15 Months

I am not going to say what you think I am going to which is that I cannot believe it has been 15 months. But seriously, it has been 15 months! I have a 15 month old.

I have loved every stage as Liam continues to grow and amaze me. It seems that he learns something new on a daily basis these days and with each new milestone we make, it seems that we conquer the next before I have even stopped to enjoy the previous accomplishment. This stage is incredible. And even though this stage has meant a few more bumps and bruises, I think it is my favorite to date. Liam's little personality is starting to shine and he is the definition of joyful. He is rarely unhappy and just the sweetest child. And believe me or not as I know we all think our children are perfect, because they are of course! I am the mommy to the most amazing little boy and I could never have dreamed how wonderfully happy he could make his father and me.

As a working mother, I struggle with the work/life balance and I am constantly second guessing my decision to put Liam in daycare; but despite the runny noses and ear infections, he is thriving. His teachers are so loving and wonderful to him and I feel really blessed to be able to confidently drop him off and know that he is getting the best care and he is happy. They have daily scheduled learning events, a motorskills specialist, music class, signing class, chapel, outside play, arts and crafts, and gym time to name a few. Just as doubt starts creeping in and those feelings of guilt hang over me like a dark cloud, I get an outstanding report from Liam's teachers. Liam is the class "sharer." He shares all things. He gives his sippie cup to the little girl crying in the corner. He gives his toys up for others to play without fuss, no matter how many times they take it away. And as much as I would like to take credit for that... it could only have been learned in his current environment. I am not so naive to think that this will last, but it does help make the decision to put him in daycare a little easier.

I actually got asked what we do to help with sharing as it seems to be a struggle for all moms. Let me first be clear that it is still early for us. In fact, I am not sure Liam fully understands what he is doing and in a couple months I may have a totally different story. Let me also say that most of this I truly believe is just in Liam's nature and not any of my doing. If I give credit anywhere, it is to his daycare teachers. BUT... Bill and I have had numerous conversations about how we want to raise our children and one of the topics is always discipline. Under the topic of discipline is learning these types of social behaviors. We work hard not to snatch things away and we try to play the "please and thank you" game as often as possible. This means handing me your item when I say please and then giving it back when he asks nicely. We make a huge deal when he does this behavior and praise it often. We also tried never letting Liam becoming too attached to a single item. For instance, it is really cute when a little boy/girl has a favorite lovely that was given to them by someone special, but I always feared what would happen if fluffy went missing or tore or was dropped in the mud. So we have around 20 loveys. Some with animals. Some without. All different colors, shapes and sizes. Liam can fall asleep with any of them which makes my life much easier. It also means that when a toy gets taken away he is just as happy with the red truck rather than the blue car. You will find what works in your family! I dunno!

This month we experienced the ER. Liam was walking with his sippie cup and fell. Despite my efforts to catch him, the fancy dancy built-in lid that I was so proud of myself for finding cut Liam's lip as they both hit the ground. Lesson number 1: Do not let your toddling child still learning to walk carry his sippie cup. Lesson number 2: if you do allow them to carry their cup, do not buy the ones with the built in lids! When it happened, it barely bled. In fact I felt silly even taking him into the doctor but being a first time mom, I had to be sure. Sure enough, the darn little thing needed a stitch according to our pediatrician. And since it was on his face, we needed plastics which meant big ER. Which meant sitting next to the obese woman who had broken her arm and was using the vomit bag and in between the other family whose 16 month old climbed up into his mother's lap to breastfeed. The nurses were constantly spraying the air after the gentleman who reeked of weed walked by and the crazy lady brought in on the stretcher started saying very odd things to herself. One of these things is NOT like the other. I have never prayed so hard against socialized healthcare! 5 hours later we were taken back to see the ER doctor who determined no stitch because it would be traumatic for a cut that small. He simply cleaned the cut and glued the wound shut. Seriously? It was not such a "Good Friday."

The next morning we woke up with fever and a little pus under the glue where Liam's cut was. I, of course, insisted we take him to the doctor...And I, of course, was right! This time we went to the little minor clinic which was a much more pleasant experience. Infected. Yup! So they pulled the glue off and told us to stay out of the sun to prevent scar and use polysporin. Lesson number 3: Always keep steri strips handy because that was clearly all I needed to do instead of spending most of our Easter weekend in the ER. Lesson number 4: Go to the minor ER clinic the first time!

No, I did not bring the camera...iPhone

Now for more of the good stuff! We learned how to draw with crayons and chalk rather than taste them! We still only make dots. Tons and tons of little dots, but at least we know which ones are blue or which are purple! And the egg chalk that Aunt Nolie brought for Easter fits perfectly in his little hands to make his dots!

We spend most evenings "ou-sii" and scream when we have to go in for dinner as we pound on the back door! We are all boy! Liam loves to play with bubbles and points at both bubbles and balloons to say "bubble!" He tries to blow, but would rather bring you the wand!

My absolute favorite is the hugging and kissing. He lays his little head on your shoulder and gives open mouth kisses! We even blow kisses to those far away. I think it is super adorable. I cannot get enough!

We added a few animal sounds and words so we are up to:

The donkey says "Ahh-Hee" which is Hee-Haw backwards

Ducks say "Gak Gak"

The rooster screams "Gah eee" which totally doesn't count but is so funny

The chicken says "Bak Bak Bak"

The monkey says "ooh ooh ahh ahh"

The cow still says "Boo"

The sheep says "Ba"

The snake says "ssss"

Other words in our vocabulary:

Apple Juice (we say this constantly): "Ahhple duce"

Hot Dog for the Mickey Mouse club: "Ha Dah"

Bubbles: "Babbles"

Outside: "ou-sii"

Car: "Cah" like a northerner would say car

Airplane: "Ah-pree" which we could not figure out until he finally brought me the book

Blue: "Blu"

Purple: "Arple"

Tucker: "Tuh"

Duck: "Duh si"

Daddy: "Da Dee"

Mamma: "Ba Ba" still no M

Pappa: "pa pa"

Pop: "pop"

GiGi: "Di Di"

Hippo: "ippa"

Banana: "Nanna"

Love You: "Baboo"

That: "Dat"

Hi Baby: "Hi Ba bee"

Bye Bye: "Bu bye"

We successfully hunted Easter eggs at 15 months!

And we learned how to play music and dance! (or bounce... haha)

And we learned to go from a sitting to standing position from the middle of the floor all by ourselves!

We have both our top molars and the bottom two's white tips are poking through. Forget about getting photos of those guys! We still love Tucker. Every day Liam feeds Tucker his treat. Which would make many cringe but it is highly supervised and Liam and Tucker both insist. Tucker is actually extremely gentle. In fact Liam can play in the dog bowl while he eats and Tuck will wait patiently. Other little things he does is play peek-a-boo, bring us snacks to open, motion for all of his favorite songs, use the phone to pretend call, steal mommy's brush to brush his hair, attempt to brush his teeth... and Point! We are a pointer. We had to point each and every Easter egg in fact!

What an amazing 15 months. Baboo!