Nathan is 15 months old!!!

Sweet innocent baby boy... who's not always innocent, and certainly isn't much of a baby anymore, but is definatley sweet!!!

A few comparison photos for you...

Nathan laying sideways in his crib at 1 week...

9 months (almost sideways)

Sacked out last night (15 months) with his hand behind his head and feet elevated on the crib rails.  One day this little one will learn that it's more comfie to sleep the other way in the bed!

It was pitch black in his room when I took these pictures and the flash really made a difference!   He usually sleeps on his belly or side in the corner, but tonight he was all stretched out.  Too funny!  He looks so giant laying this way. We find out on Wednesday just how giant! :)

So what is our little man up to these days at 15 months?  Tons!  This post will contain a lot of text, so bear with me and enjoy all of the details! :)

Firsts: RSV and bronchiolitis resulting in breathing treatments, fall down an entire flight of stairs, resulting in first skull x-rays, jumps, turns in a circle, first burn on two fingers from touching the wheel of the car right after we got out, first 3 syllable word (Madison)...

Swimming: Nathan is doing better in the pool, although we have a ways to go before he's as comfortable as he was last year.  The biggest difference is that he's learned he can fall into the water and he's freezing in the heated pool.  We're taking it slowly because he gets so chilled (even with a water t-shirt on), but he's doing better.  He goes under again and jumps off the side and goes under, but the confidence is not there.  Then again, maybe that's a wonderful thing since he's mobile this year!  We'll work on it!

Food: Baby food is a thing of the past for this little man.  Occasionally, I give him baby food veggies simply because I have them in the cabinet and am trying to use them up.  He has tried some new foods this month: ribs, almond butter, peanut butter, and a few chocolate chips in a seldom offered chocolate chip cookie bite.  He has learned to love hummus sandwiches and PB&J's cut with cookie cutters into gingerbread men or trains.  He likes peanut butter and almond butter and seems to have no allergy to nuts.  His favorite foods right now are craisins, raspberries, blueberries, avocado, pretzels, and yogurt.  He will finally eat a whole piece of string cheese too - while we're in the shopping cart at the grocery store.  Too funny.  He's not into veges very much but will eat carrots on occasion.  We've started offering a wider variety of fruit and supplementing with freeze dried veggies and veggie juices like naked juice green machine.  I also hide them in other foods, like this made by my friend Kendra.  NATHAN LOVES IT!!! We're doing self feeding with a spoon occasionally but it's SOOOO messy!  He really wants to do it, so sometimes we just let him go to it.  It's funny to watch!  He still won't eat pasta, peas, or green beans no matter what you do to them, and he's not a fan of spicy foods.  He's also lost the love for fish, but it's easy to hide that in other foods as well, I just don't do it often enough.  He still drinks between 12-18 ounces of milk too.

Growth: We'll get the actual stats on Wednesday, but I'm guessing he's around 31 inches tall and about 24.8 pounds.  Anyone else care to guess?  I'll post the actual figures on Wednesday.  He was getting a bad rash on his butt bones and we finally realized it was from sitting on the extra diaper folded under him (thanks for the hint Kristin) so, we've gone back to size 3 diapers during the day and 5's at night (because of the absorbency).  The 3's are perfect in size and length during the day.  We had him remeasured at a different stride rite and he's a 5.5 W in shoe.  He's wearing mostly 24 month tops and 12-18 month pants.  His shoulders are long and his torso is long as well.  His arms are also really long.  Hopefully his legs will catch up and he'll get taller too!  He can wear some 12 month pants still and sometimes , if they can be rolled up, a pair of 24 month pants, but usually the 12-18s are perfect.  We tried his summer clothes from this past summer on him and all of the shorts fit!  They are 12 and 18 months.  The shirts were too small in the length and breadth and the one piece play outfits are definitely too short, but we're thankful to get to use the shorts 2 summers in a row!

Signs: Nathan knows so many signs!  He actually taught himself three signs that we've never worked on.  I think he learned two of them from a signing video he watched a ton while he was getting breathing treatments.  He can sign baby and dirty.  Here's a pic of him signing baby.  Too cute.  He tries to cradle his arms, which really looks like he's grabbing his stomach, and he sways back and forth and grins a huge toothy grin.

He also learned how to say "where is it?" or maybe it's "i don't know".  I think it's "i don't know".  His buddy Colton throws his arms up into the air to say "i don't know" and his mommy always says, "i don't know".  I think Nathan picked this up from them.  He did it for the first time this afternoon while looking for a car.  Here are a few pics.  

It's amazing to me that he's teaching himself these things.  I am amazed at how this little guy's brain is constantly working! The signs and gestures have been a godsend!  They have really helped to jump start his spoken language as well.  It's great because it helps him communicate without getting frustrated.  Here's a video of some of his signs although it is not inclusive of all of them.

 

Words he says: Nathan is really taking off with language.  He'll try to say just about anything and everyday it seems he learns a new word.  He says:  uh oh, nana, nih-nee (sydney), lu (luke), puh up), buh (help), doggie (I'm still doggie), Sadie, daddy, all done, ba-oon (balloon), bubble, nih-nih (night night), gee-ga (Ginga), diaper, nenene (cereal), nuh (milk), duwtee (dirty), no no, kee-ka (kitty cat), ya ya (ShaSha), Papa, Nana, apple, ball, mama, nope  (too cute), mad-a-ma (Madison), ah-wlll (waffle), no-ya (yogurt), a-ree (Zachary), up pea (up please), a-men, on, off, and out.

Language: Nathan is talking constantly and jibber-jabbers almost constantly while at play.  It's so cute and he acts like he is really saying something.  He talks to us so much more as well.  He seems to be less frustrated and more easily able to say what he wants and that's wonderful.  He will readily sign to anyone, although he doesn't talk to strangers or people he doesn't often see.

Socialization: Nathan continues to be incredibly social.  He loves to play with his friends and is eager to interact with anything living, including our dog.  He talks and waves and signs to anyone who will listen and at the grocery store, he's a ham in the cart.  He blows a thousand kisses to everyone and is quick to loudly exclaim BAHOOOOON every time we pass a balloon.  He's beginning to play more with friends instead of just beside them.  He is slower to warm up to new people these days, although he is by no means shy.  He is growing more and more loving with us and his friends and it's great to see him loving on other people.  I love his innocence and the way he trusts that people are good.  It reminds me to trust the Lord with "child like" faith.

Games/Play: Nathan loves to learn and seems to have a huge drive for knowledge.  He wants to know what everything is called and he will grunt and point incessantly until you tell him what something is.  If he sees something he recognizes, he'll point it out or name it until you acknowledge him.  He loves to be challenged as well.  Nathan still loves to be chased, tickled, thrown up into the air, and flipped around.  He is in constant motion unless sleeping and it's no wonder he eats so much.  How else can he fuel his active body?   He also loves to push the tent over from the inside and fall to the ground with it.  He loves to do forward rolls and jump.  He's starting to enjoy puzzles much more and can do all of the shapes in his shape sorter (although sometimes he needs you to tell him which hole).  He can also match items with one to one correspondence such as the kitty cat puzzle piece to the picture of the kitty cat in the puzzle.  He loves to throw Bailey's ball for her.  His new favorite is so funny.  If you ask Nathan from anywhere in the house to "get Bailey a treat", he gets really excited.  He'll make his way to the kitchen (with help going down the stairs), open the pantry, squat at the treat container and get one or two or three, and then take them to Bailey, possibly snacking on one himself if no one is watching.  Here's a video of this daily occurrence (minus my kiddo eating a dog bone).

He loves to sing songs and do the hand motions as well as play peek a boo with giant blankets.  He has a new slide and he loves to climb up and slide down.  Nathan also loves to find our belly buttons and tickle our tummy!  He loves anything musical and is also a big fan of drawing these days.  Almost daily, he'll get out the magna doodle and draw an "o" or three hundred.  We're working on "t" as well.

He loves to play with his daddy.  Chad can get him to laugh more than anyone.  They wrestle, chase, watch the news, play in his tent and tunnel (pictured below is Chad inside the tunnel), Chad teaches him how to do all kinds of things, and mainly they just feed off of one another in the giddiness department.  It's absolutely precious, as a mom, to watch your husband and your son together.  

He has a new tent and tunnel and he loves to run into it and wait for you to get him. 

He also loves to climb into things like Sadie's crate. (i'm not sure why he has a fork while in the crate though)

Today, I moved Sadie into a bigger crate, but before I could get it set up, guess who was in it?  Yep, Nathan. 

What can I say, he loves his puppies, and their beds.

and their toys!

He loves to be in things, like this tunnel that he sat in for several minutes just drawing on the magna doodle and singing to himself, looking cute as ever; I digress... He loves to be in this tunnel...

as well as the laundry basket, the canvas bins that hold his toys, a wagon, his chair, the dog's crate, and the newest one?  I found him in here this afternoon.   He must have crawled in while I was putting up laundry.  While he played in there with one of the leveling bolts (for 15 solid minutes), I put a lock on the other one which now holds my cleaning supplies!

Movement: Nathan walks everywhere.  He's learned to jump and roll and does those quite often too.  He also loves to climb and slide.  His new place to hang out is under the chairs at our house.  He likes to climb between the four bars at the bottom and just sit there.  for about 2 seconds.  maybe less.  He is doing great in gymnastics and is learning to do monkey jumps (cartwheels) and donkey kicks (handstands).  He can and will open every door in our house but like to shut them just as much.  He's known for shutting himself in bathrooms and closets (of course under supervision) and shutting us out of rooms too.  He likes to push things (cars, boxes, chairs, lawn mowers), and enjoys clapping for himself when he's done a good job.    

Paci - no change there - nap time and bedtime.

Temperament: Excellent listener, eager to communicate, very active and curious, into everything.  He is also incredibly determined and easily frustrated when things don't go his way.  Amazingly as quickly as he escalates, he de-escalates.  In the car if he's fussing because he's thrown all of his toys on the floor - on purpose- and is just mad about being confined, Chad can look at him via the rear view mirror and ask him to calm down and he will.  If Chad says, "no fussing" he stops.  I thought this was only a daddy thing, until I tried it this afternoon and low and behold it worked!  Of course this wouldn't be fair when he actually needed something, so we don't do it everytime he cries, only when he's pitching a fit about something that's not going to change.  Nathan watches everything around him.  He soaks up things you wouldn't imagine he'd pick up.  He's very observant and doesn't miss a thing.  He's so fun to sit back and watch.  He is eager to give affection to those he knows and will do it without being asked.  It's so sweet to feel his arms around my neck giving me a hug or hear his precious kisses!  

Teeth: Nathan has all 16 of his baby teeth.  The last two canines popped up through the gum line this weekend.  He will get 4 more molars between 24-36 months, but hopefully not until then.  He has a mouth full of teeth compared to all of his friends!  It's kinda funny, but I'm thankful that the teething days will cease for a while!

Sleep:  Nathan's sleep patterns vary.  A typical day looks like this: up at 730am, nap from 10-1230 (sometimes 930-1230) up until 330 and then in the bed resting from 330-5/530.  Sometimes he plays, sometimes he sleeps.  I don't have a preference as long as he's in his crib and resting. :)  He goes to bed at 730.  On days when we have church or mid morning playdates, he takes a 3-4 hour nap right after lunch, but is SOOOO cranky by dinner unless he gets some room time by himself.  He loves his bed and often when you go in to get him, he's not ready to get up and will stay in the bed. :)  When we do go in to get him, it usually goes like this...  turn your volume up and be prepared to laugh!

When Nathan was about 8 weeks old, we noticed one side of his head was getting flat.  I've known kids who had to wear "helmets" to help reshape their skulls and I wanted to talk to the doc about this if it was the case for Nathan.  Hey sent some folks out to do an assessment and he qualified for PT services.  By the time PT finally came out, he was 4 months old and was doing much better, but they noticed that his right side was a bit behind his left.  So we continued PT until Nathan was 10 months old.  Everything the PT worked on, he mastered, lickety split.  We realized that his gross motor skills no longer needed any help and he was beyond his peers in many areas.  Then, the PT recommended OT to help with some fine motor "delays" that she noticed as well as some feeding issues (at 9 months, Nathan still couldn't hold a cup and tip it up by himself and wouldn't do many 2 handed tasks or hold two items, one in each hand).  After 2 weeks of OT, all of those issues were mastered.  Around a year, we doscontinued OT.  This past week, a psychologist came out to do an assessment of Nathan to see how he was doing in terms of cognitive and motor development as well as temperment.  He used the baylee scale of infant development.  When he'd finished all of his tests, what he told me astounded me.  I had no clue that what I saw as a huge propensity to learn was in fact noteworthy!  He told me many things about how to parent this little guy and feed his hunger for knowledge at an age appropriate level.  He agreed that Nathan would at times be frustrated because he lacks (like most all kids this age) the neuromuscular coordination in his vocal cords to make all the letter sounds, and thus he can't say everything he wants to.  He encouraged Nathan's signing and possibly to use picture cards for things he doesn't have the dexterity to sign or speak.  He told me that in those three realms (cognitively, behaviorally, and motor wise) Nathan functions as a 22 month old.  I was astounded, humbled, and challenged.  I was challenged mainly, to learn how best to parent a kiddo like mine and to remember that he is my son, in whom I am well pleased, regardless of what he does.  It reminded me to constantly think, am I loving him for who he is or what he does?  I must love him for who he is!  That's how the Lord loves us, and that's how we should love our kiddos and each other.  That's my mission for right now... to love my little boy the way that Jesus loves me, and in the process learn more about how Jesus loves me.