would not put him down. He held him for so many hours the first few months of his life. Otto would just sleep in his Grandpa's arms while Grandpa watched TV or napped himself. I think that really solidified their bond. Now we have a few pictures of Grandps on the refirgerator and everyday I ask Otto to point out his Grandpa so he won't forget. And he hasn't. I'm so happy that my Dad got to know Otto and I know their paths will cross again. I'm just sad that his Grandpa never got to take him fishing-something I knew he wanted to do. I'm sad I never got to hear their conversations-something that I really wanted. But I will always tell Otto stories about his Grandpa and how much his Grandpa loved him and how much Otto loved his Grandpa. He really was his second Dad.

14 month duck

Otto wasn't thrilled for this photo shoot-he had just woken up from his nap. He and the duck were very serious this day but I like that they are holding hands-or rather holding wing and hand.

Christmas

Otto spent his second Christmas in Salt Lake. We had great weather and took Otto cross country skiing for the first time and he really enjoyed it-well most of it. We didn't have proper gloves for him so his little hands froze and by the end of the tour he was pretty unhappy. But I'm excited to take him again the next time we are in snow. Only this time we'll be more prepared.