15 Months!

Parker turned 15 months on Friday, July 19. We won't even talk about how crazy that is. You'd think I'd be used to how fast he grows and changes, but I'm not. I am shocked at every milestone and amazed at every development. At 12 months P was just walking. At 15 months he's running... fast! At 12 months his only word was "dada" (which he said beginning at 7 months). At 15 months he says "dada," "dog," "mama," and "bath" (yes, he said them for the first time in that order) regularly and has repeated or said other words (yuck, hot, clock). At 12 months he had 6 teeth. At 15 months he has 8 and more are on their way (any day, hopefully). Some things, however, don't change. P still gives the best hugs, loves Darcy, and could be outside swinging or playing in the water all day. Also at 15 months Parker is:
* Eating as much as me. And I'm being serious. He really isn't picky and eats mostly everything (veggies, meats, pasta, beans, cheese, even Chick-fil-A and frozen pizza), but fruit is by far his favorite. And popsicles.
* A monkey! He is always climbing on or over something.
* Loving bath time. He especially loves when we leave the faucet running and he can stick his face underneath the water.
* Trying to drop a nap. I'm not quite sure how I feel about that, but it looks like he could be down to 1 nap in the near future. He gets 10-11 hours of sleep a night. He's always functioned well on minimum sleep. Lucky us. ;)
* Really figuring out how to actually play with his toys the way they are intended to be used.
* Walking Darcy every day. We load him up in his stroller or wagon and put Darc on her leash and cruise the neighborhood at least once in the morning and once at night. Parker gets as excited as Darcy does when we ask if they want to go for a walk.
* Understanding a lot. He knows a lot words although he can't say them (ex: milk, swing, outside, walk, hug, hungry) and he follows commands like picking up his shoes, carrying items or coming when asked.
* Communicating. Even though he can't say everything he's thinking he uses his little pointer finger a lot to let us know what he wants. He'll walk to the fridge and point or point the direction he wants to go. He can also sign "all done" and "more."
* Waving. At everyone. Even if they're not looking. :)
* Pushing his bubble mower, Melissa and Doug chomp and clack, toy basket, anything really... He gets mad when whatever he's pushing gets stuck for some reason.
* Constantly falling. He's had a couple of injuries. One from falling when running on the tile (busted lip) and one from falling when running on the aggregate (scraped chin). He falls a lot on the concrete, but hardly ever cries, even if he's bleeding.
* Obsessed with our phones. It's so funny because he prefers Keith's Blackberry over my iPhone.
* Dancing, which is really more just bouncing up and down. He'll dance to music or to the sounds of the washer and dryer.
* A future quarterback or pitcher. The boy has an arm on him, which he uses to throw toys to Darcy or his sippy (or whatever else he is holding) when he's mid-tantrum.
* Using utensils. He is actually getting pretty good with a spoon. Not to say it's not messy, but I'm happy to let him fed himself yogurt in the morning while I make my coffee.
* Getting into books. It's always been hard to read P a story because he never sits still, but he's finally getting interested. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See and any of the Pookie books by Sandra Boynton are favorites.
* 22.6 pounds and 30 inches of energy and joy!

We love you and love you and love you and love you, Parker man!