Fifteen Months Old

This little guy will officially be fifteen months old tomorrow. That's a year and a quarter! Okay, so maybe that's no milestone, but fifteen months sure sounds like a lot to me.

Off the top of my head, I don't think there have been any major developments this month - still no "real" words, no more teeth that I've discovered (though I think he has been teething), and he's still unable to solve a simple mathematical equation. But, I feel like he's really matured a lot in other ways. His comprehension is ever-increasing. He's learned that a crack in the sidewalk is not the same thing as a step, so he doesn't need to get on all fours and crawl off of it, and he's also learned that if it is indeed a step, he still doesn't need to get on all fours and crawl off of it - there's this magical thing called stepping down that you can do if you slow down, are really careful, and hold Mommy's or Daddy's hand. He's getting better at getting into things in much messier ways than before. For instance, we went from opening cabinets, to opening cabinets and pulling Mommy's lotions out, to opening cabinets and pulling Mommy's lotions out and "hiding" them, to opening cabinets and pulling Mommy's lotions out and "hiding" them and then finding them and opening the lids. So far, there have been no major messes to report, only messy hands. SO FAR. I'm sure I'll have a different song to sing in the not-so distant future.

This child never ceases to amaze me. Never in my life have I seen someone so curious about everything. I find his fascination fascinating. To me, paper clips are about as dull as you can get, as far as entertainment goes. But watching him pull out an entire container of paper clips, take them out one-by-one, arrange them just so, hand them off to Daddy, and then put them back one-by-one - MOST AMAZING THING I HAVE EVER SEEN. Sometimes I feel like we'll never have the opportunity again to go out and do fun things like go to a concert or see a show, but then I stop and think, WHY? Look at this entertainment we have right here, in our own home, right before our very eyes? FOR FREE! He's going to go rearrange the spices and cans of cat food in the pantry? I'll make the popcorn!

He's so quick now, too. I love to watch him dart from room to room squealing and looking around like he has some sort of secret mission to accomplish but he just hasn't quite figured out what it is, yet. He's toddle-running now, which is so funny to watch - he looks like a tiny drunken Frankenstein. What's especially great about this age is that he's pretty good at entertaining himself. Saturday, I gave him a bunch of Megabloks and a cookie tin and he was happy for a good half an hour, filling it up, carrying it around, and emptying it.

And sleep - I can't forget to mention the sleep! Since we started letting him fall asleep on his own in his crib, without us hovering over him, he's been such a good sleeper. He's been sleeping through the night for a good 10-11 hours per night this entire month. I can't begin to describe how much nicer and less of a struggle bedtime is than it used to be. I think I'm just going to block our old bedtime routine completely out of my memory.

I'm beginning to understand now what is meant when people say kids keep you young. In my ripe old age of almost thirty, I feel tired, bored, unimpressed, and just overall jaded about the world around us. But when I'm around Asher...okay, I still feel tired - REALLY tired - but I feel refreshed, pulled out of my slump. He's fascinated by the tiniest of things, each and every moment he's awake it's a learning experience for him, and he laughs for no reason. His presence chips away at the crusty bitter shell that has formed around my soul over the years, and if only I could bottle it up like a drug and take it in the middle of work or while sitting in traffic, I'd be a much happier person, thinking more about rainbows and butterflies and less about homicide.

Here are Asher Bug's pictures for the past month.