Sunday, January 11, 2009

15 months

When do parents stop counting a baby's age in months?... maybe it's important for us to clarify that he's more than a "one-year-old", but really he's "one" - in part it's easier than expaining "he turned one in September"... who knows!

Anyway, he is 15months+ now. We've squeezed in 3 more holidays with lots of family and a trip to Texas. Jonathan enjoyed Great Grandma Ruby's dumplings at Thanksgiving, an overload of presents at Christmas and New Year's day on a plane.

He's just over 28 lbs and the nurse measured him at 33 3/4 inches (but it looked like she measured crooked to me... I think he's shorter, but we'll go with it). Both measurements put him in the 90-95% range for his age - what can we say, he's a big boy! :o)

He continues to amaze us at how his dexterity and language are growing. We now have to be very careful about what we say as our little mocking bird tends to try to copy most words that we say. Like when Mommy changes a stinky diaper and says "oh my!"... Jonathan says it too. Funny thing is, the things we really want him to say, like "love you" don't come out. But things like "stinky" and "toot" come out regularly! He's been working on animal sounds/actions and had one for dog, cat, cow, lamb, elephant, snake and even a lizard. Cat now says "moo"... not sure what happened there. He loves naming family members too (fortunately, none of them are called "moo").

We laugh at Jonathan's attempts to "jump" and "dance" and he has a new "happy dance" that we think he started after Daddy demonstrated a touchdown celebration dance... We have some video of these, and will try to upload them soon to share.
The fates must be determined for Jonathan to be musical becuase this Christmas included harmonicas, whistles, a piano, and a guitar. Of course, he got his fair share of educational toys as well as sports toys (basketball, baseball and football).

He is really starting to test boundaries and the rules, but overall he is very laidback. The worst days are when he doesn't sleep well (at night or at naptime) and then he just stays a little cranky all afternoon... that only happens a couple of times a week, so most days are really good. He's also entered a "anxiety" stage, so unless one of us or a grandparent are with him, he won't stay in Bible class or other places without us. We're hoping it won't last long, but we'll see...
Of course, Jonathan doesn't realize it yet, but he will be a big brother in July. We haven't talked about it a lot with him, but as Mommy's belly starts to grow, it will come up more regularly. We'll find out if we're having a boy or girl at the end of February.