Fifteen Months

I was feeling so burned out from doing monthly updates by the time that Shad turned one that I decided to do them quarterly instead... so we'll see how that goes.  (I'm already a few weeks late on that...)

Shad is turning into such a fun, crazy toddler.  I definitely have been feeling more and more that he is no longer a baby.  He is walking, and basically running, talking more and jabbering like crazy, randomly says hi to people everywhere, and is more cuddly than he was as a baby.

He has a pretty constant schedule now... Wakes up around 9am, naps around 1pm (1.5-3 hrs depending,) and goes to bed around 9pm.  He can still wear a few of his 12 month clothes, but he is mostly in 18month- 2T.  He wears a few 24 month, but we've found that the 2T's are slimmer fitting than the 24 month stuff, so he fits better in them.  He has been wearing size 4 shoes, but is starting to grow out of those also... 

He no longer squints when he's about to do something he shouldn't, but he often says, "Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi." until you acknowledge him... which is so funny... and helpful.  

He has 12 teeth, all 8 front teeth and 4 molars.  We're trying to be good at brushing his teeth everyday but we're still struggling to find a good time of day that will be easy to make it a habit because he eats as soon as he wakes up, and usually falls asleep drinking a bottle of milk at night.

We've started (around 13 or 14 mos) putting him on the toilet when we see him pushing and think we have time before he soils his diaper.  We aren't trying to potty train, it's just much easier and cleaner this way, but hopefully it'll help down the road! 

He is imitating a lot more now, both words and sounds.  He also tries to sing and do the motions to Eensie Weensie Spider and he moves his duck to Rubber Ducky.

So far the words he says are, "Hi, bath ("mah"), banana ("mamama"), what is it (isit, or sometimes this sounds like "oh sh*t"), clean socks ("ee ahs"), yes ("iss"), please ("peess"), and sometimes thanks, but I'm not even sure how to type that one.  He is also starting to use his signs intentionally, not just on command.  He knows: food/hungry, more, please, thank you, diaper, milk, and all done/ finished.  He has been using "more" on his own for a long time, but he is now using "hungry/ food" and "all done" on his own, which is so nice! 

Here are a bunch of random pictures.  The middle shot is how he says, "What/Where is it?!"  He says it quite often... whenever he drops something, whenever someone walks out of the room, etc.  Sometimes he even drops something on purpose, and still makes the "what is it" sound and hand motions as if he doesn't know where it went.

He likes to feed himself with a fork, especially fruit.  

"Fold your arms."  He does this on command, and is getting better at leaving them folded till we saw Amen, though he still usually tries to eat or play with a toy with one of his hands, while keeping the other folded.  Too funny.

He sometimes will also bow his head...

He constantly amazes us with the phrases he responds to, or the words he knows, that we had no idea he understood.  Things like, "put it in the cupboard" or "it's on the bed."  He knows how to throw things in the trash, to put his "bink back in his bed," close the door, turn the light off, "where's your shoes", " let's go get the mail," "brush your teeth," "take a bath," give kisses/ hugs, etc.  He will act on all of those phrases, and more, and we are always surprised when we discover he knows what the cupboard actually is, or where the shoes are kept.  He even brought me a matching pair once to put on his feet. 

A few weeks ago the three of us were sitting in the front seat of the car and Jeff let Shad hold his keys.  Shad singled one out and tried to put it in the ignition!  We both were shocked, cause he can't really see the driver seat from where his car seat is, and we've never showed him how to do that.  He's so smart!

Another time I pulled a cookie sheet out of the dish drainer and asked if we should put it away in the cupboard and without motioning or saying more he carried it to the right cupboard, opened it, and tried putting it in.  I was amazed that he knew which cupboard to put it in!  

A few days ago I asked him if he wanted to go for a ride in the stroller and he went and brought me my running shoes!  I haven't tested this out again to see if he really knows what he's doing, but I wouldn't doubt it!

We've only shown him once or twice where the Winder cooler was, but when we asked him if we should put the "milk cartons in the box" he headed down the stairs to the door, out and around the house, right to the cooler!

 

Cuddling his horse first thing in the morning:

"Smell the flowers."  He's good at sticking his face into them, though I don't know if he actually inhales or not...

Playing on Grandpa Kay's tractor:

Playing in the flower bed:

Bed head pre-haircut:

Loving his free balloon at Zurchers:

Super smiley, cracking himself up, and slap happy in the car:

Trying out his new camp chair:

He loves pulling this bag out of the pantry, pulling the chip clip off, and digging in.  It's so funny to watch him try to carry it, since it's almost as tall as he is:

Playing in the cupboard:

Laughing and bouncing on the stair:

Laughing at Nikki and kissing dad:

He was so proud of himself for climbing in our huge chair.  And he's so cute trying to look at the book all by himself:

Love those long lashes:

He found this candy cane, broke it open, and was loving every bit of it, including the wrapper:

This is what we get when we tell him to smile... total cheeser:

Grilling with dad, long socks with shorts included:

More funny sleeping pictures:

Silly boy:

Lately he only falls asleep in his crib, car seat, or stroller.  He almost always wakes up when we pull him out of his car seat, no matter how long he's been asleep.  This time he stayed asleep the whole way into the store, including the loud banging of people pulling out carts, so I just laid him down and let him sleep!

This kid loves animals.  He had fun following this cat and trying to pet it...

Feeding Brea and Tom's dog Copper:

Stuck:

Playing in the clothes:

Using all his strength and weight to get his blanket out:

He does this randomly and without encouragement.  It's so funny:

"Give Shad kisses!"  You'll also notice the flip flops on his arms... he likes carrying them around like that... I guess they replace the bracelets he'd have if he was a little girl?

Trying to teach him to say, "I love you" on Nikki's birthday:

Bedtime meltdown for no reason, except being tired...

  Happy kid!

His face always flushes easily and gets pink quickly when it's hot out, especially in the car, even if he's not in the sun:

Playing with the vacuum cord and loving it...

Trying to close dad's drawer...

Stuck... again.

Playing in the foot stool/ toy box:

Newspaper bag Samurai, thanks to his uncles:

He been climbing in the laundry baskets a lot lately, and still loves putting things in them and pushing them around:

Crashed in the chair:

Goofball:

He loves eating corn on the cob by himself:

Playing with his truck in dad's shoes:

The only successful way to cut his nails while he's awake... Thank you Baby Einstein.