José.

Joe, at 15.5 months:

- knows & can point out lots of body parts. Current list: ears, nose, head, teeth, mouth, eyes, belly, legs, feet, & hands.
- can do "shhhh!"
- uses a fork and spoon pretty well. He can eat an entire bowl of yogurt/applesauce with surprising accuracy. He loves to have utensils at meals, even though 1/2 the time he holds it with one hand and eats with the other.
- has been using a few 2-word phrases for a while, namely things like "Thank you, ____!" or "Bye ____!"
- has mastered the following sounds: cow, cat, dog, horse, goat, lion, duck, car, train, & Santa.
- talks all the time. He's adding new words to his vocabulary daily. His favorite & most used words: no, pappy, cracker, & "nack" (snack)
- has 12 teeth, thanks to the recent addition of 4 new ones. Those darn molars have been "coming in" for months and they finally broke through this month!
- favorite toys: balls (any size, color, sport, doesn't matter - he loves them all!,) Legos, beads, bowl & spoon, cars
- is wearing (mostly) size 18M clothes and size 6 shoes. Not nearly as big as his sister was at his age.
- loves to put shoes on, but ALWAYS kicks off the right shoe within 6 seconds of being in his carseat or a high chair. No matter how tight the shoe is on his foot, he manages to get it off.
- is a major monkey! He can climb up onto the couch by himself, which is actually quite helpful. Not so helpful is when he climbs up onto kitchen chairs (ours are bar-height) or onto the kiddie table in the playroom (I've caught him standing on it multiple times.)
- is very much a mama's boy, and it seems to be getting worse. Daddy is having an increasingly harder time soothing him, especially if Joe knows I'm nearby or in the middle of the night. He also seems to be doing a lot more crying lately, though that is likely due to his teeth & the stomach bug he's had for about 2 weeks now.
- would live his life holding someone's hand/finger at all times if he could. If he is even the least bit tired or sad, holding (and playing with) someone's hand is what calms him. It is the most bizarre thing. His hand of choice is certainly mine, but will latch on to the hand of whoever is holding him. We've recently made 4 10-hour car trips, & I spent a significant amount of time each trip leaning into the back seat so Joe could hold my hand when he was sad. As cute and endearing as it sounds, it's getting really old really fast. And he doesn't just hold your hand/finger; he plays with it. He likes to scratch the pad of your finger with his nail or squeeze the cartilage by your thumb. So random, I know (and sometimes painful.)