15 Months

In all the "excitement" of my iPhoto library fiasco, I forgot to post about Jack's 15 month birthday! No, we didn't celebrate with cake. No I didn't take any specific pictures to commemorate the event. Yes, I did remember on the actual day (June 26) and I did marvel at how good God has been to my family by blessing us with Jack for the past 15 months. Yes, I did begin calling him a "15-month-old" officially that day when people asked.

Some of the these photos may have been posted on my last update, but I can't remember. Yes, I just looked at that post. In the time it took me to open the upload window I had forgotten most of my previous post. I knew a couple I had already posted, so I avoided those.

Jack has always been a good eater. He eats pretty much anything we put in front of him. He has become slightly more picky now, in that he doesn't want the same meal three times a day like he used to. I will give him options at mealtime now and he will eat happily once he sees what's available. No problem with that! The downside? He eats anything and everything, including cardboard or paper. We have caught him eating cardboard, toilet paper, regular paper, stickers, and his board books. He hasn't swallowed any that I can tell. He normally will chew it up real good them walk over to me and spit it in my hand. At least he knows it's not food, eh?

While Matt and I would love a dog, we have decided that it may not be the best timing for our family. Jack is still too little to help out with it, plus he would make a mess of the dog's dishes. We also hope for a little sibling for Jack in the next year, so a newborn and puppy and a toddler... not ideal for all at once. But, when we see Jack with dogs our resolve wavers. Several of our friends have dogs and he loves them. He gets a little intimidated when they lick him or run up to him, but he loves going over to them and petting them when they are calm. He has never cried when the dogs lick him or knock him over, but he has run behind my legs if he got startled. Good reaction, I think.

We went to a friend's house with a bunch of other couples one night and they played cornhole. Jack watched the guys throwing the bean bags and when they took a break he ran over, grabbed one, and walked it all the way over to the other board and threw it in the hole. Smart cookie!

Jack takes incredibly short baths now. I'm not sure what it is, but as soon as he gets in he begins tossing his toys out. I wash him while he's doing this. When they are all on the floor he tries to climb out of the bathtub. He used to open the drain and then try to climb out. Silly baby. I'm not sure why he doesn't like playing in the bath anymore, but I try to get him settled down in bed right afterwards. This past week he fell asleep in his crib with me singing to him from the rocker in the corner. It varied how long it took him to settle down. A couple nights I still had to snuggle with him or nurse him before he fell asleep. We're making slow progress though.

Didn't want chicken for lunch, which was his favorite for the past month or so. Offered him other things, he wanted tomatoes! Momma and DaDa don't care for tomatoes so we're not sure where this taste came from!

At Jackson's 15 Month well child appointment (June 27) he weighed 23 lbs. and 4 oz. (33%) and was 31 in. long (47%). I don't remember his head circumference, but it was a really low percentile. Healthy as can be!

This month he's really begun picking up on things Matt and I do. He likes "helping" with the dishes, but I don't let him too much because he'll either put things in his mouth or I need to put the silverware in the dishwasher and he can't play with those. He knows that when DaDa comes home he takes his shoes off. Jack will immediately go to Matt and pull on his laces. He loves trying to strap himself into his car seat or high chair. He gets the buckles all lined up but just can't push them hard enough yet. When I say it's time to go, he gets my shoes and brings them to me and grabs his shoes and sits down to put them on. Jack puts his own toys away... and we'll find other household items in his toy bins too! He knows what toothbrushes, hair brushes, and q tips do and will try to use them himself. He loves to click pens and other buttons he finds. He generally colors with crayons now before he remembers he likes to try to eat them. A constant battle that- can't wait for the day he'll just color pictures without chewing off the tips of the crayons! He will bring toys to me that have been turned off so I can turn them back on. He still isn't talking a lot, but most of the time I know he knows the words he used to say because he'll give me his stinker face when I try to get him to say it. He still says "Mumma", "DaDa", and "Na" in context. I am pretty sure he began using the "d" sound for dogs too. He sings "more", "please", and "all done" on his own without being asked.

Jack still loves to dance all around. When cartoons sing songs or when I sing to him he dances around. Such a cutie! He is learning to run faster. He doesn't trip over his feet very often anymore when he runs. He still likes to be held, but when we're outside he likes his freedom too. We're working on teaching him that he always holds hands on cement. He tries to pull his hand out of ours when we're on a sidewalk.

Jack continues to be our little ray of sunshine. He has certainly developed a little attitude with his personality. We still talk to him about not fussing and using his inside voice, but I'm not sure how much of that he really understands yet. Once he begins talking more and we know he understands, then we'll begin reprimanding him further. For now, we tell him not to do something and say why and then give him a hug. That's the best we can do.

Love our baby boy so much. Don't know what I would've done the past 15 months without him. He has filled up our lives so completely.