Cat

nursery rhymes

Forgot to add the note to this yesterday--this is a book Grandma Jean recorded for Atticus. When it first arrived about six weeks ago or so, he thought it was demonic. As you can see, he still has moments of uncertainty, but mostly he's enamored.

15-month stats:

weight--25 pounds 6 ounces; 64%
height--I believe he's 33 7/8 inches (unless it was 34 7/8, but I don't think so. The nurse measured him incorrectly; although the doctor corrected the measurement, he didn't write it on my sheet.); about 99% again, I think

It's been kind of a rough couple of weekends: bad diaper rash last weekend and high fever (up to 103) this weekend (I don't know what he was fighting off; the doctor said an upper respiratory infection perhaps, but he couldn't say for sure). So all my fun plans fell through--no water park, no swim class, no birthday party, etc. Last weekend we stayed in so that he could go diaperless as much as possible. This weekend he slept (on me) nearly all day Friday and Saturday. So basically I didn't get a break until the evenings. I did, however, get a lot of reading done while he slept away the days, and a lot of cuddling time. Today he was much, much better--pretty much back to his normal self, though once again he napped on me (I don't think he needed to as much as he'd just gotten used to it and didn't want to give it up).

He has signed "book" several times in the last few days--woohoo! He's made up his own sign for me to turn on the stereo--he makes like he's pushing buttons on his palm.

Oh, and the baby quail hatched! No pictures yet. As you can imagine, it's tricky getting close to them without scaring off the parents. I'm trying to be respectful. They're so itty bitty!

Tonight Atticus pointed to Sabine's water bowl (Sabine was not present) and signed "water," then "cat." I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've seen him combine words like that.

Atticus is suddenly picking up sign language at a rapid pace. A few weeks ago, his signs were pretty much limited to "milk," "cheese," and "all done." He had signed "bath" and "cracker" at one point or another, but it had been a while--largely my fault. I always forget to sign "bath," and I hadn't given him crackers in a while. (However, if it weren't for me he wouldn't be signing anything since Chris rarely signs anything to him.) Then about a week and a half ago he started signing "cat" and "ball," though I just figured out in the past few days that "ball" is what he is signing. He's putting his two index fingers together rather than cupping his hands together in the shape of a ball. But he knows what he means. He uses it to signify balls, as well as objects that are round like balls--eggs and two-dimensional circles.

In the last four days or so, maybe a bit longer than that, he has picked up "water," "food," "baby," "tree," and "bed." His eagerness has helped me to remember to sign things and to work on learning more and more signs myself.

Notes:

• I baked muffins on Sunday while Atticus was napping. When he awoke, I offered him one for his pm snack. He watched me take it out of a tupperware container sitting on the counter. Then later after he had had dinner and bathed, he pointed to the container, gesturing for another muffin. He devoured it.
• Atticus spent almost the entire day Sunday naked because he developed a bad diaper rash on Saturday. He loved it. Our one outing was to A to Z Baby, and we were there for over an hour and a half because Atticus was having such a blast trying out the various display toys. He slid down the bunk bed slide what seemed like a thousand times.
• Last night when I was trying to brush his teeth, he faked me out by pointing off in the distance as if asking me to identify something for him, but when I looked to where he was pointing, he made a mad dash for my closet and hid behind some hanging clothes.
• Not a day seems to go by that he doesn't gesture for me to turn on the stereo. He expresses his delight when I comply.
  

Atticus 15 month birthday!

Atticus celebrates his 15 month birthday by chomping away on cousin Julia's Friendly Felts.  Available for purchase if you are interested.

Atticus's new thing is flipping the light switch off. Once in a while, if he really reaches high, he manages to turn it on too. But mostly he just turns it off and waits for one of us to turn it on again so that he can make his move. This has made choosing clothes from the closet in the morning a bit challenging. Of course, he thinks my frustration is hilarious.

He now pretty much opens and closes door at will. He can maneuver his walker to turn any which way he pleases.

His favorite thing this week is the cat. He says "cat" and signs "cat" over and over again.

And he's constantly pointing at things, asking, I believe, "What's that? What's that?"

Lotion

Mixmaster Atticus

Just want to make sure I mention that Atticus is getting really good at using a spoon and a fork. He often needs help forking food, but once it's hitched, he can do the rest. And doing the rest is important to him. Sometimes he refuses to eat if we have neglected to give him utensils.

Memorial Day Weekend

W

We went to Scottsdale for the weekend. Atticus really enjoyed just hanging out and taking in all of the sights--tons of fountains, a pond, bustling lobby, ducks (and ducklings!). He swam, played in the sand, visited the Phoenix Children's museum (voted one of the top 10 children's mmuseums in the country), checked himself out again and again in the room's full-length mirror, and roamed Fashion Square mall to burn off energy before the long car ride home.

More and more he's demonstrating just how much he understands. He goes to the sink if we tell him he needs to wash his hands. He picks up his shoes if we say we're going outside. He pretends to rub sunscreen on his body (video to follow). He said "dog" this weekend. He was licked by a dog. This scared him a little until I explained that the dog was kissing him. Then that evening when I showed him his stuffed dog he gave it a heap of kisses. Yesterday he said "cat" for the first time. He's not consistent in using his new words, but he is experimenting with speaking more and more.