15 months old!

I don't even want to say how late I am with this monthly update! Blame it on vacation, but I'm now almost three weeks late! Yikes. So better late than never, Parker is now 15 months old!


I'm going to do my best at writing this as he was three weeks ago, and not so much now...but it is changing so much so fast.

At 15 months Parker is/was:

• Talking so much! I started a list of words at the first of the month, thinking I'd get about 20 words that he says. It actually turned out to be more like 30. The doctor was impressed with his vocabulary. He says "Hi!" whenever he sees a stranger (and keeps saying it until they acknowledge him!). Other words he says include: banana, up, down, snack, cup, Momma, Daddy, blueberry, fish, car, tractor, truck, balloon, bowl, boat, toothbrush, duck, dog, hat and many other words. Granted, many of them you might not recognize, but I know most of them and he definitely has his own word for each of these things. He also knows the sounds made by animals like a cat, dog, lion, snake, bird and cow.
  
• Not quite walking or taking real steps, but cruising like a champ! (Of course now he is walking more, but on Aug. 2 he was not!).
• A good eater, but not when it comes to vegetables. He really loves dairy products like yogurt and cheese, but he is not very fond of milk. He won't eat any veggies except for sweet potato fries (and mashed potatoes). Everything else (carrots, peas, beans, broccoli) he will put in his mouth and then say "Uck!" and spit it out.
• Independent at some things. He gets mad sometimes if I'm feeding him with a spoon and I won't let him do it for himself. Unfortunately he needs a bit more practice, but I'm trying to not stress so much about the mess he makes and just let him keep trying so he can learn.
• So much bigger, it seems. He really seems to be filling out more and more and getting taller.
• NOT A GIRL. We still constantly hear what a "beautiful girl" he is. I'm sure if I dressed him in a t-shirt and shorts and cut his hair short we'd stop hearing this, but I'm not going to do that.
• A mommy's boy. He loves seeing his Daddy, especially when he's been away, and he frequently calls out "DADDY!" if he sees a man across the way or something, but if he is tired or cranky, he wants his Mommy. He will happily curl up with me and suck his thumb and twirl his hair and be completely content.
• A big fan of his brother. In the picture above, he was smiling because Thomas walked in the room. Otherwise, he was not in the mood to smile for me that day. I still can't figure out what he calls Thomas, or if he has a word for him, but I think he often refers to him as "Bah-ba."
• Still a great sleeper/napper. Most of the time when I put him down he gladly goes into his crib and says "night-night" to me right before he lays down on his belly and quietly goes to sleep. Seeing how I still have to go in and tend to Thomas in the middle of the night far more often than I would like, I'm so happy Parker is much more self-reliant when it comes to getting to and staying asleep!

The pictures for this month were not great. He was tired on the two times I tried to get some pics, but I got a few that were okay. He is just not one to pose for the camera. Though he will pick up the camera and hold it up to his face (like he is taking a picture) and say "Cheese!"

This is his "cheese" face:


And this is his "I'm tired" pose. He sucks his right thumb while twirling his curls with his left hand:


He will always smile when he sees his brother:


And here are those curls, for which I believe he is constantly mistaken for a little girl:


A little happy face:


Looking a little like he could use a hairbrush:


A bit of a change from Parker a year ago...at 3 months old:


And a very typical Parker look:


The boy loves his thumb.

He is just growing up too fast! It's so sad to me sometimes when I think how is is our last little baby. I'm trying to enjoy the end of his crawling days because I know they won't last much longer. He is such a sweet boy and such a joy in our lives. I cannot believe it has already been 15 months. Hopefully I can be more timely with his next update!