15 months!

Someone replaced my baby with a little boy!

He is a super sweet little boy, so I shouldn't complain : ) Here are some random bits about my kiddo after one and a quarter years:

• He loves to give hugs. This positively melts my heart. He hugs me, Jonathan, his stuffed animals, his blocks, the furniture, the cat (or tries to), and his friends. Earlier this week, he hugged one of his friends who is a bit smaller than he is...and he knocked her on the floor : ( She recovered quickly, thankfully. I get a hug when I pick Jon up in the morning, when I change his diapers, when we sit next to one another on the couch, while I'm doing the dishes, while I'm working at my desk...pretty much all the time. He really is a sweetie.
• He loves to read. Jon has started to 'read' on his own, i.e. opening his books and babbling, then turning the page and babbling some more. He is actually behind in his language skills - should have 6 distinct words and he pretty much calls everything 'dada' but with different inflection. The dr. said we'll just see how he is at 18 months go from there. I came home from his check up yesterday wanting to buy flashcards and start drilling him on words. Jonathan says we should probably just keep talking to him, reading to him, and correcting him when he calls everything 'dada.' Jonathan is probably right.
  
• He can now point to his belly button when you ask him to.
  
• He loves emptying the dishwasher. He's actually quite good at it, and I have started waiting until he's up and about to unload it because he has so much fun handing me the dishes and flatware. Jon has actually become so good at unlocking, opening, and climbing on the dishwasher door...that we have purchased a baby gate to keep him out of the kitchen when he is not supervised.
• He is on a vegetable strike again, unless said veggies are pureed. Step back unfortunately, but I am willing to puree his peas and carrots to get him to eat them. Mealtime has become a bit messier, because although the veggies are now mush, he insists on self feeding. Still not a fan of meat, so we're going to have to put him on a multivitamin to make sure he's getting enough iron and B12 and all that fun stuff. He is eating sandwiches, quesadillas, mac n' cheese, pizza, and other 'big kid' food. He wants to eat his sandwiches and pizza like a big person, no more little squares. I think that if I gave him only fruit at all of his meals, he would love me forever.
• We continue to add to our rock collection every day. Jon loves playing in the dirt, chewing on sticks, and picking up rocks. He inadvertently squeezed a caterpillar the other day : (
• He has started saying "Dah!" after we pray...kind of his Amen? See above note about slow language. It is pretty sweet, though.
• We watch one episode of Sesame Street every day. I told you I was going to be one of those moms who didn't let her kids watch tv until they were 4 or 5. I am actually a real mom, so Jon watches Sesame Street while I get work done. Thanks to our small apartment, I am getting work done in the same room as he is watching Elmo and Big Bird, so I can still interact with him. Before we got the baby gate for the kitchen, Sesame Street was the only way I could redirect Jon from wanting to empty the dishwasher of its dirty dishes.
• He is down to one nap a day. I still put him in his crib for a little while in the afternoon for 'rest time.' He will lay down, sing to himself, and play with his toys. This also allows me to take a shower if I didn't get one earlier in the day, clean up a bit, or do some work uninterrupted. He always seems super happy, so hopefully this is not child abuse.
• His 15 month stats are:

33.5 inches (97%)
29 lbs, 4 oz (95%)
20.25 in head circumferance (off the charts, >100%)
This last stat was not helpful when I was trying to buy a sun hat for him earlier today....

That was probably more than you wanted to know, but I wanted to share anyway! Although we are now starting to deal with disobedience, temper tantrums, and some terrible twos possibly coming early, Jon is a super sweet, loving, and generally obedient child. He truly is a gift from God, and I am so glad I have him : )

Here he is showing you what he does most of the day - run around!