Last week we had Zach's 15 month check up with Dr. Ben, who endears himself to me a little more every time we go. I honestly couldn't have asked for a better pediatrician (okay, so MY pediatrician, Dr. Meyer, was pretty awesome, but he's retired... and Dr. Ben is actually in the same practice that Dr. Meyer still owns, so yeah). Zach's stats: Still a skinny little guy at 20 lbs on the dot, which leaves him on his 3rd percentile curve. Height is 30 inches, which is in the 25th percentile. Head size is 18.5 inches, which is in the 65th percentile... he has to have someplace to keep that huge brain of his! Speaking of which, the doctor had to pick his jaw up off the ground when I started to read the list of words that Zach says on a regular basis. He tells me his vocabulary and speech skills are equal to that of a 21 month old... always great to hear that your child is super advanced! In fact, here is the list of words and phrases Zach says, just so you don't think I'm lying!
Hi, Momma, Daddy, Dog, Good, "good dog", Cat, Kitty, Buddy, Bubba (Grandma Carol's cat), That, "I did it" or "I did that", "What's that?", Bye, "Hi Daddy" (for when he's pretending to talk on the phone), Hey, Book, Moo (instead of cow), Duck, Quack, Woof (this one is new as of this week actually), Mine, Eat, Eyes (which is usually followed by him poking the nearest adult in an eye for demonstration), Hot, "night night" (for when he's ready for naptime or bed... yes, I have a child that ASKS to go to sleep!). Those little sentences are something he's supposed to be doing by two, so I'm pretty sure we're on the right track there! I fully expect someday for him to just say a longer sentence out of the clear blue, just to mess with me. Every day he is combining more of those words into short sentences. For instance, "book mommy" when I'm not paying attention to him to his liking, and he'll usually punctuate that one by hitting me with whatever book he wants me to read to him. He's quite demanding for a fifteen month old!
He can also use sign language a little bit. He can sign "more", "milk", "eat", "please", "thank you", and "all finished". He's even figured out how to put together "more please" to ask me for more of something, usually food.
We also got him the Your Baby Can Read program (okay, we downloaded the DVDs off the internet, but still!) and have started with the first disc in that series. Already he's getting better at following some of the commands in the DVD... "arms up", "clap", and "wave" are the ones he does really well with. We capitalized on the "arms up" command during the Ohio State football game last weekend, and taught him to do it when we yell TOUCHDOWN. It's really stinkin' cute. Gotta love those baby tricks! But I digress. We don't really care if he learns to read early or anything, but it's an interesting experiment nonetheless.
Another cute baby trick he's learned recently is how to blow kisses to someone. It started when he was flirting with the lady at the table next to us when we were out to lunch with Great Grandma Helen last Friday. She blew a kiss to him as she left, and he did it back. He had never done that for me before! I said this and he turned around and planted a big "kiss" (which is just a scrunchy face with a wrinkled nose at this point) on my cheek to make me feel better. Now he'll blow kisses to just about anyone, with a big "muah!" noise to go with it. It's so cute, I could melt!
Oh, and he loves to do the motions for "Itsy Bitsy Spider", and if you do them too he'll reward you with a round of applause at the end of the song. He also knows the "head" part of "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes"... which is where he got the "Eye" from, as well as pointing to ears, mouth and nose when asked. His favorite is definitely pointing to eyes though, which he does with so much gusto you're lucky if you don't get away with a scratched cornea! It's cute, but OW!
Lately too he has discovered how to pinch and hit. Those things usually accompany a temper tantrum, which he is also a little advanced on. He will throw himself to the ground, kicking and screaming, quite literally, if he doesn't get something he wants. If you pick him up during one of these fits, that's when you're likely to get pinched or hit. We're trying to teach him that the word "ouch" means something negative, but he just thinks it's funny, even if you add a sad face along with saying it. Not sure how we're going to get around that hurdle as parents. Ah, how we do love a challenge though!
So there is the real update I had for you. But I'll include the full size picture from last weekend's gameday anyways, because I have some cute boys :) I can't believe how much Zach looks like a full blown KID these days! Where did my little baby go?
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