Evan's 15 month update

Firsts
-trip to pumpkin patch
-intentional TV watching--especially his Baby Signs DVD
-first use of spoon to feed himself
-first black eye :( (from a fall during his rough weekend)
-first stomach bug (and associated night of vomiting) :(

Showing off his shiner, while also being naughty (caught in the act of pushing the playstation button!)

Likes: snacks, dancing, books, Baby Signs DVD, riding "horsey", playing chase/hide/chase, walks, play room time, the swivel sweeper (we use it to clean up after his meals and now he likes to do it for us), remote controls (and uses them now too) and phones (also puts them to his ear and talks now).

Evan loves to carry around his snack catcher bowl of cheerios, puffs, etc.

What a good helper!

Dislikes: diaper changes, being told no, having his face wiped off, us holding his hand while we walk with him, the new play room at daycare (apparently he cries when she takes him down to it!?)

Growth and Development

We go in for Evan's 15-month check up tomorrow, so we'll get new measurements then.  Otherwise, he's got a new (7th) tooth on bottom right.  He's also constantly chewing on his fingers and drooling, so maybe his molars aren't far off either?  Mid-month we moved him up to size 4 pampers for his disposable diapers.  He's still in 18 month clothes otherwise.

Evan is still developing his sophisticated babbling skills.  It is so adorable to get him into a "conversation".  His new words this past month (that I can remember) are: ball (baow), poo poo, bunny (for his plush Easter bunny), night night time (nigh nigh tah), play room (pah poo), zoo (from his book called "Dear Zoo"), and naughty (nah tee).  He's also got some words evolving: 'mup' is now how he often says 'milk' instead of 'bup', and he's working on 'L' and 'BR' sounds (bread, all done).  He also signs thank you sometimes, though it looks an awful lot like he's blowing kisses.  I think he knows the difference because he'll do it when I ask him to say thank you, as well as when we're blowing kisses.  He loves to make sounds and he can tell you what sound the lion (roar), Tassie devil (roar), kookaburra ("kook kook kook"), monkey ("ah ah ah"), and puppy dog ("ha aha aha" panting sound) make, along with chicken and kitty cat (sounds from previous months).  We've started having to spell out a few words too, otherwise when he hears them he wants them: bedtime (yes, he does still walk to the bottom of the stairs saying nigh nigh tah when he hears us say bedtime), play room, walk, cookie, bottle, milk...

Evan's walking has quickly turned into a form of toddler running.  He is just so fast, especially when he really wants to get something (or get away from something...like me)!  Evan has also started pointing with his index finger to things in books.  He also loves to stick his hands in my mouth.  I don't know if he's curious and exploring my teeth, tongue, etc, or if it's just become a silly game, but I'm guessing that I'll start to get sick more often if I let him put his little hands in there too much because who knows where they've been!  Sadly, Evan's also started hitting and biting.  He's been biting when he gets frustrated for awhile now (maybe more than the past month), but the hitting really picked up in the past couple weeks.  And to my dismay, he seems to just hit me (after I've picked him up).  I have no idea what to do to curb that, but it's gotta stop soon...it hurts!  On that note, tantrums continue, but we have good days as well as the not-so-good days.

Our little Denver Broncos fan

Trying on Daddy's shoes

Mealtime

Evan's eating habits and schedule are pretty much the same as last month, although I feel like he's getting more picky.  He got to have hot dogs for the first time this month, and of course he liked them.  He doesn't seem to like stewed/shredded beef (so he veto'd the beef stew I'd made thinking he could enjoy it with us), he also still doesn't want to eat vegetables unless they're pureed in his pouches.  The only exception is he'll occasionally eat kernels of corn.

During this past month he started grabbing at the spoon while we fed him, and thus we figured he could try feeding himself, which he does fairly well.  He can't use the spoon to pick up food, but if we load it up for him, he'll bring it to his mouth.  He does this primarily with his left hand, by the way.  We thought it may be because we feed him with our right hand, thus he grabs the spoon from us with his left.  So we bought him shorter spoons that are better for self-feeding and let him pick it up with whichever hand he wants. (Note: I have no preference for which hand he uses, but I'm curious how this preference develops for people. Given that most are right-handed, I'm even more curious to learn how left-handed skills develop.)  He typically picks up the spoon with his right, but then passes it to his left hand to use it.  Maybe we have a lefty on our hands, or even an ambidextrous kid?

Check out a video of Evan using his spoon!

Sleeptime

Same as last month up until this past weekend, when he got tummy sick for the first time.  Evan's vomiting around the clock really disrupted the perfect schedule that he had been on.  We were worried how the end of daylight savings time this past weekend would affect his schedule, but the stomach bug trumped that big time.  So, we're in a bit of a transition as to what Evan's new schedule will be after his tummy settles.

Sporting his new winter vest, hat and mittens (and his black eye)

Snuggling with Daddy after having given Daddy lots of new Broncos gear for his birthday

Playtime

Evan tends to like destruction and making messes more than cleaning up and constructing things so far.  Examples: I stack his cups, he takes them apart and throws them across the floor, or I put his wooden puzzle pieces back in the puzzle and he takes them out and scatters them everywhere.  Same with mega blocks and his stacking rings (although he does occasionally stack the latter on the pole, but they always end up scattered about the floor in the end).  Occasionally, toward the end of this month, I've caught him putting things back together (including he's attempting to stack his mega blocks), but it doesn't last long and usually still ends up apart all over the floor.

He still loves books, and has stuck to most of his favorites from last month, plus lately he's really into "Goodnight Moon" and his touch and feel kitten book.  I recently started asking him what each of the animals in "If you're happy and you know it: Aussie Edition" do, instead of reading the story to tell him, and he knows most of them (i.e he bounces on my lap for the wallaby, and plays with his hair for echidna, and laughs for kookaburra).

Evan really got into his plush toys this month, such as his "silly monkey" lovey and his big fluffy Easter bunny in particular.  He carries them around and gives them lots of snuggles.  Maybe it's a sign of the beginning of his separation anxiety/attachment period?  He loves to play chase/hide/chase with us; we hide and let him come find us.  Then he likes us to chase him back into the living room to a piece of furniture he treats as if it's home base.  He giggles and we wrestle and tickle him, and he giggles some more.  He also likes to ride the "horsey" on my lap, in which I bounce him on my knees while humming William Tell Overture.

And while we had really limited his TV exposure prior to now, he's suddenly become hooked on the TV.  His Baby Signs DVD was what really did it at first, but now he's even grown attached to one of his Baby Einstein DVDs.  He asks for us to play them multiple times per day.  While I want to still limit his TV time, it worked out well during his stomach illness that we could snuggle on the couch and rest, while watching educational DVDs together.

There is something pretty cute about a little one sitting and watching the TV so attentively.