15 Months - Truly a Toddler

Way back when, I was trying to do monthly updates to track what Owen was up to. That fell by the wayside somewhere around a year, but Owen is still changing so fast. It seems every week he acquires new skills, and makes new discoveries about this amazing world. I love watching him come across a new experiences - he has this awesome face that says, "Hey mom, did you SEE this?" It's pure wonder and awe.

At 15 months, three words to describe Owen:

BUSY. Walking, climbing, shaking, running, kicking, dancing, chasing, wiggling, reading, tossing, laughing, squatting, throwing, splashing... our day is one constant active word.

SNUGGLY. Owen loves his mom. First thing in the morning, he just wants to sit close and read books. It's heart-warming and I wouldn't trade those moments for anything. (Except on some weekend mornings when Scott gets up with Owen and I trade those moments for extra sleep.) The snuggling also comes with a bit of stranger anxiety, but Owen's getting better about being left at the church nursery and gym daycare.

ASSERTIVE. We are certainly on our way toward that tell-tale toddler attitude. The positive word is "assertive." The other words are demanding, frustrated, and angry. Owen threw a pretty good fit yesterday when I wouldn't let him go outside to play bubbles, and he had his first "time-out" last weekend after the third foray into the dog dish.

Owen's language has made a pretty big jump in the last month. A few weeks ago, the only "words" he would say were Dog, Cat, and Duck (and all those sounded strikingly similar). Now, he seems to be picking up new sounds all the time and finally adding some double syllables. I'm not sure if anyone other that Scott and I could translate his babble, but I understand when he says:
Dog, Cat, Duck, Truck, Book, Bubbles, Turtle, Mm-mm (tastes good), Choo-Choo, and other "all boy" noises when pushing cars and trucks around.
He also does signs for Dog, Duck, More, Fish, and gestures for the bottle, binky, and crib.
Note that the words for Mom and Dad are conspicuously missing from this list.

Favorite Activities:
Chasing and tackling Cisco the Cat
Petting the dog
Pulling foam letters out of an empty Kleenex box
Having tissue paper streamers "poured" over his head
Running across big grassy fields
Hiding under blankets
Pushing the stroller around
Wrestling
Playing "ring around the rosey" when "we all fall down"
Getting tickled and laughing, laughing, laughing
Owen is a daredevil. He tries to climb onto everything and often shocks me at what he can haul himself up on. It's probably good he's short and his legs can't reach higher or he'd be up on the couch and probably escaping out of his crib. We've been working hard on the concept of sitting down, or spinning around onto the belly to get down from high objects, and he's FINALLY starting to try it out instead of walking straight off the edge of play structures, slides, or stairs. Yikes!

No longer a baby, Owen is a full toddler. What a kid!