. . . Liam lately (15 months)

Here we are, another month gone by, and Liam is 15 months old! At the risk of sounding like a broken record, it is amazing how much he is growing and learning every day and week! As I did last month, the pictures in this post are some of favorites from the month . . . doesn't he get cuter with each passing day??

Fell asleep in the stroller for the first time in forever -- had to capture it!

Bubbles in the bath!

Here are his stats from his last consultatiebureau visit, although these were from Halloween so he was technically 14 1/2 months old . . . close enough!

Weight: 12 kg (26 lbs. 8 oz.) -- 75th percentile
Height: 83 cm (32.6 inches) -- 90-95th percentile
Head: 48.3 cm (19 inches) -- 75-90th percentile

Roll Tide!

He loves his dog :)

He had a great visit and the doctor was very impressed with how much he's able to do and understand. I was proud of my little guy! One funny story is that the doctor gave Liam a little box of blocks to interact with him and see what he knew. She asked him if he could take a block out of the box and he said "Yeah," picking up a block. She then said, "Can you put the block in the box?" And he said "Yeah," promptly replacing it. Then she said, "Can you give me a block?" holding out her hand . . . his response? "Nah" shaking his head. She cracked up and said, "Wow, he really understands what you say!" I said, "You have no idea!"

One thing that she did notice was that Liam has a heart murmur. He had one at birth, but it went away (I guess until now). We've been to our house doctor and also the pediatrician at the hospital to listen to his heart as well, and everyone agrees that it's most likely an innocent murmur, one that can come and go and many people live with their whole life. We still opted to have an echo done in a few months to rule out any kind of defect or physical problem with his heart, but I think my mind is at ease for now. Prayers are always appreciated though!

Reading a magazine in the doctor's office

My poor guy :(  But he actually loved all the stickers and attention :)

 Liam is in mostly 80-86 clothes (12-18 months and 18 month). He still wears size 21/22 shoes (I think size 4-5 in the States?), and is in size 5 diapers. I can tell his growing has slowed down, though he is thinning out a lot more since he started walking and running everywhere!

Dad did his 'do that day 

Liam is becoming a more balanced eater and trying more things, although his first instinct is always disgust, haha! He will make a face like it's the worst thing he's put in his mouth, but then if you ask him if it's good, he'll nod his head yes! His favorite food right now is roasted carrots that I season with thyme and little bit of olive oil -- oh my goodness I swear he's going to turn into Bugs Bunny! He loves them so much! He is pretty much eating what we have for dinner, with a few exceptions if it's too spicy or something like that.

"Someone" got into the chocolate pie in the fridge!

Having fun with his best friend!

Liam's sleeping has stayed pretty much consistent, although there was one week this month where he was sleeping a lot more than normal . . . sleeping from 8 pm - 9:15 am and then taking a 2.5 hour nap in the afternoons! I was feeling quite lucky, but unfortunately I think he was a little under the weather and fighting off a stomach bug that Keith and I had. Now he's back to normal, sleeping from 8 pm to 8 or 8:30 am and taking a 1.5 - 2 hour nap in the afternoons.

"Nigh nigh Mur"

Watching football and resting with Dad -- melt my heart

As I mentioned before, Liam understand SO much of what we say and responds with "yeah" or "nah/no" with about 95% accuracy. It is incredible how much of his personality is coming out now that he can tell us things. I sometimes feel like I can have a full on conversation with him even though he's not using too many words yet.

He loves when we exercise together!

Our visit to the aquarium in Oberhausen, Germany

In addition to the nine words I listed last month, Liam is also saying "nigh nigh" (night night), "Mur" (for Murphy), Jack Jack (although it sounds more like "Ja Ja", for his friend Jackson), "Shjees" ("Jesus"), "Memo" (Elmo), and "bippo" (hippo). His new animals sounds that he's learned are cat, bird, elephant, and lion / tiger / dinosaur / bear, which all are basically a roar. :)

Abby and Liam pretending to sleep

As far as his signing goes, he is not only adding to his repertoire (with motorcycle, duck, grapes, and drink, among others), he is also now making up his own signs for stuff, which I find hilarious. This is partly my fault because one day we were looking at an animal book and pointing out all the different animals. When he wanted to know the sign for elephant I couldn't remember what it was, so I just raised my arm like an elephant trunk and made a trumpeting sound -- so now that's what Liam does even though that's not technically the right sign. And for some reason whenever we are talking about or looking at hippos, Liam always says "bippo" and taps his head . . . I have no idea where he got this motion from, but oh well! I can even see him wanting to do signs for words but not knowing how (so he just does something with his hands) and it's hard because I don't know them all either yet -- but it's so great that he's trying to communicate with us so much.

Playing in the leaves

Discovering his shadow

Now that it's fall, Liam is having such a great time playing in the leaves and pointing out all the colors in the trees. Last year he was a pumpkin and a pea in the pod for Halloween, and this year I thought no costume could be more appropriate than a DUCK! He absolutely loved his costume and would "quack quack" on command (most of the time!).

Trick-or-treating with Dad

We spent part of Halloween weekend in Monschau, Germany, exploring a cute little mountain town.

My baby is slowly (quickly?!) turning into a little boy with so much personality it kills me. Keith and I are constantly in awe of him and spend most evenings recounting the funny things he did during the day. It's hard to imagine life before August 15, 2011.

My heart is full.

~Jessi