LJ at 15 months

My baby is now 15 months. The time has flown and I just wanted to share what life is like with Lucas now that he is a full-blown toddler and rapidly trying to run (not walk) out of babyhood.

Lucas loves his big brother. A lot. He thinks Zach is the funniest thing in the world and it's so cute to see him copy what he sees Zach doing. Sometimes before his bath when I'm running the water in the tub he'll walk over to the toilet and I think he's thinking about trying to use it. It could also be that he just wants to splash in the toilet (gross, but he does do that too when I'm not quick enough to stop him). Once he peed while standing by the toilet so I probably need to bring the potty chair out of hiding and see if I can harness this opportunity to my advantage!

Toys are not nearly as fun as non-toys to Lucas. The toy room is literally filled with his baby toys, but what does he want to play with? Tupperware. And Zach's little tiny toys that are chokable for babies. Lucas does still put a lot of things into his mouth -- not nearly as much now as he did a few months ago, and less than Zach did at this age -- so we still have to watch him vigilantly. He also loves my keys (but not his toy baby keys) and my Blackberry (and again, not his toy phone). Sigh. Typical teenager. I mean toddler.

Lucas has still not had his hair cut and he does need it. I've been resisting it because it's not terrible if it's humid and the curls on the back of his head curl up and it looks shorter, but his hair is pretty long. I love his little curls though and am afraid that if we cut them off, then they're gone for good. We'll do it sometime this summer, but it might be more traumatic for me than it is for him.



Watching Daddy on the grill



Yesterday was Lucas' 15 month check up at the doctor. This is his new doctor and it's very conveniently located across the street from his daycare. I literally walked across the street with him! Such a nice change from his previous doctor's office which was halfway between home and my office. Getting the kids in for a visit on a work day pretty much required one of us to take a day off. So this feels kind of luxurious. :) Anyway, his appointment was during his nap time and Leda kept him up. As a result he was a little cranky and I made a mental note to make his next appointment for first thing in the morning. Lucas is growing well and nearly 27 pounds! This is a 2 pound, 10 ounce gain from 3 months ago. His height didn't change from 31 inches in April, but I think there might have been a discrepancy between the two different offices or the squirminess of babies. To me, he looks taller, more stretched out (aka: less chubby), so I think someone measured wrong. Lucas is playing catch up on his immunizations so they treated him like a 12 month old at this appointment. This is a result of the last doctor's office being overly cautious with immunizations, stretching out the number of immunizations they give out at a visit. He will be fully caught up at 18 months when they give him his 15 month immunizations since he normally wouldn't get shots at 18 months otherwise. The doctor asked if I had any concerns and I told her two things. One, his speech seems a little delayed to us. We talked about this and she asked a bunch of questions. End result is she's not concerned since Lucas hears and understands what we say (as evidenced by him handing me something I ask for or starting to follow directions), that when he babbles he uses intonations and does have a couple of words, and because he has an older brother who talks for him. The second thing I mentioned was that when Lucas walks, his right foot is not straight ahead, but kind of flared out. We had Lucas show off his walking skills (which he readily did with a smile), and she said he's fine. It's just slight and he doesn't seem to have any issues with walking. So all in all, he had a good check up and got a clean bill of health!

I'm just loving this particular stage in Lucas. He is still snuggly and I'm his go-to comfort person, but he's clearly curious and I just see him soak everything in. He is trying to put together puzzles, push cars around on the floor, and turn the pages on books (when he's not flinging them). He's getting good with a spoon (again, when he's not trying out the gravity test), drinks out of a sippy cup and is fantastic about going to sleep for the night. His room is small and gets toasty so I have a fan in it which is wonderful for white noise so masks the going-to-bed sounds that Zach makes upstairs. I find myself in that uncomfortable position of wanting him to learn and grow and try new things, with desperately wanting him to stay as a cuddly little baby. It's a selfish feeling on my part and something I struggle with with all 3 of the kids (although there are a couple of whiney periods in those years that I could do without).