15 Months

Height: 32 inches (72nd percentile)
Weight: ~25 pounds (55th percentile)

Little Peanut had a BIG Christmas! He had so much celebrating to do and was spoiled rotten. He has been enjoying all his gifts and certainly has no shortage of things to play with. My house is so over-run with Ryan's toddler things that i'm starting to feel cramped...

Ryan wants to help Mama and Dada do *everything*, especially cooking. Tonight while i was cooking spaghetti he ran in the other room and found his little toy kitchen spoon and brought it back to help me stir the pot. He also "helps" with laundry, dishes and sweeping. And by help i mean he throws all the clean dishes and clothes on the floor. He is generally very happy and pleasant, but toddler temper tantrums are not scarce. When he gets mad or doesn't want to do something he throws his arms down by his side and tenses all his muscles (so you can't pick him up) and squeals. Last night it was because he wasn't done playing in the bathtub and this morning because he'd rather be naked than wear clothes. I'm a little worried he's going to join one of those nudist colonies.

Monkey has also discovered the joy of climbing. Yesterday he was out of my sight for less than a minute and i realized it was suddenly too quiet...he had climbed in a chair and then onto the table and was sitting in the middle of the table giggling and dumping half a salt shaker all over the place. That was yesterday. This morning we again discovered him on the table but this time he was dancing on it. I've heard several accounts of toddlers this age being picky eaters or refusing food, but we have absolutely had no problems with that yet. Ryan will eat just about anything and everything and eats every 2 hours when he's awake. For example: yesterday he had a pre-breakfast of 2 cups of milk, a whole banana and cheerios. Then for brunch he had a handful of blueberries, 5 strawberries, 2 mini-waffles with peanut butter, and a cheese omelet. He ate ALL of that in a span of about 3 hours. He's either going through a growth spurt or it's because of all the calories he burns running and climbing all the time...he doesn't seem to be gaining any more weight.

We have missed 4 weeks of Gymboree classes due to all the holidays and i feel bad that Ryan doesn't get much time around other kids. He's moving up to the 16-22 month old class next week so i hope he likes the older kids. He does seem to prefer hanging with the older crowd. He follows Lucas around like a puppy dog and tries to do whatever Lucas does. Yesterday we met Ally and Lucas for lunch and Lucas showed Ryan how to pick his nose, which of course he does all the time now. Thanks Lucas! :) We then went to the playground and Ryan tried to climb up and go down the same things as Lucas. Monkey see, monkey do? Ryan is also babbling like crazy and saying all kinds of "words" and phrases that sound like he's talking to you (rather than just baby babble) but it's all gibberish. He still has his core words: Mama, Dada, outside, bye-bye and now repeats several things such as "Bad baby" when he's done something wrong, "uh-oh" "Kroger" "a ride" "go go go" "cookie" and "macy" (which we think might be him trying to say Monkey?) He also performs for animal crackers now. As in "Throw the diaper in the trashcan and you can have a cookie" It works like a charm. :)

14 Months

Height: 31.5 inches (70th percentile)
Weight: 24.3 pounds (52nd percentile)

Toddlers are soooooo much fun. And a lot of work. Exhausting, playful, whiny, silly, defiant, loving...these are all words i would use to describe Ryan on any given day. His absolute favorite thing has to be "outside". I must have heard that word at least a hundred times today. So out we went. Peanut went shrieking (NOT streaking, but he would have loved that too) down the driveway and jumped in a pile of leaves, he was so excited! He walked to Jenn's house all by himself, with only a slight detour here and there to play with Christmas decorations. We also took him on a ride in his car and he pointed out birds and bats and cars and dogs. Interestingly enough he totally ignores all the Christmas lights, apparently birds and bats are much more interesting.

Toddlers are also messy, and this story is not for the faint of heart. The other night i had just put Ryan in the bath when....he pooped in the tub. I called for Jake to come clean it up while i wrangled a wet, naked Monkey. Jake got the tub drained and cleaned and i started filling it back up, but in the meantime Jake had tried to flush the paper towels down the toilet...and it overflowed. So while Ryan was on his second bath Jake cleaned up and disinfected the whole bathroom. That's when Ryan pooped in the tub AGAIN. I quickly pulled him out and set him on the bathmat and started draining the tub, and when i turned around he had pooped in the FLOOR! I finally got the tub cleaned out, and the third bath lasted about 5 minutes and i slapped a diaper on that butt before his feet even touched the floor. You would think this is the absolute worst poop story i could have, but it definitely is not. :P

Ryan's vocabulary is beginning to grow, and mostly by mimicking so be careful what you say. The first mimic word we heard was "Kroger", but we only heard it for one day. He now mimics "Yay!" while throwing his hands up in the air, "Uh-oh" (and we hear that one a LOT), and several others but i can't think of them right now. He has made two 'sentences': "Dada outside" and "Mama bye-bye". He says "mama bye-bye" when i leave for work and he watches out the window as i drive out of sight. Well yesterday the UPS truck visited our house and he watched it drive away. After it was completely out of sight he said "Mama bye-bye!" Peanut also loves to play chase and peek-a-boo. Running down the hall shrieking with laughter is now a common occurrence :)

The best part of having a 14 month old is that his minion training is coming along nicely. He responds to requests (Give me a kiss, pick up the book, bonk Dada on the head) and is about halfway between destructive and helpful. I think he has a touch of OCD like his Mama because he has to make sure all doors are closed, but that really comes in helpful when i need the fridge door closed since i forget to do it myself. He will stack blocks to build a tower but a second later knock it down and leave blocks scattered across the floor. He's learning to throw and kick a ball, can walk backwards, and is showing a preference of using his left hand to color (although the books say final hand preference will not appear until after the age of 2). The little monkey can climb all over the place and i'm pretty sure he's part superhero because he has some crazy superhuman strength. At the very least he could beat me at arm wrestling.

Happy Halloween!

Ryan was still getting over his croup but we were hoping a little Trick-or-Treating might cheer him up. Boy did it ever. He had SO. MUCH. FUN! We went outside for the first time in a couple of days and i handed Ryan his little bucket. He held onto it and climbed inside his car and was ready to roll. For the first house or two he just kind of watched people with curiosity, but by the third house he was getting all excited when we said "Trick-or-Treat" and he would get a treat in his bucket. He started telling everyone "bye-bye" and when we set him on the porch he would go look at the jack-o-lanterns and try to walk into people's houses when they opened the door. Milk duds made a very fun rattle and his very first lollipop perked him up big time!

13 Months

Height: 31.25 inches (75th percentile)
Weight: 23.5 pounds (48th percentile)
Head Circumference: 19.3 inches (95th percentile)
Milestones: Ryan uses gestures and points to show us what he wants and has become a pretty good little communicator that way. And he's quick to show his displeasure by crying if you won't let him have what he's pointing at. He follows commands really well. This week we've been telling him to put his dirty diaper in the trashcan after a diaper change and he'll toddle down the hall to the kitchen, open the trashcan, toss it in and peer inside to make sure it's there. He also throws away everything else just because it's fun. He will sit when told, give mommy and daddy a kiss when asked, "put on" his socks and shoes to go outside, etc. He has become much more interested in putting things into and out of buckets and he likes to play with his legos and blocks to build things, but he's just starting to get the hang of that. He really likes to color but he makes a huge mess and then eats the crayons. Peanut can now toddle-run pretty skillfully and has just begun walking backwards (which is really funny to watch!) He can walk well in shoes or barefoot and can push a toy like his little lawnmower or vaccuum cleaner while walking, although he still doesn't quite understand the steering thing.
Sounds:  My little monkey now makes more babbly word-like sounds but his vocabulary has only increased by one word. In addition to "outside" Ryan can also say "Bye-bye". He uses "Dada" consistently but seems to have forgotten how to say "Mama" (which makes me sad). He understands many more words than he can speak.
Foods: Ryan loves to immitate Mama and Dada. He finds it super-exciting to use a fork or spoon. If it's taking too long to actually get food onto the spoon he'll just pick up a piece and put it onto the spoon with his other hand, then put it in his mouth. :) He still only has 2 bottom teeth but he has FOUR top ones coming in at the moment.
Hours I Let Mommy Sleep: Monkey hasn't been napping well since he's been sick. His 2 to 3 hour naps have turned into 30-45 minute ones. And then last night was daylight savings and he decided to get up at 6am this morning. I really hope things get back to normal this week! He generally sleeps from 8 or 9pm until 8 or 9am and then takes a 1.5 to 3 hour nap at noon.
Other News:
  Ryan got his first haircut! He did much better than i was expecting and sat in my lap the whole time. We just got a little trim and it's already starting to get curly again.
  We went by Kohls the other day and Ryan saw a stuffed panda and just HAD to have it. He kept giving it hugs and kisses and that was the first time i've seen him show affection to a toy. I thought it was just a fluke but tonight when i was rocking him to sleep he pointed to his panda and wanted to hold it. Maybe he's starting to get attached to certain toys?
 Other than a slight sniffle once or twice Ryan has never been sick. Until last weekend. I had to be at work at 8am so i was gone before Jake and Ryan were awake. I got a call around 8:30am from Jake and when i answered the phone all he could say was "Help! Something's wrong with the baby!" and he had obviously been crying. This, of course, scared the crap out of me. I could tell Jake was panicking and all i could get out of him was that Ryan was having trouble breathing and to call the doctor. I immediately called our pediatrician and booked the first available appointment at 9:45am. Ryan was wheezing and struggling to get enough air so Jake rushed him down there. Even though they were almost an hour early the receptionist took one look at Ryan and had him taken to a room where the doctor came in right away. They took a reading of his oxygen level and gave him a breathing treatment of epinephrine and a dose of steroid. This calmed Ryan down significantly once he could catch his breath, but he still didn't trust the nurses and kept swatting at them. He was diagnosed with croup and we were told he'd have to go to Scottish Rite if he needed another breathing treatment, but luckily he didn't. Chandra came into work for me for a few hours so i could check on my boys and make sure they were ok and Jake's mom came to take care of them while i went back to work. I appreciate the help so much! Ryan was a very, very sick little monkey for a few days and is STILL snuffly and coughing over a week later. And of course now i have it, yuck. But Ryan is back to his smiling, mischevious little self so that's all that matters. :)