Jace- 15 months

Jace turned 15 months on Sunday, but since he's been sick we haven't gotten to go in for his 15 month well-check yet.  Once we see the doctor I will update with details on his height and weight and whatnot.  I've noticed in Jace's second year of life that the changes he's making have slowed down a bit from the first year.  The first year he changed dramatically every two weeks.  Now he seems to progress in less obvious ways.  Just when I think "Hmm... he really hasn't said any new words lately" he'll surprise me and do or say something totally brilliant.  (and yes, by brilliant I mean him saying things like "Duuude"... I'm his mom, I'm easily impressed!)  When people ask me if he's talking, I'm not quite sure what to say.  Not really.  I mean, he'll say a few words once in a while... and he's constantly speaking [or screaming] jibberish, but unless you're used to his "language" you wouldn't understand what point he's trying to get across.

He knows how to communicate perfectly what it is that he wants, whether with his "words" or with pointing.  He will let us know he's hungry by going over to his highchair and waiting to be lifted up.  He will let us know he's ready for bed by waving and saying "nigh nigh" and even sometimes shaking his crib until we put him in.  He will show that he wants to get out of the house by going to the front door or bringing me his shoes and sitting on my lap.  He has also started letting me know when his diaper is dirty from time to time.  He's lifted up his shirt and patted his diaper while babbling as if to say "Hey, mom?  A little help here?!" and he's also gone into his bedroom and pulled an entire package of diapers out and thrown it at me to let me know he'd pooped.  Usually though, it's pretty clear right away without him saying anything.  ;)

We haven't started potty training, but we've started getting Jace more aquainted with going potty in the bathroom rather than his diaper.  Whenever he's clearly dirtying his diaper we ask him if he'd like to go sit on the toilet and we also show him us using the bathroom.  He seems to be curious, and loves to wave bubye when we flush the toilet... but we haven't tried anything further than that just to be sure that he doesn't feel pressured and go backwards.  We're planning on putting a potty chair in his bathroom later this week and just seeing how it goes.

One thing that blows my mind is how much of a sponge Jace's mind seems to be these days.  He'll know what something is after only being told once or twice what it's called.  For example, today we opened a wooden puzzle and played with it briefly and then a few minutes later I asked him where his puzzle was and he ran to it and started putting peices back in there places and clapping for himself when he did.  I didn't even know he knew what a puzzle was, I was just absently speaking... he has never even really been exposed to puzzles before.  He knows what all of his favorite things are: bananas, balloons, elmo, books, milk, outside, crackers, shows, monkey, dog, grapes, etc... For example, if I ask him if he'd like some grapes he runs to the kitchen and starts pointing to them in their basket on the counter and stomping his feet in excitement.

Jace no longer enjoys being read to, he'd much rather flip through the pages on his own.  He refuses to let me turn the pages, and rarely wants to sit on my lap and listen for even a minute anymore.  At first this concerned me until I realized he's just hitting an independant stage.  Quite often now he'll run into his bedroom and shut the door and play by himself.  If I try to come in he'll sometimes shut the door on my face.  Before he would cry if he shut the door and was alone in a room for even a second.  Don't get me wrong, he still likes playing with others, he's just not afraid to be alone anymore.

His favorite things to play with at this age are his ball pit, his fake food, his microphone, his bounce and spin zebra, and his little sesame street figurines.  You'll occasionally find him playing with duplos or blocks as well.  He loves to draw but hasn't quite mastered that markers and crayons are not for sucking on or biting.  I'm not sure if it's related to his molars but he is back in a stage where everything goes into his mouth... which I thought we were past!  Same with the drooling... it's constant again.

Jace has two molars completely through the skin, and I think two more are working their way out.  He has 7 teeth in the front of his mouth, 4 on top, and 3 on bottom.  I'm not sure why he hasn't gotten the 4th bottom one yet... but I'm hoping it's in there somewhere!  His hair is still way too long and mullet-like, but Tate still isn't convinced he's ready for it to be cut.  I did trim the bangs when Tate was out of town though (shh...), which seemed to help out a bit.  We measure him on a height chart on his closet wall and last time we measured he was just a little more than 31 inches... which is what he's been at for quite a while.  It seems that his growth has slowed alot of the second year as well.  Although, I do think he's getting a little chubbier... his belly sticks out further than it used to, but I may just think it's chubbier because for a while there he was a stringbean when he was going through his picky eating stage.

Jace has been really good about eating lately.  Most days he'll eat what's given to him.  He won't always finish it, but he'll usually do pretty well at trying things.  I've given him peanut butter.. (gasp, I know I wasn't supposed to!) and he did fine with it, although I'm still cautious about food allergies so it's not something he eats frequently.  I've done a little experimenting with his milk and egg allergies as well... more so with milk.  He eats cheese just fine, but higher milk protein products like ice cream cause him a severe diaper rash that lasts only a few hours.  I found this out by ordering him a kid's ice cream sundae once "just to see"... he loved every minute of it, but his poor bum didn't. 

As for the egg experiments, I've been MUCH more cautious... he still gets absolutely nothing with actual eggs in it (fried rice for example) and nothing with any mayo in it because of the large amount of egg white in it... but I have started giving him things that are baked with eggs and he's done well with them.  He's had muffins, cookies and pancakes that were all made with eggs and he didn't seem to have a reaction.  Well, at least not much of one... at one point I thought that his chin was getting a little blotchy, but I was watching really closely so who knows if it was egg-related. 

Some people may wonder why I'm even bothering giving him any egg or dairy when I know he's still at least somewhat allergic.  I feel like I test it out once in a while just to be sure he's doing ok with them still.  He doesn't have any severe breathing related allergies to food, so it's not a life threatening thing.  The worst thing that happens is a skin rash, and I haven't seen him like that since he was 6 months and was getting eggs through his breastmilk before we figured out what was causing it.  For me, it's just making me feel better about his "food allergies", they seem much less like actual allergies, and more just like a kid who is a little sensitive to things and will out grow them... like he's supposed to.

Jace still has a pretty easy going personality, and I haven't seen much in the way of temper tantrums... yet.  I think we're still a few months away from that stage.  He is definitely more willfull than he was as a baby, but that's because he knows what he wants and what he doesn't want now.  He has a great sense of humor these days.  His favorite things to do are get in a mimicking yelling match with Tate (you'd have to be there), where they just randomly yell random sounds and whenever Tate changes what he's saying Jace mimicks and tries to copy the sound, then he'll start laughing hysterically like we're all having this hilarious conversation.  Usually he does this from the backseat of the car while we're going somewhere.  He'll just be back there, facing backwards and yelling up to us, as if to make sure we're still there and listening to him.  One time we were going out to eat and he got so worked up and excited by this game on the way there, that he wouldn't stop screaming at the dinner table in the restaurant.  Let's just say... we were "those people" that night.

(On that note: This weekend we were out to eat and two different people that were sat by us right away asked to move to a different area because they didn't want to sit next to any kids... and one of them said it loudly enough for us to hear.  Keep in mind, this was a 20-something couple and they hadn't even sat down for more than 10 seconds.  All I can say, is karma is a b!+ch, fast forward 3 years and they'll have the kid with colic that never shuts up.  :)   There is nothing wrong with having a well behaved kid at a chain family restaurant at 6 pm on a Saturday.  If you want to sit somewhere private, fine that's your choice, but don't be rude about it!  There's no law against parent's getting to enjoy meals out with their kids, and for the most part Jace is almost always a very well behaved and quiet addition to the restaurant... ok I feel like I'm going on and on about it... so I'm done.)

At 15 months Jace also loves: running around outside aimlessly, taking long baths, practicing selective hearing, "talking" to people while we're out and about, mexican food, climbing on furniture, pushing chairs around the kitchen, hugs, brushing teeth, dancing and spinning in circles, stomping his feet, shutting doors, pointing, emptying the dvd cupboard and looking in side each case, and being tickled.  But there are also things he doesn't like very much at all... he's now terrified of swings, he hates having his face wiped off, and hates being picked up when it's time to leave somewhere that he's having fun at.