15 Months

Happy 15th Months James!

James the toddler is a new little person in our home. He is hysterically funny, very inventive, extremely smart, driven, curious, and persistent. Oh yes, and constantly on the move!

James now has his own set of keys - I will take a photo because they are a sight to see - there are probably just as many key rings as keys. Dad informed Mom that the 'mystery' keys she collected for James to play with were in fact, actual and important keys. After letting James play (ahem have all the time) with her keys, Mom walked over to Ace hardware and asked if she could have some keys made. After the clerks realized they were for James, they made him a whole set - and get this - no charge. Love Ace Hardware.

Mom and James went to James' 15 month appointment on Thursday. James, for the first time in his life, is no longer in the 90th percentile for anything. James is now statistically in the 50th-75th percentile for height, weight and head circumference. I have to say that I'm pretty excited that I now have statistical proof that our son is not "huge", "bigger than me" or "packing on the pounds" and yes, these are all things I heard just today! Aren't people lovely in their need to comment? HA! Around these parts, we think James is just perfect. James now weighs 25 pounds, 8 ounces and is 31 3/4 inches long. At his appointment, Mom asked a lot of questions about various things including peanut butter. Mom is nervous about giving James peanut butter and really it boils down to Mom being so neurotic she could be on this show.

But, Dr. King made Mom feel a lot better when he told her that just last week, two mothers brought in jars of peanut butter and told him that they were giving their children peanut butter in the doctor's office just in case something happened. Well, Dr. King made me laugh with that one and then told me that it's actually the second time kids have peanut butter that they'll have the reaction. Just have some Benadryl on hand. So, this weekend, we're rocking peanut butter. You better believe I'm waiting until Doug is home too.

Dr. King said James looks great and is exactly where he needs to be developmentally. Which leads me to this -

JAMES IS FINISHED WITH PHYSICAL THERAPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you hear the Hallelujah Chorus? Cause I can :o) We went in for our last visit on the 19th and Bridget told us we were graduating! Bridget also said that she had never had a child gain so much ground in such a short amount of time - GO JAMES! We are so so so proud of you little man!

Also, breaking news, in music class this Wednesday, James actually walked around, played with the other kids, picked out a shaker all by himself and put it away all by himself AND chased bubbles around. I finally was able to watch my child do all the things I had been watching all the other children do and I have to say that I was just so happy for him and so proud of him. Since walking and crawling, James has become so much more independent and confident.

In related and somewhat contradictory news, James is having separation anxiety again. We have our good days and our bad days but it's a phase and we're cruising through it. We are also beginning (tomorrow) to go from two naps to one. Wish us luck! Other items discussed at the appointment included the car seat - we are switching to the Brittax this weekend. I hope it fits in our car - that car seat is MASSIVE! Thank goodness Doug is good at assembling things and putting things together.

James is getting his molars. The top two are breaking through and the bottom two were found to be getting ready to break through by Dr. King today. Dr. King suggested we get some frozen bagels or waffles for James to chew on during this process. I believe that this was also the method Aunt Clare used with Johnny LA - as shared by Cara during her visit. So, we've got those frozen items ready to go for tomorrow. Oh yes, and James is a tooth-brusher! Dad got James a cool toothbrush that James holds and Mom or Dad can hold too and we are using Tom's Natural Toothpaste. James loves to brush his teeth - thank goodness!

James also attended his first party to which he was officially invited - Auntie E and Uncle Serge had a Turkish themed dinner and it was so much fun. The food was delicious - kudos to the Chef! Mom and Dad learned that for next time, just pack a dinner for James - that way we could have stayed longer. And again, our apologies to Maggie, the cat. James got really excited every time that he saw her and would walk toward her in his Frankenstein way saying "Oh Oh Oh Oh" and poor little Maggie would just gallop away. In honor of James, they even played Bobby Darin - and of course, our little man danced away. What a great time! Of course, Mom and Dad forgot the camera.

Last Thursday and Friday, Dad had off from work to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa but they decided to go home early and Dad kept the days off to spend time with James and be the best husband in the world and let Mama work.

Mom locked herself in the study and worked on her dissertation for two days and nights straight to prep for a meeting with her dissertation chair on Friday. The meeting was a great one - lots of good things - all Mom's statistics so far look fabulous, the factor analysis came out and I quote "perfectly" (THANK GOODNESS) and now has to run some tests of moderation and other fun and exciting statistics. We're getting there people!!!! Note: not my actual books - will document the insanity that is the dissertation and post later.

Anyway, this leads to Sunday - a day we decided to spend together as a family up at Dad's parents house. Even though Grandma and Grandpa had left, they kept the pool open one more weekend for us and we decided to enjoy it! While James did his first nap, Mom went to the grocery store and picked up some sidewalk chalk - best.decision.ever. Here's the adventure that unfolded. And yes, it was awesome.

And to sign off, here are some of our favorite photos.

We love you and miss you all!