Fifteen Months

Leif is not a baby any more! He is walking all over the place lately and only crawls when he is being lazy. He is getting pretty independent and loves to try to do everything himself. He adores his older brother and wants to do everything that Asher does. Asher likes this most of the time, but sometimes gets annoyed if Leif is getting in the way of what he wants to do.

Leif still eats like a champion- he will eat pretty much anything, anytime. He loves to feed himself and cries or refuses to eat if I don't at least allow him to hold his own spoon while I'm feeding him with another spoon. Its very messy business, but I usually just allow him to feed himself.

I've started reading a board book to Leif every day before nap time and bedtime to get him in the habit of reading everyday. He likes to help me turn the pages, but he really loves the routine of holding the book while I take him over to the bookshelf so he can set it down there, closing the door all the way, and turning the light off. Then he claps for himself because he is so pleased with himself that he knows the routine and is good at doing it. Sometimes he has trouble focusing on the book- he just tries to close it and makes it obvious that he wants me to take him to the bookshelf.

Something else that Leif is proud of himself for is knowing what shoes are for. Whenever he comes across his shoes, he holds them next to his feet to show me he knows where they go, then he puts up a huge fuss until I put the shoes on his feet. There have been a few times that I have been too busy to put them on right away, so I had to listen to a huge tantrum until I found the time to sit down and put them on his feet, at which point, he settled down right away and went back to whatever he was doing before the shoes upset him.

Leif is good at shaking his head "yes" or "no" when we ask him questions. Sometimes I think that he is just randomly shaking his head, but his answers seem pretty much in line with what he really wants. If we ask him if he wants something to eat or drink, or wants a toy or activity, he will usually answer in a way that is consistent with what his actions tell us he wants. Sometimes, though, he just shakes his head "no" to anything I ask.

Leif loves to give kisses- but mostly only to mommy and Asher. Sometimes when Austin tries to kiss him, he turns away or shakes his head no. Austin and I have made a game out of it--I hold Leif and Austin tries to kiss him, then when he turns away, I turn him toward Austin so he can try again. Sometimes this launches Leif into a little tantrum, but its pretty funny.

Here are the photos I got of Leif today. Don't mind Asher in background of most of them. He was begging me to take photos of him too so he kept getting as close to Leif as he could. I did take some photos of Asher, but we'll save those for another time.