a peek inside: Little Mr. {15 Months!}

Our sweet, loving little boy is growing up! The past three months have been tough in some respects but also a lot of fun. Owen has become even more fun-loving and energetic and constantly pushes us to be better parents (how often he outsmarts us is insane!)

Owen officially turned 15 months on February 16 and had his well child check-up just yesterday. (Poor guy was a hot mess despite not needing to get shots - was so glad we came in the week prior to get those!)

15-Month Appointment (2/20/2015)

Weight: 20 lb 13 oz

Height: 31 inches

I must admit, I am OVER THE MOON with Owen's stats. I was a nervous wreck the past few months with his weight, activity levels, eating habits and being sick for so often and long. At his 12-month appointment he was a teeny tiny 18 lbs 11 oz. We added more fats to his diet like avocados, butter and olive oil and more of yogurt and cheese. Well then he went through a solid 2 weeks of not eating quite right – probably due to teething but not actually popping any teeth. On the day his sweet cousin Liza was born, we weighed him again. So on December 29 he weighed in at 18 lbs 12 oz. Imagine my internal freakout. I was pleased that despite not eating quite as well he hadn’t lost any weight but only gained one ounce. Really? And then to go the next 3-4 weeks with sickness after sickness, I was a hot mess. This winter has been NO JOKE. Stomach flu reduced his eating to literally just formula and then oatmeal or toast for an entire week. Poor guy! When the nasty cold hit right after that (and subsequently turned into bronchitis and an ear infection a week later) his eating did improve but again was just a little less than I had hoped for. When he was finally feeling a wee bit better – he ate like a champ. THANK GOODNESS. I was calmed a bit and didn’t fret as much though I was convinced he dropped in weight so was simply putting it back on. Oh how I was mistaken. On February 6, I took him in to get shots and our little champ weighed in at 20 lbs 6 oz. I suppose those days at daycare where he ate a crap ton of what they provide in addition to the entire avocado we provided did the trick :) This just proves that no matter what happens, as long as you provide your child a good assortment of foods and the proper amounts of milk (though we stuck with formula until just a few weeks ago because it holds a bit more calories than whole milk), that child will be just fine.

These days, Owen eats really well. He eats just about everything we put in front of him but seems to gravitate towards cheese first 95% of the time. If it seems Owen refuses a particular item, he'll often warm up to it after awhile and give it a try. We haven't yet truly introduced utensils because we don't often get the chance to eat right along with him on a consistent basis. By the time we get home, it's nearly 5:15-5:30. He goes to bed early so we often feed him right after we get home. My goal during maternity leave is to have dinner ready for everyone so that we CAN eat together and have Owen see us using forks and spoons. I look forward to the mess though I can't imagine it being much worse than now since he likes to throw food on the ground occasionally :)

As you can see, Owen is a happy, messy and goofy eater!

And sometimes, he seems to just eat and eat and then eat some more! You'll notice we added grapes in the third photo!

Owen is also a very playful boy. He likes to play hide-and seek, loves to dance and wiggle, talk on the phone, play with cars and chew. Chew on everything. Still. :)

He's super adventurous and loves to explore though he's outsmarting us at every turn and can climb on just about everything we've used as barricades. Yes, we've finally put up some baby gates that he hasn't yet figured out how to open or destroy. I'm sure that day will come.

he no longer needs any sort of step stool. yikes

He's ticklish in so many places and loves to make us giggle too. His funny faces are almost too cute.

Owen also thinks Peach is his very best friend though I'm not convinced Peaches feels the same way.

Owen can for sure say dada and sneaks in mama here and there. Beyond that, he's using more non-verbal communication - pointing, waving and making tons of funny faces. He's starting to mimic us too which has been fun. We're working on sheep and lion noises right now.

One thing he hasn't quite grasped yet is the baby bump. He thinks it's a toy or just tries to pull my shirt down. Silly boy.

Owen has had some new things pop into his life as well. He got two new teeth at the end of January/early February - the lower left and right lateral incisors. Owen is now also transitioning in to a new room at daycare which has been a little difficult. He's not a huge fan of the room just yet but is slowly making progress to be his happy normal self. He's becoming a bit more shy with strangers too so that may be part of the struggle. He's taking all sippy cups during the day and taking one bottle before bed. Owen's also wearing shoes more consistently because that's the only way they serve them at daycare - no shoes, no service!

Owen is sleeping a solid 12 hours as he has been for quite some time but his daytime routine now more closely resembles his daycare routine. He wakes around 7:20, eats breakfast at daycare around 8, lunch at 10:45, naps at noon (home it can last up to 2+ hours, daycare - we're lucky if it's an hour!), snack at 2:45, dinner at 5:30, bottle and bed at 7.

And perhaps the most exciting thing this past three months is meeting some pretty special people!