What Child is This?

This post title is dedicated to my friend, Jamie, who challenged her blog friends to post everyday with a Christmas title. I promise to use as many Christmas titles as possible this month but it won't be every day, sorry.

Steven turned 15 months on Sunday. He really seems so old to me that I can hardly believe he is the same baby I had 15 months ago. This weekend I taught him how to roar when we ask,"what sound does a lion make?" I've been trying other animal sounds for months but I guess they weren't exciting enough because he roared almost immediately after I did and was doing it later in the car. We think it's pretty funny. We have been focusing a lot in the language department since he has mastered the physical realm so well. "Uh-oh" is really the only word that he consistently says without prompting, but he repeats a lot and is really watching our mouths to see how we are making different sounds and trys to mouth them himself.

We went for our well-visit today and got a thumbs up. Steven is 23 lbs. 4 oz. (between 25-50 percentile) and 31 inches (50 percentile). He has 10 teeth including both top molars and his bottom gums are really swollen and bumpy so I'm sure that the ones he's lacking will make an appearance soon. She asked if he is talking at all and after telling her what I wrote above, she said that he is doing well and on track for his age. Even though I wasn't worried before, it was good to hear. That must mean Saige is a language prodigy because she says lots of words. She even says "la la" (meaning Aunt La La, i.e. me!) sometimes. That is so much fun!

Steven is going through a mommy stage again. He wants to be doing whatever I am; although, I have to give him credit because he does play by himself well at times too. If he just wants my attention he pushes me away from whatever I am doing with both hands. He has discovered a love of sorting laundry, dropping it in the washing machine, and loading/unloading the dishwasher (minus knives of course). He also loves to use the swifer and this week I was thinking about actually putting the wet cloth on it and directing him to the floor under his highchair. It's always the messiest area of the kitchen and well, it only seems fair, right?

He also has decided that he is a big boy and doesn't need his food cut up as small. In fact, he doesn't want his fruit cut up at all. I have been showing him different fruits and telling him what they are and what color, etc. He loves to hold them and he is always pointing up to the fruit bowl he can see sitting on the counter. One day I gave him a pear to hold and looked away for a minute which was long enough for him to take a bite. He got really upset when I took it away to wash it so I let him just eat it whole because it was very ripe and soft. Yesterday I forgot and cut his pear up into large cubes and he wanted to eat the rest that I hadn't cut up yet first. I guess he's growing up.