15 Month Old Jellybean

My Full Blown Toddler 

15 months already? I feel like we were JUST celebrating his 12 month birthday. I try to do this monthly traits post every 3-4 months so I can capture his habits that I don't dedicate a specific blogpost to. I really hope all this effort now pays off years later when I look back and reminisce about my sweet boys. There are times now that I look at him and I'm amazed at how fast he has grown. I feel like he's getting longer by the day. Shorts that were more like crop pants on him last month actually look like shorts this month. His weight gain has steadied a bit and he hovers right around 25lbs but he sure is growing longer and longer! I look at his legs in pictures and I'm amazed that they no longer just stick out to the very edge of the seat on the stroller. While I've written about and taken a billion pictures between now and 29 March 2014, I am still baffled by the amount of growing he was able to do right before my very eyes. I have no idea how it all happened so quickly! I feel like I blinked and I went from a kid who couldn't even roll over to one that's climbing the stairs or putting my phone in the trash can whenever I'm not looking. 

Loves: Opening/Closing doors and cabinets. If I open it, he's right there to close it. If it's closed, he's trying to open it so that he CAN close it. He's not yet interested in the contents behind those closed doors, just the door themselves. 
Loves: Graham Crackers. If he could live off of graham crackers, I think he would try to. 
Other Favorite Foods: grapes, smoothies, bananas, hamburger, pizza, noodles-especially sucking up a long piece of spaghetti. It's one of his favorite table activities. 
Favorite Toys: Remote controls, his rocking horse, Abby, his slide, the stairs. Fortunately, he knows not to climb up the stairs if I'm not right there watching him, so he just sits on the bottom step, usually with a remote control in his hand. 
Walks and attempts to run but usually falls forward from the momentum. 
Loves to run out of the daycare room and down the hall when I pick him up at the end of the day. Thank goodness because my growing belly is making it harder and harder to carry him! 
Loves to copy mom and dad! He's "waving" now vs. the open and closing of his hand but it still looks funny. He'll copy faces, actions, attempts to copy our words. 
Speaking of words, can say: Dog ("da-doo"), Dad (da-da), uh-oh, Up (his all time favorite word, why did I teach him this word?!?!), More ("mo" followed by the sign for more), Hi (he says Hi to EVERYONE he passes). I feel like he's learning a new word every week. 
Words he's working on and almost has: Kitty, School, Bird, 
Loves being thrown in the air but ONLY if you make it seem like he's jumping from a flat surface. If you're carrying him and throw him in the air, it scares him. Makes sense? No, it doesn't to me either, but that's what he prefers. 
Is still EXTREMELY ticklish. 
Had his first (and my first) baby sitter about a week ago. Matt was out of town and I had a "how to do an interview" workshop in Virginia Beach. My Flight Chief's daughter (who watched my Lt's kids when they were babies and stationed together in Hawaii) watched JB. She did so great! I've never had to get a babysitter before so I was asking my friends how much I pay her and if I had to provide dinner- rookie mom right here. 
Still not sleeping through the night but when he does get up it's usually just to change positions, whine for about 10 seconds, and then goes back to bed. So, I guess that counts as sleeping through the night? Yes, he's still in bed with us. No, I can't break myself of that habit! 
First thing he says when he wakes up in the morning is "mo" to indicate he wants water, which we have readily available on the nightstand. This is followed by "up up up up up up........." 
Loves bath time, playing in the faucet, drinking out of a water fountain, the beach, the pool...anything water related. Current water activity obsession, blowing bubbles in the water. 
Loves sticking his finger in my belly button 
Nicknames: Charlie, Jellybean, Buddy, Bear Cub, Monster, "Your Son" when he upsets me and I'm talking to his dad. 

Food he doesn't like: broccoli and carrots
Still not into sitting and reading with mom despite my efforts, but he's happy to look through a book himself
Does not like being corralled unless we are in there with him. He's happy running around the house though! 
Does not like wearing socks of shoes aren't over them 
Not interested in the TV, but if you give him a remote he will mimic what he sees us do when we change the channel 
Does not like milk, but I'll keep trying! 
Not afraid of the handheld vacuum but terrified of the Roomba 
Does not like waking up alone in the bedroom in the Pack N Play. When he falls asleep at night, I put him in the Pack N Play to sleep until his first wakeup, which if he were in bed with us, he'd be able to go to sleep on his own just fine. But if he wakes up in the Pack N Play, he screams until we move him to the bed. If we aren't in the room when he wakes up, his screams for attention turn into screams of panic and he seems genuinely scared. Poor guy.