LG Snapshot: 15 Months

I know, it’s earth-shattering that I’m actually posting a blog. Figured it’s been almost a year – might be about time.  I was talking to my mom today about some of LG’s funny little habits/talents, and thought I’d better write them down before he changes and I forget them. We have a journal that we keep for LG, but I am feeling too lazy to try to write all of this out by hand. So here, in no particular order, are some fun things about LG at this age:

• He still doesn’t say a word. He signs a few (food, bath, milk), and babbles all the livelong day. He has a couple almost-words: for cat, he says the vowel sound just right and clearly uses it to identify them. And he kind of says “Da” when I ask if he wants to wake up Daddy in the morning.

• Speaking of the above, our morning routine is that I get up at 6, work out and get ready. LG usually wakes up near the end of my getting ready (7:30 or 7:45ish) and starts babbling in bed. I go in to get him up by 8, nurse and change him and then we wake up Daddy around 8:25. The wake-up ritual consists of LG lunging onto the bed from my arms and crawling all over Will, then practically stepping on Will’s face to look out the window as I open the curtain. I get LG started with breakfast, and Will takes over as I leave at 8:45. For some reason this week, LG’s been crying when I say goodbye, which breaks my heart.

• He eats like an elephant. Everything I read around now says kids often don’t have much of an appetite (or patience for food) at this age, but he can eat and eat and eat. His favorites are peanut butter, bananas, graham crackers, and carbs of any kind. But he’s not overly picky, except for insisting on feeding himself. So we make sure he gets plenty of variety (usually fruit for breakfast, veggies for lunch and protein/veggies for dinner).

• Of all the toys we’ve gotten him, one of his favorite things to do is find something with a lid (empty vitamin bottle, Tupperware, etc.) and sit with it, working on putting the lid on (just getting it to rest over the opening if it’s a screw cap), taking it off and repeating. He’s been doing this for a few months (since mid January or so?), and it can easily hold his attention for 7-10 minutes at a time.

• Will’s been showing him how to throw a ball, and LG can throw it quite far for a toddler (at least we think so), with a good arc. He’s even started to copy Will in throwing a ball like a basketball, one-handed.

• He seems to really like to listen to himself. He gives a bloodcurdling shriek when he sees one of our cats or pretty much any animal, and he’ll often keep shrieking until he can’t see it anymore. Cats and other animals love this… ;-) He’s also easily picked up the “Tarzan yell” that we showed him – well, at least the pounding-your-chest-and-calling part (not the yodel-like modulations). He does it ALL THE TIME.

• He whistles!! He does it all the time and has done so for months. I’ve never heard of a baby whistling. It’s almost impossible to document it in a video, because he does it unpredictably and not for long at any one time (usually while he’s focused on doing something else). He makes the whistling sound with air going in OR out, and he can do a couple notes.

• If he had the choice, he’d either be in a bath or outside 24-7.

• He’s been such a great sleeper, and we know how lucky we are. He usually goes to bed around 7:30 or 8 and falls asleep without a peep. Teething nights are the exception. He has six teeth: two on the bottom and four on the top. Back to the sleeping topic, though, within the last week he seems like he’s decided to drop his second nap. For several weeks, actually, that second nap was just a “quiet time” when he’d chill in his crib and listen to his nap CD for 40 minutes or so.

• He LOVES to read stories, which we’ve been doing with him since he’s been with us. He loves it when the lamp crashes in Corduroy, and always scratches at the windows of the house in the sun in Go Dog. Go!

• He can hear a dog barking or a plane flying far overhead much quicker than we can, and always points it out. If it’s a plane or a helicopter and we’re inside, he’ll run to be picked up to have you show it to him outside (since Will’s made a habit of letting him see anything that flies over) – it’s really cute.

• He cannot stand diaper changes, and I’m so hoping that makes for quick-and-easy potty training down the road (but I’m not holding my breath).

• I love how quickly he starts clapping when anyone else is doing it – Will even told me that he heard applause on Pandora for a live recording and started clapping right along.

So there you have it. Much of this might be totally common-place for a toddler his age, but it’s what stands out to me right now as a new mom. He’s such a bright, happy, engaging little boy and he captures the hearts of everyone around him. On Monday, Will and I were singing “I Am a Child of God” to him for Family Home Evening (we’re just starting to get into our FHE groove – better late than never!), and he was enraptured that we were singing to him together. He smiled and watched us for all three verses. He always sits quietly for prayer at night, and wiggles excitedly at hearing “Amen.” I couldn’t have imagined a more delightful little boy – despite the episodes of clingy-whininess or the messy dinners where the aftermath looks more like a finger-painting session than a meal. It’s all worth it to get to watch this amazing, pure little spirit discover life and the world.