Houston’s monthly catch-up: 15 months!

Since I haven’t done one of these monthly since MARCH at 6 months :( … I have much to catch you up on……… or more like write down for my own memory’s sake since I haven’t filled out the first page of the baby book!

 

Big boy WAY BACK at 11 months!

 

• April 11th, at almost 7 1/2 months old, Houston started crawling.  Actually more dragging himself than crawling in a G.I. Joe in the trenches kind of a way, but it got him where he wanted to go. There were times we were slightly concerned with the way only one arm and one leg did the work while the other limbs stayed straight and completely unused, but all is well! Little man started TRULY crawling like a “real baby” on his hands and knees not long after and began to get where he wanted to go {a.k.a. trouble} very quickly.

 

• Furniture cruising began at 9 months and quickly turned into more with him able to “cruise” the walls and cabinets and everything in between. I highly recommend the VTech Sit-to-stand Learning walker. It has done wonders in aiding him learn to walk and has lots of entertaining things to do and learn when he wasn’t walking.

 

• On August 4th, at 11 month, Houston took his first few steps unassisted. He simply let go of the ottoman and walked over to the couch like it was no big deal. Thankfully, both Nick and I were there to see it and were so excited! It wasn’t until about a week after his first birthday that he started walking without a short Point A to Point B destination. He does laps around the house now and can run pretty well!

 

• Houston has been up to eight teeth now and BOY OH BOY can he take a chunk out of you if he decides your finger/calf/shoulder is looking mighty tasty at the moment. Currently working on teaching him that biting people is very much frowned upon and he has thankfully, mostly grown out of that stage. Presently, he has had swollen bottom gums for 2 weeks {possibly his top are too but he won’t let me look!} and his molars should be here *hopefully* any day.

 

• Breastfed until he was 8 months old, Houston is still taking an 8 oz bottle at this moment at naptimes and bedtime. Sippy cups – he loves straws especially! – accompany him the rest of the day. My pediatrician recommended to aim for weaning from the bottle at 15 months, but… oops! I’m in no hurry since right now, the bottle is used only as mom and dad’s sleep crutch! {He has NEVER went to bed with a bottle or even held his own bottle EVER.} Our babe is a skinny boy and he certainly can use the extra whole milk calories he gets. He would never drink a full 8 oz of milk from a sippy and he gets 16-24 oz a day from the bottles at the moment. Agree with our methods or not, it’s how we’re doing things ;) Houston suddenly quit his beloved paci without any warning way back at 6 months old, so that’s one hurdle gladly out of the way!

A rare picture of the one time he held his own bottle…. elbows propped up with pillows ;) ha!

 

 

 

• Speech: This is one area where he looks like he is following in his momma’s footsteps. I didn’t speak until almost 2 years old {I’ve more than made up for it!} and at 15 months, we have lots of constant babbling, but no words yet!! The doctor doesn’t seem worried yet and I definitely am not, just starting to get a little inpatient wanting to hear that sweet work : momma ;) One of my best friends and college roommate is a speech pathologist and has observed him many times and says he’s right on track, just a little delayed which is natural for a boy {and ME apparently….}. Houston understands many phrases we say and performs commands as well. Some favorites: give me a high five, waves hi and bye A LOT, give the dog a treat, close the door, push the button

 

• Personality : the BEST! We have a sweet, funny, flirty, sneaky, loving little boy on our hands. He is extremely social, loves other kids, and definitley makes his momm and poppa happier than they every thought they could be. It is TRUE how much better my days are just to come home to his smiley, playful face. It is so hard to imagine what in the world life was like before him! I can tell you this, I don’t miss it… 99% of the time at least ;)

 

Kiki and Grand-dad brought him an early Christmas present that he is just CRAZY over!

• loves: tupperware, the dog’s food bowls, dogs in general, looking out windows, his grandparents, sunglasses – but not his own, toy baseball bats and banging on things with them, knocking on doors all over the house and ringing the doorbell at the sitter’s, pulling everything out of it’s container/basket/cabinet/drawer, “talking” on cell phones and the landline house phone, eating, letter magnets on the fridge, bathtime/swimming/water play, throwing things –especially while sitting in his high chair, riding in the car, flashing lights on toys, going for walks in the stroller and “walking the dog” himself {aka holds the leach while sitting in his stroller}, playing patty cake, being tickled, his new Kitchen set, dancing to music, Yo Gabba Gabba and playing peek-a-boo is a million giggles with him!

 

• dislikes: not much. Diaper changes are fought about 50% of the time since he doesn’t want to every sit still. Also, he’s not that fond of the high chair for the same reasons :) Oddly, and thankfully, he does tremendously well in his car seat!

 

Christmas is so much more fun this year getting to see it through the eyes of child again. He is in awe of EVERYTHING!

 

• Foods – Recap: He started eating oatmeal at 4 1/2 months just for “practice” and ate that for a full month before moving on to “real” foods at 5 1/2 months. I’ve made the majority of his babyfood purees and  posted about that adventure recently! Recently, he has moments where no puree entices him and he only wants what’s on our plate, other days, he downs purees and spits out chunky food. He’s nothing if not unpredictable!

 

• We do, however, have a GREAT eater on our hands {for now} and it is very seldom he turns down food {not feeling well, sleepy, teething, etc.} He has NEVER refused to eat a food based on taste, if he rejects it, he’s just not hungry which I can tell because he’ll end up eating every bite of it at another time like it’s his favorite food! I’ve almost shied away from giving him different foods that I thought he would definitely not eat, but he shows me time after time that he’s game for anything. I would say green beans and black beans are his favorites and that he eats veggies MUCH better than fruits. Go figure! Yogurt with some oatmeal is usually our morning staple that he gobbles up better than anything else at that early hour. I found out recently that he LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVES egg nog! haha!

 

Spoiled so early – Mimi and Poppy brought him another early Christmas present! He loves sitting like a big boy at his new table in his new playroom…

 

• Sleep: wow! This is more than a long saga at 15 months, but in the past week we pulled our final straw and resorted to crying it out, Ferber style. This takes a post all of it’s own – a long one. Just when it seemed like it wasn’t going to work for us, he began sleeping through the night 11-14 hours straight for 3 nights in a row now and taking longer naps in his crib. This has been nothing short of a miracle for us and I would be a bad bad person if I didn’t share for other momma’s feeling a little hopeless in their personal sleep situation!

 

15 months stats at his doctor appointment on 11.27.12

Height: 33 inches {95-98%}

Weight: 23.2 pounds {50-75%}

Head: 19 1/2 in {98%}

 

He remains our tall, skinny, big headed boy!

 

We love you to pieces, small fry :)

 

XOXO,

Stephanie