I have a few friends who had babies in weeks following Tommy's birth, and I've read all their 15 month posts, while terribly neglecting my own baby's 15 month post. I took pictures on January 17th (when he hit the 15 month mark) for the post, but then never got around to writing it up. So I suppose I should get this up before Tommy is 16 months...in 9 days! Boy, he's a gem! We love our Tommy!
1. After taking his first steps over a month ago, Tommy is now, at 15 months, {finally} making the decision that walking is probably a good way to get around. I'd say he still crawls 10% of the time, walks on his knees 15% of the time (funny! none of the other boys did this as much as Tommy does), and walks on those two sweet chubby legs 75% of the time. When he walks he puts his hands up in the air to help keep his balance, plus his hips are really doing the walking, not his legs, so he does this swivel-hip movement. All combined it's pretty entertaining to watch him move around, and I love that he's on his feet more! He also claps for himself a lot when he's walking, giving himself an "attaboy" for his efforts. :) **In the two days it took me to actually get this post done he has stopped crawling almost completely and only walks on his knees every once in awhile. Goodbye crawling! Oh, that's kind of sad.
2. I love how Tommy goes down the stairs, it is at a full slide on his belly. He's so fast, it's hard to catch him when I don't want him going down!
3. Tommy does not like toys made for children. Out and about I try to entertain him with things in my purse I've brought for him. A book? No. A ball? Nah. Perhaps a Matchbox car would be entertaining, it's a "big kid" toy after all? No way! He wants to play with my mini-first aid kit, my chapstick or my phone (no, a made-for-kids phone won't do). At home it's the same. Forget toys, he wants the camera case on the counter, the pen on the desk, the remote control (and don't try to fool him with the old remote that has the batteries removed).
4. Tommy has gotten picky, which, with the history we have with Luke, is stressful, but I'm trying to just go with it. If it's got to be hotdogs (yuck!), I suppose at least I can buy the nitrate-free ones. Or fruit snacks, I can buy the ones made with real fruit. Sometimes, as long as he's eating off of my plate, he's willing to try more. But one thing he will always be happy with is milk. Adam and the older boys drink 1%, I drink almond milk and Tommy and Luke drink whole...I have to buy 2 gallons of whole for every one gallon of 1%. Before Tommy started sharing Luke's whole milk, I'd be lucky to get through a gallon of it before it went bad. Now, with Tommy chugging it down, I think we go through a gallon every two days.
5. Tommy doesn't like to share the lap. Whenever Tommy sees Luke or Josh sitting on Adam or my lap he dashes over to us and insists on sitting on our lap too. Then he will start to push the brother who has unwittingly usurped "Tommy's lap" out of the way. It's funny and frustrating all at once.
6. Tommy loves his binky still. Because it makes him so happy, and us too (sleep, yes please! quiet, um, yeah!), with eyes wide open we passed up the 12-month window for taking away the binky suggested by the parenting experts; the next humane window being 3-years-old, according to those same experts. So it looks like we will have the binky hanging around for another 1 year, 9 months. And we have no regrets. For bedtime he has a special lovey called "Binky Bear." It is a small square blanket with a stuffed bear head at one end and a small loop to attach a binky on the other. HE LOVES IT! He'd get upset when he would see me trying to sneak it into the wash so my sister gave him a second one for Christmas. But now he knows he has two and must have BOTH of them to sleep with. Sometimes we find him trying to double fist his binkies that are attached to the bears, putting two in his mouth at once, hanging out the sides. It's fantastic!
7. Tommy still loves to laugh. He laughs at his brothers, he laughs at Ruby, he laughs at funny toys or silly body movements. My favorite is when he laughs because someone else starts laughing. If there isn't something to make him laugh, he will come up with something funny to laugh at, do something to make us laugh so he can laugh with us, or just start laughing at nothing.
8. Tommy is busy and curious, but thankfully not in a he's-never-gonna-make-it-to-two kind of way. He has earned himself the nickname Tornado Tommy because he LOVES to pull everything out/off of 1. cupboards 2. bags 3. drawers 4. boxes 5. shelves 6. anything that can be emptied or dumped. He is also called The Chucker because he LOVES to throw things down to the floor whenever he is up at any kind of height, like in his high chair or on my lap.
9. Tommy is still loud, which is part of the reason we decided to keep the binky. The kid can really project his squeals and shrieks! They are usually born of happiness, so they aren't annoying, but there are times when the volume is unwanted, like at church or the grocery store. He isn't talking yet, but makes his wants and needs and desires very clear by loud grunting and squawking and large gesturing. He has started to say "Mama" on occasion and I sometimes think it even is directed toward me.
10. Tommy is pure love. He will walk over to flop down on our lap just for a quick check in when he's playing. He'll settle in for a few moments and then he's off again. He gives big, drooly open-mouth baby kisses to us, which only a parent would love, and we do! And he loves to rest his head down on Adam or my shoulder when we pick him up and give us some love. Sometimes it's for a few seconds, then he's ready to get down again to explore/destroy. But when he's tired or not feeling well (like right now, on day three of a fever) he will just stay there, being close, loving the loving.
Our baby is growing quickly. It makes me so sad when I have moments where I realize Tommy is the last baby. But it's also fun too, to think we are heading into the next stage of life with our growing boys. Right now I am just trying to suck up and revel in the too-fast days of him growing through babyhood to toddlerhood. I love seeing him become more and more "Tommy;" watching his mind work and figure things out. He is a light to us, and we love him so!
1. After taking his first steps over a month ago, Tommy is now, at 15 months, {finally} making the decision that walking is probably a good way to get around. I'd say he still crawls 10% of the time, walks on his knees 15% of the time (funny! none of the other boys did this as much as Tommy does), and walks on those two sweet chubby legs 75% of the time. When he walks he puts his hands up in the air to help keep his balance, plus his hips are really doing the walking, not his legs, so he does this swivel-hip movement. All combined it's pretty entertaining to watch him move around, and I love that he's on his feet more! He also claps for himself a lot when he's walking, giving himself an "attaboy" for his efforts. :) **In the two days it took me to actually get this post done he has stopped crawling almost completely and only walks on his knees every once in awhile. Goodbye crawling! Oh, that's kind of sad.
2. I love how Tommy goes down the stairs, it is at a full slide on his belly. He's so fast, it's hard to catch him when I don't want him going down!
3. Tommy does not like toys made for children. Out and about I try to entertain him with things in my purse I've brought for him. A book? No. A ball? Nah. Perhaps a Matchbox car would be entertaining, it's a "big kid" toy after all? No way! He wants to play with my mini-first aid kit, my chapstick or my phone (no, a made-for-kids phone won't do). At home it's the same. Forget toys, he wants the camera case on the counter, the pen on the desk, the remote control (and don't try to fool him with the old remote that has the batteries removed).
4. Tommy has gotten picky, which, with the history we have with Luke, is stressful, but I'm trying to just go with it. If it's got to be hotdogs (yuck!), I suppose at least I can buy the nitrate-free ones. Or fruit snacks, I can buy the ones made with real fruit. Sometimes, as long as he's eating off of my plate, he's willing to try more. But one thing he will always be happy with is milk. Adam and the older boys drink 1%, I drink almond milk and Tommy and Luke drink whole...I have to buy 2 gallons of whole for every one gallon of 1%. Before Tommy started sharing Luke's whole milk, I'd be lucky to get through a gallon of it before it went bad. Now, with Tommy chugging it down, I think we go through a gallon every two days.
5. Tommy doesn't like to share the lap. Whenever Tommy sees Luke or Josh sitting on Adam or my lap he dashes over to us and insists on sitting on our lap too. Then he will start to push the brother who has unwittingly usurped "Tommy's lap" out of the way. It's funny and frustrating all at once.
6. Tommy loves his binky still. Because it makes him so happy, and us too (sleep, yes please! quiet, um, yeah!), with eyes wide open we passed up the 12-month window for taking away the binky suggested by the parenting experts; the next humane window being 3-years-old, according to those same experts. So it looks like we will have the binky hanging around for another 1 year, 9 months. And we have no regrets. For bedtime he has a special lovey called "Binky Bear." It is a small square blanket with a stuffed bear head at one end and a small loop to attach a binky on the other. HE LOVES IT! He'd get upset when he would see me trying to sneak it into the wash so my sister gave him a second one for Christmas. But now he knows he has two and must have BOTH of them to sleep with. Sometimes we find him trying to double fist his binkies that are attached to the bears, putting two in his mouth at once, hanging out the sides. It's fantastic!
7. Tommy still loves to laugh. He laughs at his brothers, he laughs at Ruby, he laughs at funny toys or silly body movements. My favorite is when he laughs because someone else starts laughing. If there isn't something to make him laugh, he will come up with something funny to laugh at, do something to make us laugh so he can laugh with us, or just start laughing at nothing.
8. Tommy is busy and curious, but thankfully not in a he's-never-gonna-make-it-to-two kind of way. He has earned himself the nickname Tornado Tommy because he LOVES to pull everything out/off of 1. cupboards 2. bags 3. drawers 4. boxes 5. shelves 6. anything that can be emptied or dumped. He is also called The Chucker because he LOVES to throw things down to the floor whenever he is up at any kind of height, like in his high chair or on my lap.
9. Tommy is still loud, which is part of the reason we decided to keep the binky. The kid can really project his squeals and shrieks! They are usually born of happiness, so they aren't annoying, but there are times when the volume is unwanted, like at church or the grocery store. He isn't talking yet, but makes his wants and needs and desires very clear by loud grunting and squawking and large gesturing. He has started to say "Mama" on occasion and I sometimes think it even is directed toward me.
10. Tommy is pure love. He will walk over to flop down on our lap just for a quick check in when he's playing. He'll settle in for a few moments and then he's off again. He gives big, drooly open-mouth baby kisses to us, which only a parent would love, and we do! And he loves to rest his head down on Adam or my shoulder when we pick him up and give us some love. Sometimes it's for a few seconds, then he's ready to get down again to explore/destroy. But when he's tired or not feeling well (like right now, on day three of a fever) he will just stay there, being close, loving the loving.
Our baby is growing quickly. It makes me so sad when I have moments where I realize Tommy is the last baby. But it's also fun too, to think we are heading into the next stage of life with our growing boys. Right now I am just trying to suck up and revel in the too-fast days of him growing through babyhood to toddlerhood. I love seeing him become more and more "Tommy;" watching his mind work and figure things out. He is a light to us, and we love him so!
6 comments:
Happy 15th mos., Tommy! Nana is sooo sorry she is missing all this - the walking, the sliding downstairs, the big kisses!
What a wonderful post! Tommy is a darling little boy, he is getting so big. He looks so grown up in this last set of pictures.
Adorable child! He's growing up so fast.
Hard to believe he's already 15 months! He's so cute! Is he really your last baby?
How do kids know the difference between the "real" remote and the one used to distract the kids? It amazes me.
Tommy looks like a big ball of lovable fun!! One day I hope to meet him, and give those cheeks some major love.
What a cutie. Two months until I get to see you all. YAY!! repeat after me: I will not stress about his eating. You can do it.
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