15 Month Appointment

Today was Davis' 15 month appointment.  It came a little late, but it worked out well being during his week off from daycare.  According to the pediatrician (and his parents), Davis is a healthy, happy toddler.  He measured in at about the 85th percentile (32.5 inches and 28 pounds) which means he has almost quadrupled his birth weight.  We didn't have a lot of questions for the pediatrician, but she asked about his language development and we got to show off that he knows the word "belly".  Kristen asked him "where is your belly?" and he pulled up Mom's shirt to show of her belly, then pulled up my shirt to show mine off.  Not exactly what we had planned, but the pediatrician was impressed.

At 15 months, here a few of Davis' cool tricks:

• He has about 2 dozen words including: hi, thank you, mom, dad, Domino, Lilly, socks, shoes, no, uh-oh, more, belly, truck, dog, woof, and yah.  He has a lot more words that we don't understand.  He is quite the talker.  He talks and talks and talks and talks sometimes.
• He knows the word "No" and uses it.  A lot.
• He has started playing with his mega blocks in two dimensions.  This was really cool to see for the first time.  Until now, he has only stacked up as high as he can go, but now he has started doing more than just stacking up.
• He is showing a lot more interest in books.  He has really been enjoying climbing into the rocking chair and reading a book.  Yesterday, he was reading Bear on a Bike which has a picture of a dog on each page.  As he turned the pages in a non-linear fashion, I asked him, where is the doggie and he would point out where the dog was.  Very cool.  He really enjoys Cars and Trucks and Things That Go.
• He feeds himself.  Pretty much exclusively.  If we try to feed him, he often gets upset.
• Understands and uses tantrums to his advantage.  (Pediatrician's and other's advice: ignore them)
• Loves petting and hugging Domino.  Whenever we mention Domino's name, he looks around for him.
• Tattles on the cats.  When they get on the counter, or move around and he sees them, he points it out.  Lilly got on top of the china hutch yesterday which was narrated and pointed out by D
• Runs.  He can really motor when he is motivated.  Its an incredibly cute toddler run, but he can really move.
• Climbs.  Nothing is safe.  He climbs on the couch, chairs, rocker, etc.  

Here is a picture from skyping with Grammie when Davis climbed into the rocker and started reading a Bear in Sunshine:

New Pictures / Davis' Room

Davis' room is starting to take shape. Today we received the mats we ordered and I was super excited to put them down so he can start playing in there so I re-arranged the room (again) and moved a lot of the junk we had in there out. After Dinner, Kristen and Davis had some good playtime on the new mats. We're going to order some more mats and have a lot more work to do, but his room is starting to take shape. It is a little hard to see in the pictures below, but Davis can really sit for quite a while without any assistance if he is in the right mood.

Baby proofing

Kristen and I are slowing working our way through baby proofing our apartment. Tonight I installed the first baby gate and this weekend we moved our second bed out of Davis' room and into our office. This gives Davis a lot more safe space and lets us still have guests. Kristen ordered some nice mats for the floor and we are trying to figure out how to make the radiator safe and keep the room warm. We still have a long way to go, but with the progress Davis is showing in crawling and standing, we need to get started.

Davis is a lot more mobile. He isn't yet crawling, but he is turning and scooting (forwards and backwards) and can move around and get to things he wants to play with. Its been really fun to watch his progress and I think we are both looking forward to and dreading when he starts crawling. It is both exciting and sad to see him grow up.

Having our bed in the office has actually turned out to be rather nice. This weekend, I went to a few garage sales with the goal of picking up a new stroller and looking for fall/winter clothes. I met both those goals and also picked up a new monitor stand, an Onkyo TX-8511 stereo receiver. Previously I had been using two reams of paper, but when the printer ran out of paper, my monitor stand was compromised and this seemed like a good alternative. Besides being the right height for a monitor stand, the receiver also allows us to watch movies in our office while relaxing on the bed with a nice fall breeze through the windows (our office has full windows on three sides). The cats seem to enjoy the bed also, it is just the right height for them to relax on and watch the birds in the trees, next door house and power lines.