An unspoken truth about our son is that he's a big kid. It shouldn't be surprising, given how much he weighed
when he showed up, but there it is. Although I still contend he never looked quite as big as his weight implied, then or now, the reality is that he's just darn heavy. We've never done anything to promote or control his weight, preferring to let it work itself out.
That's why I was excited to go to his 15-month checkup; in the last two months, G2 went from barely crawling to walking to running, while at the same time, his appetite has leveled off. He actually chooses to stop eating, rather than continuing to eat his food, your food and everything in between. Throw in the obvious vertical growth he's added since the 12-month mark, and he's noticeably trimmer. Given his status in the high 90-percentile over the last few months, the data nerd in me just wanted to know where we stood.
The result? 100 percent of his growth since the one-year mark has been vertical. Back in April, he was 30 inches, or 55th percentile. Yesterday, he measured 32 inches, for 75th percentile. And his weight is unchanged, dropping him into the low 90s. I cannot stress enough that I've never been terribly worried about his growth, as he's always been healthy (give or take a bout of RSV). But it's still nice to know that he's balancing out.
Data aside, the most exciting stuff over the last three months has been developmental. He could stand and sort-of cruise at 12 months, though he didn't really show much interest in it. At 13.5 months, he took some cautious steps. The day after that, he very clearly thought to himself, "Screw caution! I'm a runner!" By 14 months, he was essentially on par with LG at the same point her in development, despite the fact that she had been walking for three months at that time.
He's also taken big strides forward verbally. He had three to five words (mostly animal noises) at 12 months, and now he's got dozens. The only problem is that he refuses to do most of them on cue. He turned to Hollie a few weeks back, pointed at the fruit bowl and clearly said, "Banana." He's maybe said it twice since then. Likewise with "duck" and "dog". These were two of his first words, but now he just laughs at you when you try to get him to say either.
And therein lies the significant difference between G2 and LG at this stage of development. LG wanted to please. You could get her to say or do any of her words or actions with minimal prompting. G2, on the other hand, does things on his time. If he wants to let you know that he knows something, he'll tell you or show you. Otherwise, good luck, buddy.
As ever, there are so many things he does that amuse and irritate. I've recently considered what such a list will look like in 15 years, but by the time my brain got to visions of cars and curfews, the thought was too terrifying to continue.
Let's just stick to the present.
Night Night. Despite the fact that he doesn't sleep on a pillow, he knows what pillows are for. So when he wants to make us smile, he grabs the nearest pillow, lays his head down and says "Night night!" But because he wants you to know that he has no intention of going to sleep, he'll then proceed to make other things go "Night night!"
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| All of the things. |
He thinks he's dog people. As
noted earlier, G2 loves the dog bowls. He's faster now, which makes it harder to snag him before he starts splashing in Lola's water dish. He also loves the dog's beds, which is why our bedroom door stays closed and we have to be super vigilant when he's in the living room. There are few things more annoying that having to run a lint roller over your toddler twice a day because you weren't fast enough to catch him before he covered himself in two pounds of dog hair. That why there's a pillow on the floor of the living room in the first place. We thought it might be a substitute for the dog bed. (We were wrong.)
He's a better alarm clock than we are. Despite sharing a room, G2 usually gets up well before LG. So at some point, we get to say, "Go wake up your sister!", at which time G2 scurries down the hall, busts through the bedroom door like Kool-Aid Man, and throws himself onto LG's bed. It is as hilarious as it is effective. The best part is that LG does not mind, and she greets her brother with a warm "Good Moooooorning!" Yet if I quietly and gently attempt to rouse her from sleep, she moans, rolls over and complains that it's too early to get up.
Apple has his number. Yes, we have iPhones. Yes, we have iPads. I'm not going to get into a big thing about whether kids should or should not play with these things. G2 occasionally gets his hands on one. My phone is locked, so the only thing G2 can do is smash the home button over and over. I usually discover this when I hear Siri complaining she can't understand what he wants. However, I recently discovered this series of pictures in my Camera Roll.
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| Evidently he also figured out how to take a screenshot. |
Sharing is caring. With two kids, we knew sharing would be high on the list of necessary lessons. So far, so good. G2 usually wants to share his things with you, though he'd prefer you share it right back after 1.25 seconds. His preferred method of sharing is to smoosh an object in your face. This is largely fine for his sister; it's somewhat less fine for his one-month-old cousin. Let's applaud the sentiment, and work on the methodology.
Animal farm. Kids like animal noises, and G2 is no different. But if you want him to make those noises, you have to ask in the right way. "What does a sheep say?" won't work. "Are you a sheep?" usually does the trick. It's at this point that I have to wonder, "Who's training who?"
Hi-oh! Before he had a great number of words or sounds at his disposal, G2's favorite refrain was "Hi-oh!" Think of it like "Aloha." It meant "Hello," "Goodbye," "Nice to see you," or "I'm going to take a run at the dog bed now. See ya!" It was the cutest thing ever, and he doesn't do it anymore. Tear.
Hips don't lie, but they do groove. I do not have much in the way of rhythm. When called upon to dance, I'm as likely as not to start rocking a
white man's overbite. My son was not cursed in this way.
Since there's no way to top that dance, I'll just say this: kids are amazing. Mine, doubly so.
