15 Month Check Up

Whether I want to accept it or not, my little baby isn't a little baby anymore.  We had our 15 month check up on Monday and the Dr says he is as big as a 2 year old :)  He weighed in at 26 lbs!  32.5 inches long.  He's a tall, healthy, smart boy!  The past 3 months since his last visit he gained 4 lbs.  I have a feeling he won't gain that much by or 18 month visit.  He's been getting a bit pickier than I'd care to admit.  I am having somewhat of a difficult time trying to get him to eat vegetables.  The only veggie he will eat with no problem is sweet potato.  Any other veggie has to be hidden.  I hide carrots, celery and onion in his turkey meatloaf "muffins" and in his lentil soup.  Other than that he refuses veggies.  :(  I bought a spaghetti squash that I am going to try to get him to eat, but I am more worried about his green veggies.  He will eat spinach when I make it with beans and pasta, but I don't make that dish very often.  Maybe I should make a big batch and leave it in the fridge so he at least gets some green in him.  It's frustrating, but we will figure it out.  He still eats just about every fruit available, and I keep a wide variety in the house at all times, so that makes me feel a little better, at least.

Aside from our food issues, my little honey is just the sweetest little guy ever.  His new thing to say is "I love you".  Which comes out more like Ah La La.  Every time he says it he gives this little smile like he is so proud of himself.  I absolutely love it.  Every time I tell him I love him I get a Ah La La back and it makes my heart smile!  I can't wait to see what his next word or phrase will be.

Well, the little monkey has decided to make Reggie's bed his own.  No Bueno.  Gotta run!

Little Big Boy

I knew this day would come, when I would look at my baby and not see a baby anymore.  I believe today was that day.  Just picking him up this morning, I knew.  I swear he had grown at least an inch overnight.  He's so tall, his cheeks and face are getting more plump, he walks steadier ~ nearly running!  Today we were about to go upstairs for a nap and instead of crawling upstairs, he reached for my hand.  At first I was confused, but then he put his foot up and started walking up the stairs like a big boy.  Of course, it took us about 10 minutes to climb all the stairs, but the whole way I couldn't stop thinking "this is it, no more baby from here on out".  He is starting to make new sounds and experiment with them.  He knows just about every animal noise, where all his body parts (and mine) are, he feeds himself with a spoon, and now he walks up the stairs.  It's not only those little things that he does, it's also a feeling I get.  He is astonishingly aware of his surroundings, so observant and smart.  I can ask him to find me any object in the house and he knows exactly what I am talking about and where it is.  Tonight I said "can you say Mama, I love you" (I've been teaching him how to say I Love You and it comes out Ah La La) and he did it, he said Mama, Ah La La.  Okay, I cried.  I'm a sap, I know.  I just have never felt such love, such pride.  He is my sun and stars, without him I would whither. 

ANYWAY, I have been fiending to get back to my book, A Game of Thrones, since nap time.  I have 2 chapters left and the next book in the series waiting for me.  I'm addicted, it's awesome!!!

Blahberry Muffin

Update: Blueberry Muffins were a fail. :(  They were ok for a bite or two but the blueberries just ended up in a sludgey puddle at the bottom of each muffin.  It was not very appetizing to look at.  I wonder if I put too many, or if I tweaked the recipe too much.  Oh well, I will try again another time.  I had to make it up to myself and the munchkin, so I made a new batch of the Banana Muffins.  So yummy!

Anyway, other than the muffin fail I have been keeping myself busy by trying to keep up with the little man.  I try to get out of the house every day with him, whether it's to shop or go to the park or at the very least for a walk to the small playground around the corner.  The weather here in AZ is absolutely perfect right now.  mid to high 70's, breezy.  When the sun goes down there is just the right about of chill.  I love it!  I have to soak it all up now before it gets too hot to even leave the house, except to go in the pool, of course.  Ugh, the pool.  I am curious to see how this summer will be with my little maniac in the water.  If the bathtub is any indication of how he will be in the pool, I am in for it!  It will be fun ... and nerve wracking, I'm sure.

Ok, time to brag about my munchkin.  I wonder if every baby is as smart as Dominick, or if I just haven't spent enough time around babies.  He totally amazes me with the things he does! Here are a couple examples.
While a friend of ours was watching him, she gave him a few stackable measuring cups to play with.  He sat and examined them carefully.  Then he took them apart and put them together exactly how they were supposed to go.  On the first try! ha, Ok, maybe that's not totally amazing....but, the other day while we were playing I was sitting on our loveseat, which is raised higher than the couch, and I put his toy on top of my head to tease him.  He stopped, looked at the toy and walked away.  I didn't think too much of it until he came back carrying his little toy chair.  He set it down next to the loveseat and proceeded to use it as a step stool to get onto the couch!  He reached up and grabbed it off my head as if to say "Did you think that would stop me Mom? C'mon, you can do better than that!" I was floored.  Did he really just do that!? haha,  he's a little pisser.
At a playgroup the other day he was following around the bigger kids and picking up the toys they had discarded, trying to hand them to them, thinking they just dropped them.  So cute.  Of course, they just ignored him, which made me sad.  But, kids will be kids, and Moms will be Moms.

I think I will go have one of those banana muffins now and getting some reading done while he sleeps, then it's off to the library to play!!