15 Months Old

Yesterday Dax had his 15-month check-up with Dr. Petropoulos. He is 31 inches tall (50th percentile - yay!), but only 19 lbs 12 oz (2nd percentile - boo!). She said he was doing great though, and she made some suggestions to help get more meat on this kid's bones. She also said it would be OK to leave him forward-facing in his car seat (kids are supposed to be 20 lbs before they can ride forward). Thank goodness, because he really likes it.

He got three vaccines - they are very hard on Mommy.

We also talked about some ways to encourage Dax to sleep past 5:15 in the morning (NOT Mommy's finest hour). And this morning, we tried something, and, believe it or not, it worked! We never picked him up, told him it was still time to sleep, and left the room. After 10 minutes Duane went in to comfort him and walked out again with Dax still sitting up in his crib. But, we didn't hear another peep out of him until 7:00am! It was a miracle! And, it gets better: Dax still took an hour-and-a-half morning nap! He was in a great mood after his nap, too. However, he fought his afternoon nap, so we'll see what the repercussions are. But I am hopeful.

Dax also got another haircut. I was tired of fighting with the cowlicks, so I had the stylist use clippers all over. I couldn't believe how much hair she cut off! Duane really likes the new cut, but I'm torn. It's definitely easier, but it makes Dax look older. I may have her keep it a little longer on top next time. At least we know he's ready for his debut at an Aggie game :) All he needs is a white shirt and white pants to look like a yell leader.



Yeah, we explained that you're supposed to PEEL the banana before you eat it. He is crazy about bananas. He will eat 2 in a sitting. And at every meal, he signs that he wants one. I have to hide them because if he sees them, it's all over. Speaking of signs, here are some of the signs Dax reproduces unprovoked:
banana
eat
more
please

help (sometimes gets confused with "please")

milk
water (although it looks a lot like eat)
cheese (another very popular sign)
baby
dog
elephant (comes with the required "trumpet" sound)

He'll also mimic other signs, if we show him, and he understands a few others (like "bread" and "flower"). As for speaking, his most popular words are "dada" and "all done" (sounds like "ah dah"). He will carry on a "conversation" (with either us or with the dogs) in his babble. It's really funny to see him "tell" the dogs to get out of the front room (where they're not allowed), along with a wave of his arm to banish them back to the hallway. Today he did a pretty good version of "outside", but he usually just grabs my hand and drags me to the door and bangs on it when he wants to go out to play. Which is pretty often. Luckily the weather is cooling off a bit, so it's not so painful for Mom.