15 Months

Dear Jackson,

In a few days you'll be 15 months old, and I enjoyed writing your one year old post so much that I thought I would write another one.  I plan to print these and add them to your baby book, so you can read about what you and your life was like at a particular point in time.

Thankfully your days are beginning a bit later now with a wake up around 7:00.  We often begin the day slowly by watching Baby Einstein or Sesame Street, and then it's time for breakfast.  Your favorite breakfast foods are smoothies, scrambled eggs, whole wheat pancakes, and whole wheat blueberry waffles (no syrup yet). You can easily eat 3 scrambled eggs! Your dad and I take turns taking showers and getting ready for the day while you eat and we do various chores, and then your daddy heads to work.  I usually clean the kitchen and start some laundry while you play on your own or "help" me.  You like to play with the broom and Swiffer.  When the washing machine agitates you dance, and it cracks me up every time.  I glad you can hear a beat :)   Some days you're really amenable to reading, and we'll read as many as 15 books together before you wiggle your way out of my lap. 

You take a morning nap around 10:00 and sleep for an hour.  Thatcher and I usually nap while you do.  When you wake I start thinking about lunch because I am so hungry these days (probably because your baby sister is growing so much).  I usually start you off with a vegetable.  If it's sweet potatoes, you gobble it all up.  If it's peas, brocolli, cauliflower, corn, or carrots, your response varies.  After veggies, you may eat a peanut butter or almond butter sandwich, deconstucted chili or soup, pieces of grilled chicken, couscous, rice, or pieces of pizza.  You love grated cheese and pretzels, and sometimes I'll give you those just so I have more time to finish my lunch.  You often demand some of whatever I'm having and feed yourself 90% of the time.  You're still glad for me to feed you yogurt, applesauce, or baby food though.

After lunch we may run errands to Whole Foods or the library, but I usually don't go too far because I don't want you to fall asleep in the car.  You get drowsy in the car fairly easily and like to zone out.  You grin at people as we shop and love our little field trips.  If it's pretty out, we often take a wagon ride and let Thatcher come along. Some afternoons or evenings we play with Holden in his backyard, and you get so dirty.  You eat rocks, dirt, toilet paper, cardboard, and anything else you find on the ground, and there's not much we can do about it.  I'm hoping you'll outgrow this stage of putting everything in your mouth soon.  You laugh at much of what Holden does, and he's often rough with you but you don't seem to mind it at all.

You had your first (very slight) fever recently, and it only lasted a few hours.  You've had such a healthy life so far, although we think you had a few weeks of allergies.  The pollen has been awful and hard to avoid, especially since we enjoy being outside so much. 

Your afternoon nap is usually from 3:00 to 4:00, and afterwards we often go for a long walk with a friend or occasionally we'll go to the gym where you hang in the nursery.  You had a few rough weeks of separation anxiety when I left you with strangers (but you continued to do well with babysitters and family), so we took a break from the gym for about two months.  You eat an early dinner around 5:00, and then we have playtime outside or on the porch so you can get good and dirty before bath time.  When your daddy gets home, you two like to wrestle on our bed, and sometimes all 4 of us take a family walk.  You're finally able to stay up a bit later, so your bedtime isn't until almost 7:30.  If you're not melting, we read you a book or two, turn on the sound machine, and then put you down on your belly with a lovey or two.  You've recently become attached to your loveys and insist that when you get out of bed that we also get whatever animals you slept with as well as your blanket.  If we forget, you carry on almost hysterically.  You may be a bit spoiled :)  You've also started demanding that I read particular books. 

You're still such a pleasant child, giving out lots of smiles and hugs.  You walk and almost run very easily, especially if a door to a typically forbidden room is open.  Some days you're extremely verbal and sound like you're speaking a foreign language.  We've heard you say "Dada," "Mama," "Thatch," "bad dog," "hi," "hey," and several other words, but then you may go days without saying anything discernible (other than Dada which you say all the time:).  You love the remote control and are very proud when you change a channel.  You've figured out how to go through the doggy door and are so fast!  You haven't noticed my belly and have no idea that you'll be in a big brother soon.  You're an absolute joy, and I'm so thankful you're mine.

Much love for you,
Mommy

p.s. I'm thankful that we got to see baby Ella during an ultrasound yesterday. Jackson, she has your very long feet!