Happy 15 Months, Ian!!

Dear Ian,

Happy 15 Months sweet boy!!  Wow, are you a little busy-body?!  You never sit still!  The past 3 months have flown by, and you have changed by leaps and bounds. 

You are saying quite a few words now!  Your favorite words are “car” and “ball,” but your vocabulary also includes “mama, dada, baba (for bottle), wawa (for water), night night, dog, duck, nana, nanny, papa, and mimi.”  I’m pretty sure you also said “Jess-ca” (Jessica is your babysitter).  You now have 12 teeth – the top 4 and bottom 4 in front, and 4 molars. 

You are OBSESSED with cars!  You could play with them all day, and you never get tired of them.  You are starting to get more imaginative with them, and will have them go on little “adventures” around the house, on the sofa, on your chair, etc.  You also are really starting to love books.  Your favorites are “Peak-A-Who,” any book with cars, any book with flaps, and the “First Words” books with pictures of real objects.  You enjoy playing with non-toy objects too, like small bottles, Tupperware, silverware, cardboard boxes/tubes, and pretty much anything else you see lying around.  Lately you’ve found it funny to drop all of your toys through the baby gate and onto the stairs.  Mommy has to go up and down the stairs every evening to pick up your little treasures.  Oh, you also love to “drive” your big cars around…the ones you can sit on.  We love the sound effects you make as you chug along!  I’m sure you’ll be asking for keys to the real car soon! J

You have now perfected your walking, and you have actually started running!  You love to be chased by mommy and daddy, and you run all over the house!!  You started walking just after your first birthday, and you’ve mastered the technique so quickly since that time!  We have to put shoes on you all of the time now, but you’ve figured out how to take off your socks.  It’s pretty cute because you laugh and squeal when you take your own socks off.  We’ve also started to see signs of your first “temper tantrums.”  Especially, if you don’t get to go where you want (i.e. at other people’s homes) or if you don’t get to hold what you want (i.e. remotes, phones, etc.).  It seems like you’re learning to mind pretty well!  Hopefully that continues!

Jessica Lucas still watches you while mommy and daddy are at work.  You love spending time with her kids, Brennan and Zoey, and Miss Jessica always says such sweet things about you.  She helped you do your first craft projects around Thanksgiving, which included a handprint turkey and a brown bag of “leaves” containing things that you were thankful for…yours included, God, mommy and daddy, cars, pacis, milk, and puffs.  So cute!  The other day, you made a little handprint/footprint reindeer! Mommy better get the big storage box out for all of these special keepsakes!

Your diet is getting more and more diverse.   Bananas probably still top your list of favorites, but you also love mandarin oranges, yogurt, cheese, deli turkey, turkey hot dogs, pizza, chicken, graham crackers, and even veggies.  The funny part about the veggies is that you like the pureed baby food veggies better than the whole veggies.  Oh well…mommy doesn’t mind if we drag out the “baby phase” a little longer. J  You’re drinking milk out of a “big boy” cup, and usually have it in the morning, before your nap, and at bedtime. 

Your bedtime routine hasn’t really changed.  You usually go to bed around 8:30pm after you bath.  Your newest thing is to throw all of your toys over the side of the tub and on to the floor.  Mommy is not a big fan of this because it takes a while to clean up your mess!  You generally sleep until about 6:00am when mommy wakes you up for milk, then you go back to sleep until about 8:30 or 9:00am.  Your nap occurs around 10:30am.  You don’t always take an afternoon nap…just sometimes.

In the past 3 months, we haven’t really done anything too “big.”  We did spend Thanksgiving at Lake Texoma with nanny, papa, and family.  You had a great time playing with your cousins and seemed to really enjoy running around outside.  Mommy and Daddy are excited about your second Christmas (2 days from now) because you will probably have a lot of fun playing and opening gifts.  You also went to see Santa again last week….and tolerated him!

Well, that about wraps it up this time around.  We love you more than words can say, and we’re so thankful that God put you in our lives!  We look forward to all of the excitement in 2012!

With Love,

Mommy and Daddy