I figure it's about time I provide a detailed update on all he's learning and doing these days. I want to remember these things someday down the road!
First off, here are the stats on his growth:
15-month checkup stats:
22 lbs 15.5 oz (~26th percentile)
31 1/8 inches long (~41st percentile)
head was 18.75 inches around (~60th percentile)
12-month checkup stats:
21 lbs 3 oz (~22nd percentile)
30 inches long (~51st percentile)
head was 18.5 inches around (~64th percentile).
As you can see, my son seems to be getting smaller and smaller compared to his peers. It's weird to me, since he was in such high percentiles for the first six months of his life. I think what happened over the past three months is that all his energy went into growing his feet. I'm not kidding. The kid went up almost two shoe sizes in around two months. Before his one-year birthday, he was just growing out of 2s. (He had itty bitty feet.) Within two months, he was on the larger-side of 4s. He's still in 4s, but Dave and I are looking for replacements for some of his 4s, especially the shoes he wears to daycare, because it looks like he's going to be out of them soon. It's rather bizarre how quickly his feet grew. He's also gotten a bunch more teeth. He now has his eight front teeth and three molars. In terms of clothes, he wears 12-month shirts, 9-12 month shorts, and size 3 diapers. I keep expecting him to grow out of the size 3 diapers, but it appears that he'll still be in them for a while. I put a size 4 on him the other day and he was swimming in it.
In terms of intellectual development, he has an incredible desire to learn right now. He mimics nearly EVERYTHING he sees. Which means that Dave and I really have to watch our behavior. :) One time I yelled at one of our dogs, pointing my finger and her and saying, "NO!" Next thing I knew, Krew was marching after her, adamantly jutting his finger at her exclaiming "Dogh!" (He says "dog" with a German accent. :) ) If Dave or I push a button on one of his toys with our foot, then Krew tries to poke it with his toe, too. When he was with his cousin Brady (who is a year and a month older) this past weekend, he copied everything Brady did. If Brady started marching, Krew got behind him and started marching (in his wobbly baby way). If Brady held a ball on top of his head, Krew found a ball and held it on top of his head. If Brady tried to put on his Uncle Hal's shoes, Krew tried to put on his Uncle Hal's shoes. If Brady ran and yelled, Krew "ran" (aka walked as fast as his little legs could carry him) and yelled. I find it pretty entertaining to watch. :)
His vocabulary is increasing, also. His most recent word is water ("wawa"), and he's nearly perfected the word bubble, which truly sounds like "bubble". He shakes his head "no" and in the past week began nodding his head "yes", which is oh-so-helpful. Previously I either received a head shake "no" or a blank stare when I asked him a question. He can now point to his nose (by sticking his finger up his right nostril), his mouth, his belly button, his feet, and his shoes.
His preferences between sippy cups versus cups with straws seems to vary day by day. One day he'll only drink out of cups with straws, the next he'll only drink out of sippy cups. I have no idea what pushes him one way or the other. So we just keep a nice stash of both and learn case by case using trial and error. :) He does really well feeding himself by (baby) spoon or fork now, so a lot of times we will just lay his meal on his tray and let him go at it. That tends to result in a very long dinner and a very messy child, however, so if we're in a rush or headed somewhere later, Dave or I will still feed him the foods requiring a utensil. When we do this, however, he still demands to have his own spoon or fork and put a few bites in himself. Otherwise he gets mad and refuses to eat. Slightly annoying, but hey, I'm glad he's developing independence.
He is now climbing on EVERYTHING. He can now get on one of our couches, and I have found him trying to climb onto the arms and even over the back. We really have to keep our eyes on him. He likes to climb on coffee tables, his kids table and chairs, even his rocking chair in his room. He also has a slide that he likes to climb to the top of and stand up, no hands. (I had to move the slide into his super-cushioned play area and remove all surrounding toys. Thank goodness I did, because about 5 minutes later he fell off backwards.)
Along with all this climbing has come the ability to get down from high places, which I really really like. He can get off couches, his rocking chair, and even our bed. He just flips himself around onto his belly and slides right off.
I remember six months ago, I was so exhausted and amazed at Krew's ability to create messes everywhere he went. I felt like I couldn't keep up. Well, you know how they say the only thing certain is change. I can attest to that. Things are now much, much worse. Haha. And I'm not kidding. My house is a disaster zone. I get it cleaned up, and give the child one hour and it looks like I haven't touched the place in weeks. It is ridiculous. And so frustrating. I look back at the days before Krew and I wonder how I ever didn't have a clean house. I mean, seriously, what did I do with my time back then??
He has a great relationship with our dogs, and I'm so so thankful for it. Maggie and Rogan let him do whatever he wants...stick his hand in their food bowl while they're eating, pull their fur, climb on them, slap them, fall on them, hit them with objects (all performed during the millisecond in which I turn the other way, of course)...and they just sit there and accept it. Rogan even wags her tail most of the time. Of course they get him back by licking his face 24/7 and knocking him down about 20 times per day. It seems to be an abusive but positive relationship. :) He also enjoys giving them treats, and he's recently discovered how to open the china cabinet and give free handouts of rawhides.
His favorite toys by far are balls and bubbles. He loves to blow (well, kinda more spit) through the bubble wand, and he's developing quite the throwing arm. If I were the only parent, I probably wouldn't allow throwing in the house, but I know that athleticism is really important to Dave and so I don't argue when he actually encourages Krew to fling objects across the room. It's paying off, because he can chuck a ball quite far. I probably won't think it's so great anymore when his balls start knocking my plants and decor off the shelves and walls.
He also loves to draw on his chalkboard and go up and the down the stairs (preferably unassisted, but he needs to work on his stability before I'll be ok with that). He loves to wear the dogs' collars around his neck (he actually brings them to us, requesting that we hook them around him like a necklace), and gets incredibly excited whenever he sees a floating balloon. He will play with a balloon for hours, which is super impressive given his short attention span.
To finish up, here are a few recent pictures that I haven't shared yet. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment