15 Months Old

Since today we had a 15 month check-up, I figured I would update like I used to on his monthly birthdays.  Nicholas is now 33 inches long and weighs 22 1/2 pounds (the 95th and 25th percentiles).  He did really well at his check-up, even with having to get three shots.  Dr. Whitaker said everything looked great and said he will see us again around 22-24 months (and in October for him to get a flu shot).  One thing to hopefully get his weight up is to decrease the amount of juice we give him as Dr. Whitaker says that is an appetite suppressant.   

Speech:  Nicholas' vocabulary includes: bye-bye, ball, dog, cracker, cookie, juice, night-night, and bubble.  Granted there is usually a letter or two missing from some of these (i.e. cracker sounds more like cackuh), but we know what he's talking about.  Other than that, he "talks" non-stop.  It is the funniest thing!  We can tell that his little brain is hard at work.  When I read him his bedtime story (lately The Very Busy Spider) he will say the noises some of the animals make when I turn to the page, but before I can even say what the animal is.  We love watching him learn. 

Activity:  He is walking much faster than mommy and daddy would prefer sometimes, but you know - Places to go, people to see...  His favorite toys are his lawn mower that he pushes and pulls everywhere, blocks, balls, etc.  Nicholas does try to test the waters of the unknown/unapproved, which has landed him a few spankings.  I would say all-in-all he is a really good kid (in my totally unbiased opinion).  Nicholas does have quite the attachment to his blanket.  We try to keep it in his crib, but he is quick to walk in there and reach through those crib slats to pull it out.  He is most content when he has that blanket and is sucking on his fingers (upside-down still).   

Sleep:  Nicholas stills sleeps great (although he has had a few nights recently of interrupted sleep that I suspect is partially due to some teeth coming in).  His naps during the day aren't always at the same time, but he is still getting two good naps for a total of 2.5-3 hours.  Bedtime is around 8pm and he usually wakes up around 7am. 

Nutrition:  It seems like his appetite has gone down a little recently, but as I mentioned earlier, hopefully a decrease in juice consumption will help with this.  For the most part, he will eat what we feed him, but his favorites are bananas, raisins, yogurt, grapes, graham cracker goldfish, etc.  Since getting several molars in over the past month, he will be ready for a steak before we know it!  

Finally, as you can see from the pictures below, he loves trying to put toys or even sippy cups in other toys.