The Treadway Chronicles: 15 Month Update

Connor turned 15 months old last Sunday, September 19th and boy has he made some serious strides recently. Of course the most obvious are his literal strides as he is moving quite quickly these days on two feet. People who see him usually comment about how fast he is. For someone who's only been walking a month, he's picked it up pretty quickly.

Granted, he falls down about 500 times a day, but that's not really because he's unsteady, it's more because he doesn't look where he's going...at all. It's hilarious really. He just walks along like he owns the world. A stuffed animal will be in front of him and he'll just barrel through and of course trip over it, and then lay there on the floor like, "What just happened? Who put that there?" Luckily, he usually just pulls himself back up and goes along his merry way, but it's pretty funny to watch.

You can usually guess when a fall's about to happen like when he's about to walk over uneven ground or something with a lip or a curb, but sometimes he surprises us and steps over it without a problem. He'll get it soon enough.

He also seems to be making language strides. We have started deciphering a few more words lately. We think he officially knows the difference between Momma and Daddy and that's kind of new. He also says (but not really on command, just when he feels like it) "Doggy", "Z-Z"(which we assume is Maizey), "Banana", "Bye Bye", "Ball", "Baa Baa" (the sound a sheep makes and a sheep toy he likes), and "Baby". Clearly he's got a command of the letter "b". Ha! I feel like there are more, but I can't remember at the moment. Anyway, it seems like he's really trying to talk more and more lately. It's fun.

Also, he seems to be using his hands more lately. I have seen him wave and clap a lot more lately. Also he has started to sign "all done" now. I signed this to him when he started eating more solids, around 6 months old, thinking it would help me signify when he was done eating a certain food, but it has really come in handy as a way of me telling him when something is over and him understanding. For example, when a bowl of snacks are gone, I can sign "all done" and he'll sign it back and he understands they are gone instead of me just getting up and walking away and he crying because the food has disappeared. It seems to help him. Of course we still have mini-tantrums, but I think it helps a bit.

As I have mentioned before, we also practice a few animal sounds. Well, Jeff got Connor to not only make an elephant sound but also sort of make an elephant trunk and Connor sort of does it with his hand. It's really cute. We also have a counting book and count along with our hands and then so does Connor.

I've also talked about this in other posts, but it certainly is something new. Connor is really into books lately. It was so sweet, the other day, I was in the living room and Connor walked off around the corner. I sort of assumed he went into the study to play with a few toys he has there, so I gave him a minute or two before I followed him. Well I listened, and it was pretty quiet, so I walked around the corner and didn't see him in the study. Instead, I saw him sitting on the floor of his room flipping through books. It was the cutest thing I had ever seen. He just looked up at me like, "Yes Mom, do you need something? I'm reading."

So the rest of Connor's life is still pretty much the same. He goes to bed at 7pm, wakes up around 7AM and takes about a three hour nap in the afternoon. Of course he doesn't get much of a nap at school Tuesdays and Thursdays, but he makes up for it the rest of the week usually. He is doing great at school and everyone says he is a really happy boy.

Of course he also has a full set of teeth. Ugh, he finally got in his final eye tooth and knowing Connor, he'll get his two year molars any day now. It wouldn't be bad to get them out of the way, but we haven't had a break in months now and the poor boy has been in so much teething pain.

As for his stats. We had his 15 month appointment today and it went great. He weighed 29 pounds 1 ounce! Oh my goodness. That puts him in the 95th percentile for weight. Also, he was 33 inches long, which puts him in the 90th percentile for height. So all in all, he's a big boy. More of him to love I say. The pediatrician says he's always been big and is just charting 5% higher than at 12 months, so he's totally normal. We'll see if now that he's on the move he burns off this baby fat. I can't imagine him being small, since he's always been so big, but I keep hearing stories from people with kids that started off really big and then ended up really skinny. We'll see.

I was happy to answer all of the pediatrician's questions positively. It seems like he is reaching all of his 15 month milestones. The pediatrician seemed really happy with his progress. She asked if he knew 4 words (including Mommy and Daddy), if he could scrawl with a crayon, if he's walking fast, if he imitates us, if he lets us know he wants something and how, if he eats table food, if he's transitioned to whole milk, and if he's starting to get opinionated or maybe even throw tantrums (unfortunately I had to answer yes to that one, although he's still pretty even tempered).

Overall, even though everyone who meets him tells me he seems "soooo serious" he really is a very happy boy. He is easy going and really jolly. His teachers and everyone who really gets to know him tell me all the time how happy he seems and how much fun he seems to have. It makes this Mom very happy to see her boy seem to have such a zest for life. I love him so much. He brings so much joy to our life.