Levi: 15 Months

Our little man will be 15 months old tomorrow! This past month, we definitely saw him learn several new things as well as display that stubborn little personality of his a bit more. Here is a recap of Levi's 14th month:

EATING
Levi is still drinking 5-6 oz per milk from his sippy cup, 4 times throughout the day. I had been slightly warming it in the microwave, but this month, I only did that for his first sippy cup of the day. Now, he drinks it cold from the fridge, usually alongside his lunch, snack or dinner.

He has been pretty adventurous with his solids this month! Some things he tried for the first time:

Collard greens (He could not get enough! Yuck!)
Meatloaf (Not a fan at all)
Waffles
Broccoli and cauliflower stuffed shells
Sauteed squash and zucchini (first time having these not-pureed)

This month, Levi started refusing his oatmeal in the morning. It was kind of frustrating, but I kind of get it. He had had oatmeal every morning for almost 8 months straight--so the dude just wanted a change. I don't blame him. So now I've been making him a real breakfast each morning, but the extent of my "making" is scrambling an egg on the stove top. I've been rotating frozen waffles, Cheerios with fruit, and scrambled eggs throughout the week. He seems to enjoy the variety much more!

Another change this month is Levi's independence concerning his food. He really does not like me to feed him from a spoon anymore--instead he wants to use his hands or attempt using his own utensils. The other night, he did actually use his own fork, and while he was haphazardly stabbing at his tray, he did manage to pick up a few pieces of food and eat them off the fork.

Levi also loves to feed Brian and I now. He'll just hold up whatever he is eating and expect us to just eat it from his hand. He thinks it is hilarious when we actually do. This happens A LOT when he doesn't really care for what he is eating. Surprise, surprise! Unfortunately, he isn't really into the dried mango anymore. He got sick of it after several days in a row and it got to the point where I would find sticky, slobbery mango pieces on the floor because he stopped sucking on it. So we're taking a break from that.

SLEEPING
Not really anything new here! Little man goes to bed around 7 PM each night and he has actually been waking at 7:30-7:45 AM each morning. His first nap of the day has gotten a bit shorter because of that (only 1 hour instead of 1.5), but it's nice to be able to sleep in a bit on these cold winter mornings!

Every once in a while, he will take his 3rd nap of the day (usually between 4 and 5 PM), but it's pretty rare these days. Once he wakes from his second nap around 2:30, he can usually make it to his bedtime without a problem.

WAKE TIME 
Since starting to sleep in most mornings, his wake time has actually shortened before his first nap of the day. Most days, he is ready to go back to bed by 8:30 AM, meaning that he is only awake for 45-60 minutes. Kind of weird to me, considering his age, but I can't complain. Before his second nap of the day, he is usually awake for 2 hours.

Some of Levi's favorite toys at this time are trucks, puzzles, his soccer ball and BOOKS. He will sit and look through his books all day long. It's so fun to see how much he loves them. He has also learned how trucks "work" and he will push them along the floor on their wheels.

MOTOR SKILLS
Levi has learned to "cruise" around furniture, but he is still not walking. He is actually the only one in his nursery class that can't walk yet :( He just seems so content with crawling still--and believe me, he is fast! Time will tell.

VOCABULARY
Levi's favorite syllable is "Da." He'll crawl around the house all day saying it--whether he is looking for Brian or not. He also says some other things on occasion:

"Da-da," or something that sounds very close to "Daddy"
"Hi"
"Buh-bye"
"Brush"
"Sock"

He knows a lot of other words and gets really excited when we say them (book, bath, let's go out, church), but he still hasn't quite figured out how to say them. Oh, and still no "ma-ma" either. Sigh...

SICKNESS
Of course, little man and I both developed colds again this month. Story of my life! So we've both been congested and having sleep troubles throughout the night. Brian and I will occasionally hear Levi coughing late into the night, but luckily, it hasn't been to the point where it keeps him up or where he needs my comfort.

DIAPERING
One change in this area for Levi's 14th month is his nighttime diapering. After many consecutive mornings of me finding him wet in his crib, I knew we needed to make a change. I'm not sure why all of the sudden he started peeing more at night (since he is still drinking the same amount each day), but it was becoming an issue. He was nearing the maximum weight for the current rise of his cloth diapers, so I expanded them to the highest rise setting. Then, instead of using 1 large and 1 small insert in his nighttime diapers, I added 1 extra small one. Since doing this, I haven't found a wet baby in the morning, yet his diapers have been completely full. Success!

OUTINGS/EVENTS
We finally had some pretty "warm" days this month--as in 40's and 50's! That really inspired us to get out to the park just a block over. Levi loves the swings and he was happy to be reunited with them after 4 long months!

Brian and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary this month, so Levi went to his Tia's house for the evening. Tia (Auntie) Angelica is Brian's manager at work, which seems like the weirdest situation, but she is so so sweet to Levi. She has three teenage daughters, so they all love to babysit him together and basically dote on him for a few hours straight. In Angelica's eyes, Levi can do no wrong--we always get a report that he was "perfect the entire time." She is currently teaching him how to say Ciao, which means goodbye in her native country of Chile.

Our baby boy's 2nd Valentine's Day was this month as well! Since our wedding anniversary is on February 13th, I consider Levi to be my valentine on the 14th. However, he had another valentine this year as well...

Lastly, we did go to the zoo this month as well! First time in 2014...and it was still pretty chilly. But we had a fun time with friends, Carly and Peter, looking at the few animals that were out in their habitats. And look at these two cuties below!

Overall, this month had it's challenges, but it was rewarding. We are very blessed by Levi and we sure can't wait for some Spring weather to enjoy the outdoors with him in this new phase of his life!