My Fifteen Month-Old

WOW - James is fifteen months old today! I'm sure many of you moms out there with kids older than that will read this and think "I totally remember when (insert child's name here) was fifteen months!". You will be thinking that because it is such a FUN and interesting stage with tonnes of learning. He can walk, run, dance, clap, hide, sing, and talk. It is incredibly fun to sit and watch him learn. You can almost hear those little brain gears churning when he sets his mind to something. Yesterday he was kept busy with books. Sometimes he would sit down with one, and it would look like he was reading it. Other times, he would try to pile them up to make a tower, or stand them up on their sides along the table. It is so very cute to watch! He is also copying us more and more. I'll do something, and then later see him do the same thing and it reminds me how careful I have to be with my actions and speech! He already knows a lot of my dance moves... scary. He is also really starting to talk more too. He will often ask me to "hide... peek" these days. That means I have to hide behind the curtains until he comes to peek at me.

Just yesterday he pointed at the toilet and said "pee". I always make a big fuss if he watches me going to the bathroom, and I'll say "Yay! Mommy went pee on the potty! Mommy is a good girl, she went pee on the potty". I was so excited that he seemed to know that the toilet was for pee. Later in the evening he kept saying "Pee! Pee!". So I said, "Okay James, let's go pee on the potty then". I stripped him down, and sat him on the toilet. He didn't seem to mind, but he didn't go pee. Just as he stepped off the toilet onto the floor he went pee! I laughed so hard, because I was so proud that he knew that he had to pee. Needless to say, I ordered a potty online today from Toys 'R Us. It should be here in a couple of days.

He is also getting to be a big boy in other ways too. He only gets one bottle a day, which is in the morning. He will cry if he does not get a bottle then, even if we try with a sippy cup. Anyway, he now goes to sleep at night with no bottle and no rocking. I'm very proud of him, because he actually did it with very little crying on the first night we tried it! He is still eating mostly pureed baby foods though. If anyone has ever had a child who didn't seem interested in moving on to table foods - please let me know! He loves playing with Mega Blocks, balls, and his Playskool basketball net. Of course, he would happily trade in all those toys if we would just chase him nonstop all day.

James is such a joy - really, we just can't get enough of him. Ryan and I have spent countless hours just watching him, and we keep saying it over-and-over again, "He is the best thing EVER!". Recently someone asked me how many children we would like to have. This was a question that came during a discussion about the miscarriage. I had to honestly say to her that right now, all I can think about is how blessed I am to have JAMES. If God blesses us with more children, I will be grateful - but for now I just want to count the one big blessing that I already have, my little boy. I don't want to forget the miracle that he is, and I don't want to focus too much on what we don't have. For now I am just hugging him extra tight, and loving every second that I get to spend with him.