Baby Paul: 15 Months

"Baby" Paul turned 15 months last Saturday. The days can be long but the weeks and months sure fly by. Each month just gets better and better. There are definitely challenges in his current stage but overall I really love the stage he's in. He's definitely a toddler but I still call him baby Paul - maybe I always will?

Firsts:

- We went on our first family vacation in April, which included a plane ride. Overall he traveled pretty well but I think we'll really limit plane travel until he's a bit older, with the exception of going on a warm weather getaway at the end of each winter. It's just so much work to travel with a young child. The change of scenery was very nice, we enjoyed our time in Florida, and I could see us going back to that region. But besides that one trip/year, I think we'll stick to trips to my parents lake home until he's a bit older. Traveling with a young child is one of those 'you do you' things as I know many people who still travel a ton with their child (one of my mom group friends went on a European vacation during her maternity leave and to Australia this spring!). But for us I don't know that it's worth the money we would spend on plane tickets!

 - He had his first taste of ice cream and loved it. We don't intend to give him sweets very often but I think it's ok to let kids have sweets occasionally. This is another 'you do you' kind of thing!

- one first he hasn't achieved yet is walking. As I've mentioned before, he just doesn't want to work on this skill. He has stood on his own for 1-2 seconds but sits down once he realizes he is sitting. It kind of frustrates me that he isn't walking yet as it feels like something he "should" be doing but I try to remind myself that every baby does things at their own pace! I feel better after his 15-month appointment, though. His doctor said that kids with large heads (Paul's is 98th percentile!) tend to walk around 16-18 months because they have a lot more weight to balance. This makes total sense as he also sat up late (8.5 months).

Words: He says "nah nah nah" for no. At daycare, they don't use the word "no" to redirect behavior. Instead they say "ah ah ah." We've been told they only use no in response to a question - I don't know if that is a Latin thing? He also says "uh oh" (usually after intentionally dropping something - ha!), dada, hola, agua, bye, and cracker. He's started to say "ma ma ma" for more - I don't know if that's a combination of the English word, more, and mas, the Spanish word for more? He doesn't really say mama, though. He has just started to say dada so hopefully he figures out mama soon! He also does a lot of unintelligible babbling which is pretty cute!


Growth: Paul had a huge growth spurt between 12 to 15 months! He gained over 3 pounds and now weighs 21.25 pounds and is 26th percentile for weight! He had been around 4th percentile since his early infancy so that was a HUGE increase! This further supports my thesis that I made "skim milk." I thought that all along as pumping didn't do much in the weight loss department and Paul did not gain very much weight despite drinking more breast milk than the average baby. Who knows if my theory is correct but I am very happy to see that he's gaining weight more steadily and is a little bit chubbier!

Loves:
- playing with his scooter - he has one at our house and one at Grandma Joan's.

- stroller walks. We go on one daily, weather-permitting, and often 2 on weekend days.

- waiting for daddy at the front door on the days when we get home before Phil. He gets really excited when he sees him - it's so cute!

- cheersing! He loves doing this whenever he has his milk or water glass in hand.

- eating out! He does so well in restaurants. We are enjoying this stage while it lasts!

Eating: He eats almost everything at school except fruit. This kid does not like fruit, besides bananas, which I think is odd/not typical! He's still pickier at home than I would like him to be but hopefully he grows out of this eventually? We keep offering him things over and over in the hopes he'll eventually like them. Besides meatballs, he does not seem to like meat. We've tried giving him ham, pieces of a hamburger and shredded chicken and he spits them out. We found that he will eat "veggie tots" (pureed veggies coated with breading, kind of like a tater tot). He gobbles them up. I wish he would eat vegetables in an unprocessed form but we have to take what we can get at this point. His favorite foods are banana pancakes with peanut butter, club crackers and graham crackers.

Enjoying some banana bread

Can't I eat my veggie tots without you taking a picture?

Dislikes:

- Grass! It freaks him out so much. He dislikes it so much that he will stay on a blanket. It's like a little baby jail for him. Ha.

Playing in baby jail

What is this crap??

I'm excited to introduce him to lake like this summer! We were there quite a bit last summer but he was too young to enjoy the sand and water. I'm hoping he loves playing on the beach, going for boat rides, and playing in the water! We have our first lake trip next week and I'm so excited for the mini getaway and time with my parents!

I'm also looking forward to taking him to splash pads (once he's walking) and kiddie pools. We are also planning on getting a small kiddie pool for our backyard. I think it's going to be a great summer!