15 Months Old

Dear Etrain,

Your Grammy is coming to visit on Thursday, and you're probably going to seem pretty different from the last time she saw you (you had just turned a year old). Now that you're 15 months old you're a different kid.

Climbing. You want to climb on everything. You get mad when you can't get up on things that are too tall for you. You're on top of the table in your playroom more than you're sitting at it. This month's photo shoot was a breeze because you were so excited to get up on the chair in your room, that you stayed there and smiled for a long time.

And then you just had to move...and climb.

Talking. You looooove to talk. And I love to listen to you talk. I only wish I knew what you were saying. You do have some (sort of) real words on your list:

- Da or Dada - this is the most popular and I hear it all day long. Da is your word for everything, although you know who your Dada is.
- Mama or mimi- you usually only say this when you're upset. I wouldn't mind hearing it more often, son, and not when you're upset - just saying.
- No - it's cutest when you get a series "no no no"
- Bye - we were waving bye bye to Dada the other day and you just busted out Bye.
- Uh no - As I'm typing this your toy school bus just crashed to the floor and you followed that up with uh oh.
- "E" - Not really a word, but you love to say it. You have an E that lights up in your room, and your dad taught you to say E when you want us to turn it on. It's pretty darn cute. And it sounds more like Eeeeeeeeeee.

Standing. You're still not interested in walking, but now you do love us to walk with you. You'll reach for our hands so we can lead you around the house. Your favorite is to try walking up and down stairs. Twice now I've caught you trying to stand. You'll let go of whatever you were holding onto and try out standing for a second or two. You'll get there soon enough kid. I'm not worried.

Playing. Oh man. You're a real kid. You dump, but also put away. You'll look for specific items. The other day we needed the 4 balls to one of your favorite toys. I watched you crawl around hunting for the last one until you found it. It's the cutest when you sit at your playroom table like a big boy and flip a book or play with your cars. You'll build things with your Legos. I also watched you make a ramp for one of your cars once. You're such a smart boy. There's still plenty of general destruction and silliness, but you also have lots of curiosity and focus.

Lap time. I'm still in love with this. You love to bring over books or just toys to play with, but you want to sit in my lap while playing. You'll crawl over to me and start climbing in. Anytime kid. Anytime.

Bowl & Spoon. You've been practicing with a bowl and spoon You've got some work to do, but when you're not wanting to finish something we've given you, we bust out the spoon and all of a sudden you're interested again. Magic.

Out in Public. You are just the coolest kid. EVERYWHERE we go people are stopping me to tell me how cute you are or ask me something about you. You're quite popular...and a huge flirt. And you are so well behaved. Dada and I can take you anywhere and you are such a good boy. I'm sure we have some public tantrums in our future, but right now trips to the store, out to dinner, or generally anywhere you're a sweetheart. If you're tied down in the car or stroller for too long you eventually get fidgety, but that's normal. I would too. I love your calm and happy nature. Even your complaints or tantrums are short and you're soon a happy smiling kid again.

Teeth. You grew a ton of teeth this month. I'm not even sure how many because you hate letting us look, but I know you have some molars now. Brushing your teeth is still a fight (unfortunately we still have to pin you down), but you have so many chompers now that we have to make sure they're clean!

Clapping & High Five. You're pretty good at these now. At least you are with us. When we try to get you to high five other people, you aren't into it, but at home you're a high five machine. You're also so so on waving.

As always this was a fun month with you. We had a great time at the beach (a couple times) when it was warm, we stayed the night in a huge suite at the W Hotel in LA with Dada, lots of long, pretty walks, and plenty of fun playing with the dog and your toys.