Wes - 15 months

(warning: the following post is too long and may be boring to everyone else other than me. More than anything else in this entry, I just wanted to remember as much as I could about Wes at 15 months).

To really remember a child's firsts, I would have to keep a daily journal of what my kids said and did each day. So this entry - far from a daily journal - is just a stab at trying to capture Wes at a certain moment. He's changing so much, I just want to remember something at this point in time because Julia is a constant reminder that I will not be able to remember I love about this specific time (all of Julia before who she is at this moment kind of blurs together).

So . . .

Wes loves shoes. I bought his first shoes (not counting Robeez and Robeez knockoffs) - Stride Rite sneakers - a few weeks before he started walking (May 24, 2010). The first two times we put them on him, he hated it and screamed bloody murder. The next time, I slipped them on his feet while he was napping and he was okay with them. After that, he quickly associated shoes with going out (a byproduct of a no-shoes household) and was happy to have us put them on him. In fact, when Wayne and Julia would leave in the morning, he would desperately go to the shoe rack and point back and forth between his feet and his shoes to say that he also wanted to go out (I sure hope I can catch this on video because it is beyond adorable). Since he doesn't really talk yet, his gestures were accompanied by, "Aaa, aaa, aaa." He brings us our shoes when we're getting ready to leave. But it's not just about going out, he reminds us to remove them from his feet if we forget after getting home. I think he likes having the responsibility of shoes. Or he likes the ritual of them. Or he just likes that he knows what they're about. (Postscript, at 16 months, "shoes" is one of his first 5 spoken words.)

Wes bites. Julia and I have bite marks and bruises from him. I never imagined I'd have three bite marks on me at a time. And while I have been sharp with him, I don't feel mad. 99% of the times that he's bitten, it's been out of playfulness - he doesn't understand. He thinks that when I say no and wag my finger at him, it's a game. He now smilingly wags his finger back at me and I do my best not to melt. Julia has been amazing. She has gotten upset that he's hurt her, but she hasn't gotten mad at him either and hasn't ever taken a retaliatory action for his biting. We try to say, no bite, kiss. Or try to give him something he can bite.

Wes has communicated for awhile even though he hasn't consistently used words. He learned sign language for the word, "more," early, but has used it to mean, "want." The first words that I was certain he understood were "Deng" (ceiling light) and "Ralphie." One of his consistent words at this time is "Aarf." I guess he might hear that "word" more than any other. Thanks Ralphie. He says this whenever he sees any animal, including the birds and squirrels he sees on our walks. His "Aarf" is very convincing and many a dog has turned their head back at us wondering what the heck they just walked by. He also says two Chinese words, "Bao bao" (asking to be picked up) and "Hua" (flower). Oh, he loves flowers, always pointing them out to us. Somehow, he knows only to ask us to pick him weed flowers on our walks.

Lately, he says, "Ba" in combination with pointing to mean that he wants whatever he's pointing at. He also says a disgruntled, "Aaeem," when he is upset. Julia claims it's a bad baby word and frequently tattles on Wes for saying, "Aaeem." Once, when I made light of her complaint, she told me that "Aaeem," means that Wes wants to bite, hit, kick and pinch us forever. Wes also says, "Ahm," not to be confused with "Aaeem." "Ahm," means he wants to eat. And yes, it is embarrassing when he puts his face to my chest and says, "Ahm, ahm." Sporadically, he does seem to use "Mama," "Dada," "Ball," and "Mo" appropriately.

Wes mimics many things now. He learned early on to point the remote control at the television so we try to keep it hidden when watching something or else we won't be watching it for long. He has also pretended to talk on the telephone for awhile now. When someone else is actually on the line, however, he tends to just push buttons. He uses a hair brush and a tooth brush too.

Wes seems to have an instinct for sports. He loves balls. He throws well, he kicks well (for a 15-month old), he likes to hit the ball around with a stick a la field hockey. After "playing" t-ball just once at nana and baba's house, he dragged the tee out the next time we were there and placed the ball on the tee himself. Without any encouragement from us, he likes to try to throw the ball into the basket. I'm just amazed how natural it is for him and wonder if this means he's destined for greatness. No really, I just wonder how much we can predict from a toddler's behavior. (On the flip side, I'd like to think that Julia's current indifference to athletic activity doesn't mean that she won't like playing any sports.)

Wes loves waving. I love hearing other kids excitedly tell their parents that the baby waved at them. More than peek-a-boo, he loves playing the game of waving. He'll wave to you across the table, then wave to you again. Then he stretches his hand as high as he can and waves to you with a really happy excited expression on his face. It makes me wish I was that happy to see people.

Wes loves Julia - he loves hugging her, barreling into her until she falls down. If she cries or whines, he starts to cry.

Miscellaneous: he likes pushing belly buttons, tapping our noses and giving me his smelly feet to smell. He likes climbing - it's hard to keep him off our kitchen table and chairs. He won't sit still for books and doesn't care for milk. He's sensitive to being told, "no," and he's not so good at faking crying (we know when it's fake).

Anything else? I guess, if you can't tell from the above post, I'm very very much in love with him.