15 months!
In the midst of all of this Advent, Ben has hit 15 months old! He seems to have had a developmental growth spurt in the past 4-6 weeks.
There really aren't pediatricians here who do well-child appointments with the developmental checklists that we have in the US. So I keep track myself with Dr Google. I also weigh and measure them at home to make sure they are growing well. Thus far, I am blessed to have extremely average kids. The development checklists are typically divided into 3 parts. At [this age] most babies can [do this thing], some babies can..., and a few babies can...
At 12 months, Ben met all of the "mosts" and one or two of the "somes," but none of the "a fews." I checked 15 months last week and was shocked that he has suddenly met all of the mosts, somes and a fews for 15 months. I checked 16 months, and he met those, too. And 17 months, too. He actually has a good start on his 18 month "mosts." I think this is due to the fact that he copies Nate. And he had a mental growth spurt.
He is walking forward and backwards. He runs. He climbs up and down without falling (most of the time). He feeds himself with a fork and spoon. I started making a list of words he says. I stopped around 30 words. So far they are all English but one, lala (sleep). He builds towers with Legos. He pretends to do household chores (loves sweeping). He is suddenly not a baby at all. He had been drinking water out of a straw cup for a long time, but still had his milk in a bottle. Sometime in November, he went from 3 bottles of milk a day to only 2. I tested giving him his milk in a sippy cup, but he didn't like it. We tried again a week later, he took it, and we put the bottles away. He still likes to cuddle when he's drinking milk, which is fine by me! The snuggly part is just as important as the tummy-filling part.
He is 22 lbs 4 oz (25th-50th percentile), and 31.5" tall (50th-75th percentile). His head circumference is 19.25" (>90th percentile). He has stayed roughly in the same percentiles as 3 months ago, which means he's growing well!
He should be wearing 18 months clothes, but I decided to only bring the next size clothes for the boys when we moved here, though we still had all of Nate's old clothes. I ended up bringing the next 2 sizes for Ben because babies change sizes so fast, so we had 9m and 12m clothes. Nate was in 24m/2T (which I consider to be the same size, though anyone will tell you 2T should be taller and slimmer, depending on the maker this is not always true in the real world - Nate wore the sizes simultaneously) when we moved, and we brought 3T clothes for him to grow into. 18m is the only size we didn't bring when we moved here. It also happens to be a difficult size to find in Kenya - 12m is size 1, 24m/2T is 2, 3T=3, and so on. 18m is size 1/2 and rare. We've been able to find 2 or 3 shirts and 1 pair of pants. Ben's thin enough that he can still wear 12m shorts with no problem. On top, he's still wearing his larger 12m shirts (as above) and his smaller 24m/2T (as below, with 12m shorts). I guess if we had to be missing 1 size entirely from our boy clothes wardrobe, 18m is the best one.
He has 11 teeth. I think his lingering last molar is the same one of Nate's that came in a month after the other 3. He is teething hardcore, though, so I hope that means it's coming soon. Like this week. Would love to get that out of the way before our long trip to TX!
He is trying to cut out his morning nap, but wakes up so early, most days he can't really last until lunchtime without a nap. If I let him, he will still sleep 2 hours in the morning, which means he can't sleep in the afternoons, which means he is ready for bed at 4:30 in the afternoon. I remember Nate being much better at setting his own naptimes. With Ben, I have been breaking my "let the baby sleep" rule in the mornings. On days when he has to have a morning nap, I let him sleep no longer than an hour so that he will still take a good afternoon nap, and we can all have a peaceful evening. Of course, in 2 weeks, we'll be in TX, jet-lagged, and all of this goes out the window.
So there he is. My 15 month old (not so much a) baby.
There really aren't pediatricians here who do well-child appointments with the developmental checklists that we have in the US. So I keep track myself with Dr Google. I also weigh and measure them at home to make sure they are growing well. Thus far, I am blessed to have extremely average kids. The development checklists are typically divided into 3 parts. At [this age] most babies can [do this thing], some babies can..., and a few babies can...
At 12 months, Ben met all of the "mosts" and one or two of the "somes," but none of the "a fews." I checked 15 months last week and was shocked that he has suddenly met all of the mosts, somes and a fews for 15 months. I checked 16 months, and he met those, too. And 17 months, too. He actually has a good start on his 18 month "mosts." I think this is due to the fact that he copies Nate. And he had a mental growth spurt.
He is walking forward and backwards. He runs. He climbs up and down without falling (most of the time). He feeds himself with a fork and spoon. I started making a list of words he says. I stopped around 30 words. So far they are all English but one, lala (sleep). He builds towers with Legos. He pretends to do household chores (loves sweeping). He is suddenly not a baby at all. He had been drinking water out of a straw cup for a long time, but still had his milk in a bottle. Sometime in November, he went from 3 bottles of milk a day to only 2. I tested giving him his milk in a sippy cup, but he didn't like it. We tried again a week later, he took it, and we put the bottles away. He still likes to cuddle when he's drinking milk, which is fine by me! The snuggly part is just as important as the tummy-filling part.
 |
| note the dirt all over the left side of his face |
He is 22 lbs 4 oz (25th-50th percentile), and 31.5" tall (50th-75th percentile). His head circumference is 19.25" (>90th percentile). He has stayed roughly in the same percentiles as 3 months ago, which means he's growing well!
He should be wearing 18 months clothes, but I decided to only bring the next size clothes for the boys when we moved here, though we still had all of Nate's old clothes. I ended up bringing the next 2 sizes for Ben because babies change sizes so fast, so we had 9m and 12m clothes. Nate was in 24m/2T (which I consider to be the same size, though anyone will tell you 2T should be taller and slimmer, depending on the maker this is not always true in the real world - Nate wore the sizes simultaneously) when we moved, and we brought 3T clothes for him to grow into. 18m is the only size we didn't bring when we moved here. It also happens to be a difficult size to find in Kenya - 12m is size 1, 24m/2T is 2, 3T=3, and so on. 18m is size 1/2 and rare. We've been able to find 2 or 3 shirts and 1 pair of pants. Ben's thin enough that he can still wear 12m shorts with no problem. On top, he's still wearing his larger 12m shirts (as above) and his smaller 24m/2T (as below, with 12m shorts). I guess if we had to be missing 1 size entirely from our boy clothes wardrobe, 18m is the best one.
He has 11 teeth. I think his lingering last molar is the same one of Nate's that came in a month after the other 3. He is teething hardcore, though, so I hope that means it's coming soon. Like this week. Would love to get that out of the way before our long trip to TX!
He is trying to cut out his morning nap, but wakes up so early, most days he can't really last until lunchtime without a nap. If I let him, he will still sleep 2 hours in the morning, which means he can't sleep in the afternoons, which means he is ready for bed at 4:30 in the afternoon. I remember Nate being much better at setting his own naptimes. With Ben, I have been breaking my "let the baby sleep" rule in the mornings. On days when he has to have a morning nap, I let him sleep no longer than an hour so that he will still take a good afternoon nap, and we can all have a peaceful evening. Of course, in 2 weeks, we'll be in TX, jet-lagged, and all of this goes out the window.
So there he is. My 15 month old (not so much a) baby.
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