Kent at 15 months

He's still just as charming and flirtatious with every stranger out there, offering fist bumps and smiles or shouting DOG!! at their dog. No, we're not getting a dog.

His two bottom molars are just about out, and the worst of the teething is behind us, until the next teeth. We had to give him lots of TLC and pain meds and soft foods. Here, you can see the beginning of his molars and his avocado-banana-yogurt puree in his mouth.

We took him to the beach in town because he loves walking on uneven ground, like dips and grooves and paved parts of the road, or over the edge of rugs onto wood floors. I guess the sensation is pretty exciting to a kid. :) He enjoyed the sand a lot and didn't really like touching or eating it (whew!). There were lots of ducks and dogs around too.

Here, he's like "what's this on my hand? get it off."

New words include: baby, "book" (he means "milk". I know, it's confusing.), and "mama" - but by this he means "moo moo" as in Dr. Seuss's "Oh, the wonderful sounds Mr. Brown can do. He can sound like a cow, he can say moo moo!" Someday, he'll actually call me by name.

Kent's favorite game around the house is pushing a ball around with something - anything: Matt's squash racket, a wooden spoon, a regular spoon, a dustpan, or a tension rod. It's great fun for him. Could be golf?

He still LOVES playing peek-a-boo and he's a pretty good at hiding. Ahem.

Uh oh! Papa found you! 

The hitting continues when he's angry after he's been told "no" and we're working on that. The random hitting only happens on one page of one of his favorite books, so I've realized. It's the last page of "We're going on a bear hunt" and when I read "we're not going on a bear hunt again!" he turns and swipes at me. It's the strangest thing. We confirmed it this week with Matt watching, but when HE read the book, no hitting. I think I'll hide that book for a while, even though it's a favorite. I just don't get what goes through his head.

Instead of getting the Buddha Board at $35, I found out that you can buy magic water paper from Japan for $8. After a month, it finally came in the mail (free shipping with other purchases - yay!). I cut it to fit 3 frames and it's so fun! The gray paper turns black, the blue paper turns green and the pink paper turns red. Kent might be blase about it right now, but he's going to love it! Plus, if he accidentally paints other things, it's no big deal because it's only water. We haven't bought actual art supplies yet, but maybe in a few months.

He still loves music and enjoys the program at a local library. I desperately tried to get a video of him dancing and enjoying himself, but he was especially clingy this week. This is the best I could do:

In this video, you can see that he's "jumping" up and down. Otherwise, he stares at everybody in delight. With other songs, I hold him and do the motions with him, either sitting or standing or walking in a circle (for the song "red, yellow and green")

He listens and participates (with my help) for the most part. Then he runs away to get his daily leg workout.

When I sang "I'm a little teapot" this week, he put his fist on his hip like the teapot handle!! So cute!! He also learned to clap, so he's been clapping for everybody for everything! What an encourager :)

On Wednesday, I scored a ton of great stuff at a bag sale: 3 frames (for the magic paper), 1 mirror, 1 chalkboard, 1 flower pot, 1 water pouring jug (great for summer lemonade or iced tea!!) and a great big bag of blocks.... all for $5.

Then I also found a Kent sized camping chair. Not sure he's going to STAY seated when we're out on the deck, but at least he can get in and out of it easier than an adult's chair.

Look how big our boy is getting!