Keeping Me On My Toes At 15 Months

Sam and Anna are now 15 months old!  More than ever, they fit the true definition of "toddlers"- toddling all over and expressing their personalities every second!

Here are their stats at 15 months:  Sam weighs 21 lbs 6 oz (10%ile as usual), and is 30" tall (which I think is an error, because Anna was also measured at 30" tall.  They are not the same height.  This puts him in the 25%ile, where he has been consistently 50%ile for a long time.) His head circumference was 47 cm (50%ile).  Anna weighs 19 lbs 2 oz (5%ile as usual), and is 30" tall (25-50%ile).  Her head circumference was 46 1/2 cm (50-75%ile).

Communication continues to take off around here.  I realized that Anna knows more words that I thought, but that it is just a little harder to understand her pronunciation of words.  I realized that she's been saying "gentle" when playing with our dog or her doll, although it comes out more "geen-gee" and "eat" is "eeee".  A lot of what I thought were strings of sounds, are actually naming words.   Both say "up," Anna says "no" (missed that one a few weeks ago).  Besides the list of words I mentioned 2 weeks ago, Anna now signs shoes and both sign hi (missed that one before) and book.  It is harder and harder to keep track of who says and signs what!  Their receptive communication astounds me as well.  Apparently, Sam has learned that spelling "W-A-L-K" (which we spell so our dog doesn't get overly excited) means we're going for a walk and he'll beeline for the door and his shoes... or maybe it's just the "go for a..." that precedes the W-A-L-K  that gives him a clue.

Anna's fine motor abilities are more advanced than Sam, although I think both are doing well.  They are getting better every day at stabbing things with their fork and putting it into their mouths.  Sometimes Sam picks up the food with his fingers, puts it on the fork or spoon and then eats it- but hey, he's getting the point, at least!  Anna will patiently dip her spoon into yogurt and put it directly into her mouth, while Sam gets impatient and quickly gives up on his spoon and uses his fingers to dip instead.  They really want to use spoons and forks, and sometimes letting them use their own is the only way we can get them to continue eating.  I brought a puzzle home from school last week and Anna has really taken to studying the places where the pieces go (the matching picture is under each puzzle piece.)  She's doing an amazing job matching the correct animal pictures and actually getting the puzzle pieces in their spots.  Both love to scribble-draw on paper with crayons, although the crayons are super tasty to them as well.

After being behind in the tooth tally for the first 14 months, Anna has now pulled ahead with 8 total teeth.  Sam's still holding steady at 6 teeth (and has been since January).  I bet he'll get a bunch all at once, since that's what happened to him last time too.  We're suspicious that Anna's molars are starting to work their way in, as she has been extra grumpy lately.

(But not grumpy while I took these photos!  She was super cheesin' for each shot!)

Walking-wise, Sam is perfecting his walk at the same time he's learning how to run.  I had a feeling my little always-on-the-go guy would learn to run at the same time he'd learn to walk, and I was right.  He loves walking on his own, but loves to hold your hand too.  He walks 99% of the time now.  Anna has shown more interest in walking lately, and she can walk by herself, but she's just not willing to do it without you holding her hand.  She'll get mad if you don't hold her hand and drop down into a temper tantrum.  If you try to carry her instead, she'll throw herself back in a temper tantrum.  Trying to hold two 15 month olds' hands at the same time as they walk (in different directions!) takes a lot of effort! 

One thing Anna loves to do though, is climb up on our couches!  She can scale them in one second.  I'm grateful that she seemed to learn how to get down by turning around and putting her feet first at the same time.  Watching Anna climb up on the couch so often taught Sam how to do it too.  Now one of their favorite pastimes is climbing up onto the couch, rolling around, climbing back down and then doing it all over again.  No injuries yet, but I'm bracing for the first time one of them falls over the armrest or over the back.

Anna has also figured out how to take her diaper off by herself when she's not wearing anything over it.  Because of this recent development, she's peed in some less than desirable places lately.  This is one thing I really hope Sam doesn't pick up from his sister anytime soon!  We also had our first poo-in-the-tub this past week (not too shabby for making it this far with double the babies, I think!) thanks to Anna.

Sam got his second haircut on the day they turned 15 months old, and I'm liking this one much better.  It looks much more like an actual haircut than a trim.  It must be getting easier to handle losing the baby hair, because I actually think his new cut is adorable.  We're almost at the point where Anna's hair is as long as his... but boy does that girl have some curl on the ends.  I'm suspicious that it's going to be all over curly, because even the shorter hair has a little wave to it.  I hope she likes her wavy/curly hair much more than I do.

Ah yes, and the tantrums.  Anna tends to have more than Sam and loves to throw herself backwards.  This has resulted in a few head injuries.  She currently dislikes getting in her car seat (=tantrum) dislikes going for walks in the stroller (=tantrum), dislikes when her brother takes anything she has (=tantrum) dislikes stopping anything she wants to continue doing (=tantrum).  When we left the park the other day, she was not a happy camper and threw herself to the ground... smacking her head on the pavement.  While Anna's tantrums are more because she has to do something she doesn't want, Sam's tantrums are more because he is not getting something he wants. He gets upset when he wants to eat and the food isn't ready yet (=tantrum), when we say we're going outside and we have to take time to put on shoes (=tantrum), when he hears the bathwater running and we won't let him get in right away (=tantrum).

While they play independently very well, it usually has to be in the same room as mama.  The second they notice I'm not there, they will go in search of me.  When Sam is tired, noticing I'm MIA is sometimes the cause of a tantrum too.  This summer I'm going to try to work on playing without me in the same room while they are playing on their own so that I can get ready in the mornings without all of us hanging out in the bathroom.  That is a major drawback of one nap, I think.

We still have an occasional day with two naps, but they seem to be happening less and less now.  Bedtime is around 7:30, and wake up is around 7 am.  I'd love to push both back a little since we don't have to be out the door for daycare this summer.  One-a-day naps are typically 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours long, so total sleeping time at 15 months is 14-15 hours a day.  Although we've now "planned" to do away with Anna's pacifier during sleep a few times now, I'm a wimp and haven't followed through.  The truth is, I honestly don't think she's ready to go without it easily, and whenever we tried to get rid of her swaddle before she was ready, it didn't work until she was ready on her own.

We are still very thankful to have great eaters.  This is one area that I've never had a worry or a concern.  Their total food consumption is down a little, because they want to sit still less and get on with playing again, but I still think they eat enough.  Favorite meat for both is ham, and least favorite is chicken- although they will eat it often.  Sam's favorite fruit is still peaches, Anna's is strawberries.  I can't think of any fruit they don't like.  Favorite vegetables include broccoli, carrots, corn and green beans.  They don't tend to like potatoes unless in fry form.  Like mama, their absolute favorite breakfast is french toast and favorite dinner is lasagna.  When they eat lasagna, I swear they have a hollow leg because they will eat as much as I do.  I will say I did eat a lot of both french toast and lasagna while pregnant, so maybe that's why!

The bond as brother and sister and twins is amazing to see develop at this age too.  They play more and more frequently together.  They help each other, they kiss each other goodnight.  Sam will kiss or hug Anna on request when you say "awww."  I've even witnessed them communicating through sign- once Sam signed "milk" to Anna, and she gave him her sippy cup (they like to trade cups).  They both search each other out when waking up in the morning or at naps- which makes sense to me, because that is the only time they are usually ever apart.  On the other side of things, as they play more together rather than parallel play, they have more scuffles, too.  I try to let them work most of them out on their own, but I step in when it looks like one is about to resort to biting.

My favorite 15 month shot

(diva Anna didn't want Sam hogging her spotlight!)