15 months

We are being slow to get that Lo's records transferred to his new pediatrician (ah the headache of changing healthcare providers), so he has yet to get a 15 month well-baby visit. But he'll be turning 16 months next week, so we wanted to document a few of the 15 month fun facts before they get too out of date. When he visited urgent care last week for his ear infection, he weighed in at 31 lbs, but that is the only stat I know for him right now. He still seems biggish for his age, though slimming down. One of the main changes I've noticed with this age is that our baby is more conscious of us trying to direct him and I often observe his desire to please us. I don't know a better way to explain. But here's a story to illustrate: Jerry wrapped this towl around our baby in a "Buddhist monk fashion," and the old Lo would have shaken off the towl in order to more easily gleefully run around nekked. But the New & Improved 15-month Lo seemed to understand that we were attempting to pose him and just went along with it.

Which is also a useful trait when we try to get professional photos. Here's one of his 15 month photos. For this milestone we just did the coupon cheapie kind of pics at Sears, but there were a few that turned out adorable enough. As the photo may suggest, that Lo still loves his basketball, and still uses his trademark word for it, "Dome." He knows how to speak about 30 words so far, (I was writing them all down but got behind so I'm not sure of the final count), though he often says a word for just a few days and then it seems he gets bored with it and moves on to practice another word or two, at a time etc. And he often still just communicates with emphatic babbling or facial expressions/gestures. He says a few words regularly in Chinese: "Nai Nai" for milk, "Deng Deng" for light (a flashlight is his favorite toy), and hmm...it seems like there were more but I'm not thinking of them at the moment. Rats. Wish I'd done better recording. Here is one of my favorites of his new English words: "Knock Knock." He says this phrase while rapping his knuckles on a book to make a knocking noise, and he pronounces it so clearly and cutely. We'll have to try to get it on camera, though I'm not hopeful since he is notorious for noticing and foiling our efforts when we are trying to catch him on film.

This month he became an official "stacker," and as the video shows, he doesn't just like stacking blocks; he was stacking his cups at mealtime. He has even tried stacking the shampoo bottles in the bathtub. Oh, and he is getting better and better at spooning food into his mouth independently. He still makes a mess most of the time, but I'm impressed by how much food actually makes it into his mouth.
He imitates us big time. Obviously Jerry and I have been exercising regularly ;) as evidenced by the way Lo knows how to use the treadmill from watching our efforts.

We sort of dropped off on doing baby signing, I suppose because I am trying to focus more on Chinese. But that Lo still uses the old signs quite a bit, especially "food," "more," "please," and "done." He also picks up signs all on his own, either just from watching his friends or from reading a library book. For instance, he started doing the sign for "bib" consistently after seeing that one once in a book, and it isn't a sign I would have ever cared to teach him just because it seems not very useful, but oh well. And he does the sign for "stars" a lot now after watching other kids do it at nursery while we sang "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." The cutest new baby sign he started doing this month is one to express "Where did it go?" He made up a game where he hides an object, then asks "Where did it go?" holding his hands palm up out to his sides--shrugging. Anyway, he makes this quizzical sound at the same time, and then abruptly produces with a flourish the "missing" object. He even uses this sign to ask where people are, like after Jerry leaves for work, Lo Lo asks me "where did he go?" with his sign and question noise.

He loves to pray, and folds his arms all by himself sometimes even before we ask. He knows the routine when we sit down to eat! It is amazing to see him grow and learn. What a joy to have this child in our home.

He also loves reading books. One day I decided to count the books we read. But I lost count around 17. Anyway, it was a lot. Somewhere around 40 total is my guess. We read All. Day. Long. It feels like I don't know what else to do with him sometimes, so we just read a book. Some recent favorite titles of that Lo: The Napping House, (he makes all kinds of cute noises, like fake screams as the people fly through the air as he points out various details in the illustrations) and The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear. He gets so delighted about this one, laughing out loud at the mouse's scared face.

Since starting to attend Nursery, that Lo has gotten really into finger plays. He does the actions to "Itsby bitsy (eensy weensy?) Spider" and also really enjoys "Along Comes the Crocodile/No More Monkeys Swinging in the Tree" song/actions.

Another thing Lo Lo enjoys: undressing himself. He pulls off his socks as fast as I can put them on, and has even removed his pants and/or diaper on occasion.

He also identifies body parts. When asked to find his tou fa (hair) he grabs his hair and holds it up. When asked to find his bi ze (nose) he grabs MY nose. And he says the word "eye" while poking himself in the eye. Also knows du qi (belly button). Probably there are a few more I should be listing; he really seems to understand most of what we say to him in both English and Chinese. But this post is getting long enough, so I'll quit now...

Anyway, to sum it up, 15 months is a fun age. Looking forward to more fun times to come. =)