Henry's 15-Month Update

Henry is 15 months old today, and I really think the past month has brought the most dramatic change in his life thus far. He has blossomed into a full fledged toddler, and the fact that he wears diapers and drinks bottles are about the only thing connecting him to babyhood. I have an app called The Wonder Weeks (there's a book too, but I haven't read it) that talks about all of the mental "leaps" a child makes in their early years. According to research, Henry should have started his current leap 59 weeks after his due date (December 10), which is right around the time we saw the biggest changes in his abilities and personality. I'm going to list some of the signs of this leap he's in, and discuss the ways in which we've seen them displayed in Henry. There are so many amazing new things he's doing!

• Wants to do things by himself (i.e. he only eats properly if he can feed himself, and helping when it's not wanted could result in everything ending up on the floor).

This has become an almost daily struggle at meal times because Henry wants to hold his own spoon and feed himself. We give him a lot of food that he can hold in his hands to eat, but other things like yogurt have to be eaten with a spoon. We'll usually feed him several bites and then give him to the spoon to try. He gets angry when we offer help at times, and has even started shoving our hands away.

Here is Mr. Independent, sitting at the table holding his own yogurt smoothie. Notice the red face from crying to hold the bottle by himself. Not pictured is the spill that happened moments after, when he turned it upside down. 🙈

• Replays the daily domestic business done indoors and out.

Henry is fascinated with sweeping and vacuuming, and got his own broom/mop set and vacuum cleaner for Christmas. He loves to imitate cleaning the floors, as well as wiping down his high chair tray after meals. He'll pull my hairbrushes out of our bathroom drawers and try to brush his hair and mine. He also got a plush tool set for Christmas, and he'll hit things around the house with the hammer.

Just a boy and his vacuum cleaner 😊

• Starts nagging and throwing temper tantrums to get his way.

This has been the biggest (and most frustrating) change! We've had problems in the past with getting Henry into his carseat, but now he will throw fits for lots of reasons; having his diaper changed, getting dressed, having something taken away that he wants to play with, not getting a snack when he wants one, having the garbage can lid locked so he can't pull out trash...😬...the list goes on! He'll throw his head back and cry, and stomp or kick his feet. It's becoming quite a challenge!

Terrible picture, but a tantrum is never pretty. 😜

• Understands the concepts of "mine and yours". 

Oh my goodness. I did not know that this was even a thing for Henry until this past Friday when we had a new friend over to play. Henry went nuts anytime the little girl picked up one of his toys or books. Remember the Mardi Gras beads he loves so much? (See above picture 😜). She had on 2 strands and he grabbed hold of them and started trying to rip them off her neck! I seriously could not believe what a little stinker he was!

• Is mischievous.

Henry is getting a kick out of doing things we tell him not to do, like pulling off his socks. He's also starting pulling his legs to his chest when we change his diaper, and when we try to push them down he laughs his head off. Like, harder than he's ever laughed before! He just thinks it's hilarious to do those things we ask him not to. Although it's impossible for us to be mad when he's enjoying himself so much! :)

As our parenting challenges are getting harder, life with Henry is also becoming more rewarding. He understands SO much of what we say and can follow lots of commands (i.e. "Go find your ball." "Come take a bath." "Bring me your snack cup.") He knows lots of animal sounds, and his vocabulary expands everyday. He says ball, broom, bath, bubbles, book, dog, uh-oh, mama, dada, thank you. He loves to play games like "Peek-a-Boo", "Pat-a-Cake", "This Little Piggy", and "Ride a Little Horsey" and will engage us in playing them. He is amazingly fun and funny, and loves to make us laugh. When someone new comes to our house, he is beside himself with excitement, and makes a huge point of showing off his toys and various abilities. It cracks us up!

I get choked up thinking about how much I love Henry, and how proud I am of everything he's learning. He is so smart, so special, so sweet and loving, and he has brought so much happiness to our family.  It's hard to believe that he's already 15 months old, but at the same time that we've only known him for 15 months. I say it all the time, but it feels like he's been with us forever! We could not love Henry more!