The 15 month old playing with dinosaurs before library story time
Today we went to the doctor for Matt's 15-month appointment. He weighed 25 lbs. 8.5 oz, which is closer to the 85th percentile, and measured 32 1/4", which is around the 90th percentile. I'm not sure the height is correct, since he was extra squirmy; I think the nurse missed at least 1/4 of an inch there. He had to have grown more than 1/4" in the past three months because he grew a full clothes size this past month alone. (He went on a 2-week growth spurt in mid-January and moved from size 18-month to 24-month pants, started outgrowing his 24-month shirts from brands like Osh Kosh and Circo that run smaller, and wears 2T/3T socks.) Anyway, Matt checks out as healthy - no surprise there!
Matt has 16 of his 20 baby teeth now. He's just missing his 2-year molars. We are all very ready for a break from teething...
At 15 months Matt is still a very active toddler. He is frequently on the go and just as frequently into something. Even with all of his toys Matt will occupy himself with just about anything: the contents of the pantry, the recycle bin, closet, drawers, cabinets... Matt continues to pick up speed as he moves, but he's also content to walk more slowly and deliberately as he checks out what's around him. The other weekend we went for a family outing, and Matt held Jon's hand as we walked down the sidewalk. It was very cute. And Matt is still somewhat cautious when it comes to climbing on and off things, but he's getting bolder.
Matt is quite communicative, although he hasn't added many more words to his vocabulary this past month. He seems to be working on some more animals, like "cow" and "pig," but he still prefers to refer to all birds as "duck" (we've had some long discussions about geese vs. ducks, chickens vs. ducks, penguins vs. ducks, etc.). With his pointing he's doing a decent enough job of getting his message across, although it'll be nice when he has more words to be more specific! He understands us very well; within the past month or so his comprehension of our conversations and commands has dramatically increased. He has always been fairly quick to pick up on things, and now that he understands verbal communication better he's even quicker.
In the past couple of weeks Matt discovered his belly button. He proudly shows it off, especially if you also show him yours. He can also identify noses (he prefers poking other people's to pointing out his own), knees, and now ears.
These days Matt still loves animals and dinosaurs, and he's showing a little more interest in cars and trucks, too. He loves reading, and sometimes he'll flip through books on his own, too. He still insists on helping out with cooking, especially mixing and dumping things into the pot, as well as a few other chores, namely laundry and sweeping, and pushing of buttons. He is still enjoying his easel, although some days instead of exploring vertical lines (his predominant artistic expression at the moment) he has more fun taking the chalk and crayons in and out of the trays and dumping them onto the floor or stuffing them into a bottle from the recycling.
I hope to post our January events and photos within a day or two.
