15 months gone by

So what is Gabriel doing at 15 months?

He is saying 4 words very clearly: Momma, Dadda, Dog, Pooh

He also says: Nanna (banana), Ellow (Yellow), Boon (balloon) and is also working on Duck but usually ends up saying Dog. Pretty much everything is dog right now. He already knows and picks out the color yellow. He also says bo bo (for ouch), ookie (cookie), ickle ickle ickle (for tickle, tickle, tickle). He has become quite a avid tickler! He loves to tickle mommy and daddy, as well as other animals he sees in books. Just today he tickled his water bottle and high chair tray. :-) He also loves to be tickled. He often hands us his Mr. Tickle and expects us to say "tickle, tickle, tickle" while chasing him and having Mr. Tickle tickle him. Good fun!

Gabriel makes several animal noises. He knows what an elephant, pig, car, tiger, duck, monkey, fish and cow say. It is a toss up between the elephant and dog for the spot of his favorite animal. He carries around his elephant puzzle pieces and figurines the most of all his animal friends, but he VERY often says Dog and gives his various dog stuffed animals hugs.

He beats on his chest like a gorilla while making the oh, oh, oh noise. He also makes a sound while sticking his tough in and out quickly like a lizard.

He points to his knees, fingers, hand, fingers, toes, head, ears, nose, bee bo (belly button), eyes, and..you know what are.

When we ask where his hat, socks, and shoes go, he will point to the appropriate body part. He knows what his pants, shirt and jacket are and he is very helpful with getting dressed and undressed. He isn't too far from undressing himself really. We are just there to initiate the action really.

He has been kicking things for about a month or so already, but now it has become an actual kick with some distance to it. He amazes me with the amount of balance he has. When he walks in the back yard, he is able to walk up and down hills and into a variety of terrain with a decent amount of ease. He reaches for our hands now when he feels he does need assistance. He has also demonstrated catching! It has to be slow like a balloon, but this seems to be WAY advanced for his age. Not that it matters, but we were so surprised to see him do this! Check out this video, we caught it on film. During the Superbowl ironically! Click on the picture for the video.

From G catching balloon

He scribbles with crayons and chalk.

Gabriel is drinking rather well from a regular cup, but still prefers his camelbak. The child LOVES his water.

He communicates by various grunts, but we have been working really hard in making sure he communicates what his needs and wants are with sign language instead of fulfilling his needs with his pointing and grunting. He knows signs for: water, milk, sleep, diaper, wash, all done, book, and more. He is using these signs very well in communicating with us. We are Sooooooo glad that we kept on him with this!!! It makes daily basics so much easier.

He still doesn't like his diaper changed. He would honestly prefer never to wear one. He often tries to hide behind things when I tell him it is diaper time. It is very cute how he hides behind his big boy chair and in corners as if I wasn't going to see him there!

He is now going down the stairs by himself by sliding on his belly. He often turns around and stands up in attempt to go down like a big boy. His legs simply are not long enough for this just yet, but there is no doubt in my mind that he will get the hang of this rather quickly once they are! He is pretty much running already. He will often run up to his mommy and daddy with their arms wide open to give them a hug with a huge smile on his face. Pretty much the cutest thing EVER! He has become a fantastic hugger thanks to his daddy's efforts and kisses very often. I think this one is more on mommy! :-) That child gives and receives a countless number of kisses each and every day!

He is very much a toddler in that he has his tantrums, and is really trying to get away with more and more each day. He has figured out how to open the pantry doors and our room doors. He is also playing with the idea of opening the refrigerator and stove doors. It really is only a matter of time before he can do this! He can now reach and open the top drawers in our kitchen, so more childproofing is now needed!

He is using a spoon pretty well with eating. He will scoop and put food into his mouth, but has discovered that he can more easily get all of the food off the spoon with it flipped over in his mouth. This would be fine if he didn't try flipping the spoon over before it gets to his mouth! Every week he gets better and better with it though! His favorite foods are still pretty much all cheeses and any carbohydrate. He loves his bread and cereal. Apple sauce and banana are HUGE favorites as well.

We are struggling with the nap routine and mommy is close to pulling out all of her hair. I don't envy day care mommies often, but I am currently experiencing some form of jealousy towards the women who let other people train their children with the two naps to one. Not an easy task at all, and mommy is struggling a bit. But we are convinced that we will get this straight and hope that it will be sooner rather than later!

This child loves to throw things....food mostly, yay for mommy! I am struggling with this one and it happens to be the true test of my patience! I am working on it though. I hope the novelty of throwing will go away, and go away soon!

Gabriel still loves to stack things....everything! He stacks about 12 blocks high. He does this with some assistance from mommy in that I will often readjust his blocks so the next will go up without falling. But he is able to stack about 5 or 6 without needing interference.

He is so helpful now with throwing away his diapers! Before, he would go to the trash with the intention to throw it away, but would often run away with it because he wanted it for himself. But now he goes straight to the trash, waits for mommy and daddy to lift the lid and throws it right in! He does this with everything we give him to throw in the trash. Such a helpful little man! He follows two action requests. Such as "Can you get the book and bring it to mommy?". He still LOVES to read and now often sits in his big boy chair while looking at his books on his own. It is a cuteness beyond what words could describe, so here is a picture of it!

We just switched pediatricians. His first visit was just recently at his 15 month visit when he is actually 15 1/2 months. So far so good, but we will see if we like this place better then the last. Upon his last visit Dr. says:
Weight: 23lbs 3 ozs - 30th percentile
Length: 31.5 inches - 45th percentile
Head Circumference - 47cm - 45th percentile
I was a bit concerned about the significant drop in his standings from his 12 month visit. I don't know if it has something to do with the discrepancies that might happen from having someone else do the measuring, or what, but there was a huge jump down in all categories. He was in the 45 percentile for weight, 75th percentile for height and 70th percentile for head circumference at his 12 month visit. But the Doc checked his blood and all levels were well above average. So she said that we are doing something right with what we are feeding him. She said that it is very common for a child at this age to go down in weight especially since they are SO active. I didn't think of that and was very glad that she made that point!

Gabriel has made us realize that we both often grunt when we bend over to pick something up off of the floor. We realized this because Gabriel started randomly doing this when he would bend over to pick something up off of the floor. Very cute!

Here are a couple more videos for you. Click on the picture to start the video

Helping mommy clean

From Helping Mommy clean

Being super silly

From Silly Baby Gaby