A look at Liam (13-18 months)

It's been three months since I've updated you on Liam's latest growth and development. I feel guilty for not doing so, mainly for my own documentation's sake.  Every time I sat down to write about what's new with Liam I felt overwhelmed.  Things change so fast with this child that it is almost too difficult to keep up.

Liam turned 15 months old almost two weeks ago.  His well child check appointment was this week.  Overall, it went pretty well other than the difficulties I had trying to pin my son to the table as he received two shots.

Here are Liam's current stats:

Weight: 30.1 pounds
Height: 32 inches long
Head Circumference: 18 inches 'round
Clothes Size: anywhere from 18 mo to 3t (I know, it's quite a range, but it depends on the brand!)
Diaper Size: 5
Shoe Size: 5
Teeth: 6 (4 bottom, 2 top)

I have decided that from now on I will only do growth and development updates when Liam has his well child checks.  It's much easier this way since I can be exact on all his measurements and any current issues or concerns.  I have also decided that, since I can get so very detailed and ramble on about my child, that I am taking a different route to keeping track of his milestones.

Ever since Liam was born I have stalked BabyCenter's milestone charts appropriate to his age.  I was always so afraid that he would fall behind developmentally in some way.  Even so, I have tried not to worry myself (or my husband) when Liam has fallen behind what the "books" say.  Sometimes I felt nervous when he didn't meet a milestone right away and I had to remind myself that every child develops at their own pace.  Most of the time when I felt concerned, I would turn around the following day and Liam would have all of a sudden accomplished something new that I had previously been stressing about.  Throughout Liam's past fifteen months he has been almost exactly on track for his development.  There have been some things that he has excelled in and others that he needed to continue working on.

Since Liam is 15 months old I am going to focus on the "now" and I'm not going to go through each milestone and write exactly when he hit them.  If they are highlighted in yellow he has already achieved the milestone.  Orange highlighting means that it is something that he is still working on.  If it's not highlighted, he's not doing it.  So, here is Liam's latest based on BabyCenter's milestone chart for ages 13-18 months.

13 months

• Uses two words skillfully (e.g., "hi" and "bye")
• Bends over and picks up an object
• Enjoys gazing at his reflection
• Holds out arm or leg to help you dress him:  But still puts up a nice fight as well!
• Combines words and gestures to make needs known:  Example: "dall" (ball) and holds arms out when he wants it.  And lots of pointing.  Lots.
• Rolls a ball back and forth:  Liam started doing this around 11 months.

14 months

• Eats with fingers
• Empties containers of contents:  HAHA! Yes, sometimes I wish he didn't.  
• Imitates others:  At first, I swear I thought this said "irritates others".  Ha.  He makes a kissing sound when I do, crawls if I get down and crawl around, or waves.
• Toddles well:  Very well.
• Initiates games:  Peek-a-boo, ball games, hide and seek
• Points to one body part when asked:  Liam knows many of his body parts: head, arm, foot, leg, ear, hair, belly, nose, eye, bum, toes, mouth, teeth, knee, elbow, and hand.  Oh yeah, and he knows "fat thighs"!  
• Responds to instructions (e.g., "give me a kiss")  Actually, Liam is surprisingly good at responding to instructions.  He will go put something back in its original place if you ask him to.  Example: "Go put the truck back".  So, he does.  
• Uses a spoon or fork:  Liam does ATTEMPT to use a spoon and fork.  He isn't doing too well with the fork thing.  Mainly he just likes to play with these utensils rather than use them appropriately.  
• Matches lids with appropriate containers
• Pushes and pulls toys while walking:  One of Liam's favorite things to do.  Push or pull any of his toys.  OR anything that is wayyy too inappropriately heavy for a 15 month old to be maneuvering.  

15 months

• Plays with ball
• Uses three words regularly: Other than Dada and Mama, Liam says car, duck, Elmo, "Ahma" (great grandmother), "dall" for ball, horse, "da" for dog, "else" (grandparent's dog's name), "wawa" for water, "daydee" for baby, hi, house, horse, yes, clock, "ark" for shark, "bup" for burp, hot, hat, more, hair, ear, eyes, elbow, up, and "dah" for down (he will point up and down as he says the words).  As you may notice though, some of his "b" words are said with a "d" sound instead.  All these words are used skillfully and regularly.  He can also recognize things such as a car, horse, duck, dog, baby, etc. not only in person but also on t.v. or in pictures and books as well all on his own.  There are some more words that Liam says, but I'm pretty sure that no one other than Brandon and I are able to figure out what he's saying.  It's funny how you can understand your own child's speech, but others may not be able to.  
• Walks backward
• Scribbles with a crayon
• Runs
• Adopts "no" as his favorite word:  This is one word he actually does not say!
• "Helps" around the house:  He cleans up after himself, he helps me sweep and dust as well!
• Puts his fingers to his mouth and says "shhh":  We haven't really done much shhh'ing yet.

People, I have a keeper.  He is a dusting machine!

16 months

• Turns the pages of a book:  Liam LOVES to read.  Lately, we've been reading his 3 favorite books every night.  "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?", "Itsy Bitsy Spider" by Kate Toms, and "Ten in the Bed" by Jane Cabrera.  He's been turning the pages since before he turned one.
• Has temper tantrums when frustrated:  OMG!  We need to get this kid into some anger management.  Tantrums are complete with a red face, huffing and puffing, stomping, flinging himself onto the ground, or trying to bite something.  Yeah, monster baby.
• Becomes attached to a soft toy or other object:  Liam is particularly attached to two objects: his monkey lovey, his puppy "Scout",
• Discovers the joy of climbing:  Ohhh yes.  Especially the stairs or the furniture!
• Stacks three blocks:  He can stack the jumbo legos, but I haven't seen him stack any other blocks.
• Uses spoon or fork:  See 14 months.  
• Learns the correct way to use common objects (e.g., the telephone) Is a "duster" a common object?  I found him dusting a table the other day!
• Takes off one piece of clothing by himself:  Socks.  I don't know if that counts?
• Gets finicky about food:  Ok, this just started and I'm going to have to do a post about this allll on it's own...
• Switches from two naps to one:  Liam's been a "one napper" for awhile now and it's worked for us.

17 months

• Uses six words regularly:  See 13 month milestones.  He definitely uses at least six of those regularly.
• Enjoys pretend games:  Is hide and seek a pretend game?  Other than that, no.
• Likes riding toys:  Liam's interest just started to peek in riding his toys. 
• Feeds doll:  If you tell Liam to give a doll or an animal a bite of food or a sip of his drink he will share.  But, he hasn't initiated it on his own yet.  
• Speaks more clearly
• Throws a ball underhand
• Dances to music:  Yes!  It's more of a sway and he likes to stomp his feet a lot when the music starts to sound.  We DO have dance parties together and Liam loves to be twirled :)
• Sorts toys by color, shape, or size
• Kicks ball forward:  A toddler kicking a ball is so freaking cute!  Especially when he's mine :)

18 months

• Will "read"board books on his own:  If this means sitting down and going through books, pointing at various objects in the pictures, then yes.  We have a huge picture/word book for him and he goes through the thing on his own a lot.  Sometimes, even speaking out on what the pictures are.  
• Scribbles well
• Strings two words together in phrases:  Liam is starting to do this, but the words together don't make much sense.
• Brushes teeth with help:  He sure does try.  I think the toothbrush is more of a teething tool.
• Stacks four blocks
• Throws a ball overhand:  I find it interesting that throwing a ball overhand is a milestone after throwing it underhand.  Liam started throwing this way a few months ago.  
• Takes toys apart and puts them back together
• Shows signs of toilet training readiness:  Well, he sure likes to play with the toilet.  Signs of actually using it?  Not so much.

Sleep

I feel like I say this every time, but we are so lucky to have such a great sleeper!  I feel like I hear so many moms saying that their children never slept through the night until they were five years old.  I. Would. Die.

Every night Liam is usually asleep by 8:00 pm.  He wakes up anywhere from 5:00-6:30 am and at that point I bring him into bed with us.  We get cuddle time and if it's the weekend Liam will almost always go back to sleep until at least 7:30-8:00 am.  Every now and then we get an 8:30 wake up which is phenomenal.  Throughout the week though, Liam is up around 7-7:30 almost every day.

Liam sleeps in his crib atop a sheet, with his "pac", his monkey lovey, and his "Scout" puppy.  We threw the lovey in there with him at about 12 months and "Scout" at about 14 months.  Sometimes, Liam would wake up, start fussing, and have a difficult time getting back to sleep.  Once "Scout" joined the crib, Liam's wakings throughout the night became calm as he found his friend who would sing him back to sleep.  In the morning, "Scout" occupies Liam for a little bit until he is really ready to get up.  I guess he doesn't feel as alone in there now?

Currently we do have the bumper in Liam's crib.  We did not put the bumpers in the crib until Liam was about 13 months old.  The main reason was because of the increased risk of SIDS.  While Liam was sleeping in his crib from 4-8ish months he never had any problems with hitting his head or getting his legs stuck between the bars.  So, I never even had to think about putting the bumpers in.

Now, everyone who reads this blog knows that we went against all the rules and allowed Liam to sleep in our bed from about 8ish months to 12ish months.  Once we transitioned him back to his crib he started jumping up and down and hitting his head against the boards.  Since his risk for SIDS went considerably down, I wasn't concerned when we decided to put the bumpers in.  Still, I do not want to add a pillow or a heavy blanket just yet.  I really don't think he needs them.  Sometimes if it's a little cooler we put a light receiving blanket in the crib with him, his lovey and "Scout", but that is all.  I'm still paranoid about having too many items in there with him while he sleeps.  I know, I'm probably overreacting.

Overall, this kids pretty much rocks.  He is exhausting, but amazing.  He is obsessed with the moon.  Every single time he sees it in the sky his face lights up.  It makes me so happy and my insides almost burst with love and joy as I watch him smile.  I seriously want to give him that moon.  I want to pull it down and hand it to him.  I want to do everything in the world to make this child happy.

Happy 15 months little Li!  

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