15 Months Old

James had his 15-month well-baby check on Christmas Eve. The office was strangely empty.

He wanted to read the book. (Look how much he's leaned out!)

Why, hello there.

What is this!?

And those vital statistics (this is the chart I use to calculate the exact percentile):

Weight 22 pounds, 8 ounces  (20th percentile)
Length 30 inches (16th percentile)
Head Circumference 19 inches (78th percentile)

What's new since our last doctor's visit?

• Walking
• Climbing
• Throwing (good gracious, this kid has an arm)
• A few new signs ("more," "nurse," shaking his head "no")
• He hasn't added any words since 12 months, but his receptive vocabulary has taken off  (following simple commands, like "Bring me the shoes")
• A newfound love of reading (Where is Baby? and Where is Baby's Christmas Present? are his two favorites)
• Scribbling with crayons
• Tantruming when he doesn't get his way
• Using a spoon

Merry Christmas (Eve)

The kids (kind of) helped to put up the tree the week after Thanksgiving.

They've been systematically destroying it since the day we put it up, though. There's a two-foot-wide swath across the bottom that's been decimated of all ornaments.

And then sometime after that, we did a Christmas card photo shoot.

Someone doesn't look too thrilled with this turn of events.

One of the contenders:

This is the one we went with:

A Day in the Life

A little bit ago, one of our friends was going to teach a unit about "American Life" in Japan, and issued a call for regular photos of our day. We missed the boat for the lesson (I'm sorry! I'm slow) but we did do a pretty good job documenting our day on Tuesday, November 26th.

7am

8am

8:30am

9am

10am

11am

11:30am

noon

12:30pm

1pm

1:30pm

2pm

3pm

3:30pm

(and then I left for work - this is what Sam got)

(and then I came home) 7:30pm