Happy belated half-birthday to little James! Life hats been really fun lately, largely due to James' growing personality and sense of humor. He is definitely my favorite little dude and I'm so grateful to be his mama and that he joined our family 18 months ago!
Stats from our visit with Dr. Zimmerman:
Weight 21 lbs. 2 oz (15th* percentile)
Height 30 inches (3rd percentile)
Head 48 cm (68th percentile)
*Her practice just switched to using the WHO growth charts rather than the CDC growth charts, and she said it is a better indicator of whether or not your kid is truly small. At 15 months, James was at the 3rd percentile for weight according to CDC (comparison against other kids in America), but on the WHO chart would have been at 15th percentile (comparison against other kids in the world at large). She said she actually prefers the WHO chart since obesity is such an issue in America, and that she doesn't want her kids to "strive" to be average (50th percentile) on that chart.
Loves
- Playing outside (his very favorite - even just sitting outside on the front porch steps makes him happy)
- Reading books (both on his own and being read to)
- Animals (especially dogs, but all kinds)
- Fruit! (especially strawberries and grapes, but all kinds)
- Collecting pine cones and other souvenirs from our regular walks
- Playing in the water (backyard pool or the big neighborhood pool... or even just bath time)
- Listening to music (favorite: Ellie Holcomb,
Magnolia EP)
- Pointing out body parts on himself and everyone else
- Playing on the playground (we've visited lots, and he loves them all - especially slides and climbing)
- Pretending everything (including food) is a hat or a telephone
Hates
- Diaper changes
- Bedtime lotion (nothing new there...)
- Eating meat
- Not getting his way when he has decided he really wants to do something (like going outside despite it raining or being bedtime)
New words
- Gate "Gay" (putting the baby gate up at the bottom of the stairs)
- Quack "kwa" (duck sound!)
- Down "dow"
- Hello "lu lu"
- Car "kaaaaaah"
- Jill "Jeh" (one of our dearest friends)
- Mema "mama *clicks tongue*" (not sure where this came from, but it is distinctly his name for my mom!)
- Cheers "che" (clinking cups together)
Probably more, because he is talking to me intentionally all the time, but it is so hard to decipher!
Skills
Running! Really more like a trot-waddle, but he is getting fast and falling down less.
Eating with a spoon - we've been practicing, and he now can put liquidy foods (like yogurt) into his mouth without turning the spoon upside down en route and getting it all over his shirt.
Drinking from an open cup - getting better, but still spills ~50% of the time. Overwhelmingly prefers drinking from an open cup, but he usually gets his closed straw cup out of convenience. Need to practice more...
Climbing, but only a little. Not onto furniture yet, only onto low boxes and things like the printer sitting on the floor :)
Pointing to all kinds of things when we ask "where is..." while reading or in real life (animals, objects, people, etc.)
Accurately points out eye, ear, nose, mouth, tongue, teeth, hair, belly, leg, arm, toes, fingers and belly button (his favorite). He enjoys pointing out these characteristics on other people, too. He also is starting to point to my belly when someone asks where the baby is! Though sometimes he points to his own belly. :)
Cloth diapers
We recently were blessed by our friends with a bunch of new cloth diapers in anticipation of our new babe arriving in August. This brings our stash to 41! I finally prepped all the new ones, so now James is exclusively in BumGenius (our favorite and most reliable as far as not leaking and whatnot). We've double stuffed with two inserts during the day for higher volume absorbency and are working on an overnight solution... Our hemp inserts for overnight have maxed out in absorbency over the past 6 months (no leaks in the morning, but his skin feels wet and gets irritated). Considering some wool covers instead of the pocket diaper to see if that helps with overnight dryness. Otherwise we'll have to go to disposables overnight (which I would love to avoid and not have to buy for the next 18 months... Can you tell I'm not optimistic about potty training a boy??).
Behavior/Discipline
James is beginning to throw more tantrums, though often we can dissipate it quickly if he is simply frustrated over a toy or something by reminding him to ask for "help" (doing the sign). Other times he gets mad because we won't let him do something like play with a phone or go outside at a particular time, and at these moments we try to validate his feelings by labeling and validating the emotion he's feeling ("It seems you're feeling mad/sad/frustrated") and telling him it's ok to feel that way, but we do not act that way. Then we walk away and ignore him completely until he decides he is finished with his tantrum. This was his pediatrician's recommendation, so we're trying to be consistent with it to minimize his negative attention-seeking behaviors!
Otherwise, when he flat out disobeys after bein told "no" (which he totally comprehends now for sure), we do spank his little hand and remind him that he must obey. Often times now I can remind him that he "must obey" before spanking, and he stops doing whatever it is.
Sleep
We have successfully transitioned to one nap. He usually goes down at 12:30pm and sleeps 2-3 hours. Rarely he will wake a little earlier and be grumpy, but overall I think he has figured it out. He doesn't usually fall asleep in the car or stroller mid-morning anymore. And we're experimenting with a later bedtime. This past week he has gone down at 7:15pm (instead of 7pm) and seems to sleep better in the morning (only had one 5am wake up, and 7am most mornings, rather than 5-6am most mornings). We'll keep trying and see if he wants to go down even later (like 7:30pm). Stuart is hesitant to let him stay up much later because we love our adult time after he goes to bed :)!
We love our littlest, sweetest dude to the moon and back!
