15 Months

Yup, that's right, we did it.  He's still alive.  You're welcome world.

That's Lew's contribution to this post.

Today G is 15 months old.  This isn't a huge milestone or anything but he is due some more vaccine's at the doc and since that's how I keep time with how he's doing and when I have to go through and think about all his milestones, it seems as appropriate a time as any to update the world.  I know you care, deeply, so I'm doing this for you.  You're welcome.

I took pictures every month with G and this frog.  It started off bigger than he was.  I remember when Uncle B gave it to us and thinking, oh heaven's that thing is huge.  Now?  It's normal sized.

We are walking everywhere.  We've been walking full time for about two months now, and he's ready to run.  He scampers all over the house, squealing for no apparent reason and collapsing in a heap on the floor when he's done.  We love shoes, or "shhuuzz", and we pick them up and lift our feet to have them put on.  He does not love flip flops, and prefers his soft sole shoes still.  I am not forcing the issue into harder soled foot wear as my thought is he's still learning balance and control and toes and soft soles are easier on this.

We put things on our head now, hats, glasses, etc.  He also tries to get dressed himself, lifting up his legs or arms for me to put clothes on him (or take them off).  If I put the shirt over his head he can put his own arms through.

He tries to use a spoon himself.  He can't quite hold it steady enough to keep the contents on the spoon for the trip to his mouth, but he does try.

He stacks blocks up to three high, and loves loves love the boat with the balls, shown here, that he whacks with the mallet.  This is a good twenty minutes worth of entertainment.

He has verbal days and nonverbal days.  Days where I can say "can you say Dog, cat whatever," and he'll repeat it back to me.  Somedays he won't.  He says ball, dog, shoes, bath, dada, more, truck, book, duck.  He understands a lot of words; hungry, naptime, bottle, milk, snack, play, outside, close, open, stop, no, etc.  He seems pretty bright, if I do say so myself.

He still loves his books.  And the other day we were getting ready for bath and he went to his bedroom and grabbed two books and tried to throw them in the bath tub.  I scared the crap out of him grabbing them mid throw and hurling them out of the bathroom.  He now wants certain books read over and over.  I will finish and close it and hand it to him, and he will hold it up to me again and say, "Mo?"

There are things that I would like to improve on, like pointing out body parts, and colors.  He was saying blue pretty regularly but he's stopped that.  I have heard him say yellow before but it's not consistent.  He stacks his stacking cups by color so I think he understands the difference between them.  He also takes the shapes and tries to get them to fit through the appropriate holes.  He needs help with this but he tries and I think that's a good sign.

There are many kids that are doing all of these things much earlier, i.e. my neighbors daughter is pointing out body parts and sorting things.  She is 6 weeks younger and G is just starting some of these skills.

But for the first time, filling out the development survey for his pedi, I can answer "yes" to almost all of them.  The only one that he does not do is "hug a stuffed animal."  Which I have no idea why this is developmental, but my neighbor stopped by yesterday and mentioned that it's a sign of autism when they do not show affection.  G does hug his parents and his dog, and he'll kiss his books (not his mama) so I'm taking that as affection and counting it for that box.

He also high fives now when asked.  And loves playing peekaboo and loves being startled.  I'll jump out from behind a corner and shout "boo!" and he laughs out loud.  He waves at cars driving by but not people (wierd) and is trying to climb up on things.  He rearranges the furniture in the kitchen and drags bags around the house with his "treasures."  His treasures usually include his comb, a bottle of lotion, paper, a golf ball, masking tape, a cd case, and the junk mail.  Oh and the alphabet magnets from the fridge.

He is still napping twice a day though he is almost ready for one, just not quite.  I am still giving him a bottle of milk (and am now spiking it with a quarter of a pediasure - to help him gain weight - every third day) and he still sleeps in a sleep sack.  We will be weaning from the sleepsack any day now, as he's almost outgrown it and it's time.

I am going to keep giving him a bottle for a while.  He still really enjoys it and it's a comfort to him and I am in no hurry to force him to grow up (and the weight issue).  I don't plan on potty training for at least another 10 months, unless some behavior happens that makes me think he's ready.

At 15 months old he's a great little guy.  It's a terrific age as he explores more and more.  There's something to love at every stage, but this interactive stage is very gratifying and I look forward to cooler weather and parks and zoos and aquariums and showing him the world.