15 month checkup

AJ had his 15 month checkup this weekend. It was closer to 16 months for him, but when I called in August to schedule the appointment, the pediatrician was already booked on Saturdays through October. What's a working mom supposed to do? Plan ahead, I guess.

AJ checked out fine. His height and growth continued on the same curves (99th percentile and 95th percentile respectively). He is now 30 lbs., and trust me, you can tell when you carry him around. We are working on encouraging him to go up and down the stairs by himself, but it requires patience and time, as he seems to have inherited my puttering tendencies when it comes to getting from Point A to Point B. As I have mentioned on the blog before, Joe is Mr. Efficiency when it comes to almost everything in life and quickly moves through required tasks. I am one who putters a bit more. If I am going upstairs to change AJ's diaper and he is walking up himself, we will stop to name people in the pictures on the entryway table, open and close the baby gate at the foot of the stairs 10-15 times and pet the cats on our way up. So you can see why I often end up just scooping him up and hauling him up to avoid the fiddle-farting around, as my mom would say. But this does not lead to him developing self-powered efficiency on the stairs, so I am brainstorming new ideas. I am considering importing a two year-old for an afternoon so that AJ can observe the big guy's machine-like focus in going up and down.

On other fronts, the pediatrician said AJ's gross motor, fine motor and verbal skills and developing on time. We are working on drinking milk out of a cup without a lid!, having him help put his shoes on and having him help zip up his jacket now that it is fall in Chicago. I have noticed that he is getting much better at manipulating the fork and spoon when he is eating. He can even feed himself half a carton of yogurt now using a spoon. Although he might eat it all if I were feeding him, he usually loses interest after getting halfway through the carton on his own. I ordered him a toy that arrives tomorrow in the mail that I am extremely excited about. It is a play wooden food set that he can cut with a toy knife. Apparently the food makes a satisfying "thwack!" noise like an apple being cut when the kid gets the knife through the velcro, so I think AJ will love it. He has been obsessing about cutting up food lately and asks me to cut everything I serve him, from a cheese stick to avacado to bananas, into smaller pieces for the pleasure of watching the knife do its work.