OK - we noticed it the other day. We say OK a lot. The best example of his OK-mimicry was when I was talking to my mother on the phone the other day. She said OK in response to something I said and then I heard Jesse, in the background, say, "otay." We cracked up.

breakfast - Also in that phone conversation with Mom the other day, she informed me that he had said breakfast to her. This morning after I changed his diaper, I picked him up and asked if he was ready for breakfast. He said, "befas." I took that as a yes.

please/thank you - We've been working on his manners. It's still rather hit or miss, but on occasion we'll hear "peas" when we ask him to say it before giving him whatever he wants. And he's starting to say "tanoo" when we prompt him. Cute.

yes - it's still usually "dat," but we're starting to get the occasional "es" when we ask yes/no questions.

no - (in the form of vigorous head shaking) I'm surprised he isn't saying the word at all since it's an easy one. But we get a lot of head shaking when he doesn't want something. I'm waiting for the first declaration of no, though.

He is also waving bye-bye without prompting. And he definitely talks to us - full on sentences of gibberish with expressions and everything. He's clearly trying to communicate. I just wish I spoke his language.

He's a cute one, our 16 month old.

Jesse's new favorite word is "dat." He uses it for everything from Dad to yes to light to duck.

Mama: Where's Dad?

Jesse: Dat!

Mama: Look at your duck!

Jesse: Dat!

Mama: Would you like a cookie?

Jesse: Dat!

Mama: That is the light.

Jesse: Dat!

It's as hilarious as it is frustrating. I know he gets frustrated when I clearly have no idea what he's saying. I was changing his diaper when he started "dat"-ing.

Mama: What?

Jesse: Dat!

Mama: Duck?

Jesse: Dat!

Mama: I wish I knew what you were trying to tell me, buddy.

Jesse: Dat!

On the other hand, there are words he says well like when we pray before meals and he says "amen" after we do. Very cute.

Turns out that Jesse is allergic to something in regular kiddie sunscreen. I noticed a mild rash on his little legs on Saturday when we were on the way to church. So yesterday we experimented by only applying the sunscreen to one leg before his early morning walk with Daddy.

Upon their return, his leg was a little more rashy than the other one, so our suspicion was confirmed.

One quick search on the internets and I discovered that this is quite common and found recommendations for two over the counter sunscreens for sensitive skin that should work for him - either Trader Joe's or Neutrogena. So I'll stop at Trader Joe's on my way home from work tomorrow to get some for him because we're not spending all day, every day for a week in the hot Florida sun with him not protected by sunscreen.

Stay tuned here for the Doctor's Report later this afternoon, where we will get confirmation that our kid does not really weigh 35 pounds (yet). I'm guessing he's 26-28 lbs. We'll see how wrong I am later.

In the meantime, we were discussing Jesse's sweaty little feet (poor kid, gets that from me for sure) and Disney and we have decided to get him a pair of sandals for the summer. Because otherwise we'll all be miserable - he with his sweaty, swollen feet and us with the sour smell of his sweaty little feet. Yes, friends, toddlers can get stinky feet.

I'd really love to get him a pair of these, but alas they don't make them in his size (he's still too small) and they're just too expensive to justify. However, next summer - I'll make the case. I'll probably just go to Target to see what they have on sale. Even full price there will be pretty cheap.

So the other day Beau was feeding Jesse some banana and asked him if he wanted more? Jesse put his little fingers together in the sign for more and I was shocked. I didn't know that Beau had started using the signs again. That was the first time Jesse did it back, though. Pretty cool. He knows all done as well and gets confused when trying to signal that he wants more. So we get a lot of all done-more at the same time. Cute. I dug out the sign language book again to start learning/teaching some new words so that we can communicate better. That was the plan anyway.

Finally, we had a nice day at Beau's Sis's home yesterday to celebrate Orthodox Easter. I had kept Jesse awake through his normal morning nap, thinking that he would sleep on the way up and then be good to go for the afternoon. Instead, he didn't fall asleep until we were about 20 minutes from her house. I was going to sit in the car with him for another 15 minutes or so to try to get him more sleep, but he woke up. He did well though and charmed all of the family and guests. And on the way home he fell asleep with about 35-40 minutes left in the drive. I opted to put him straight to bed instead of battling through dinner. He had eaten a late lunch. He didn't argue a bit when I put him in his crib, just curled up, hugging his blankie and slept until his usual 7:00 am or so.

Anyway, stats will come soon - his appointment is at 2:20pm.

[UPDATE 4:50pm]: We stopped at Microcenter to buy a printer/scanner for Beau on the way home. We got it on sale - bonus!

So the Doc came in and said, "See, look here. I wrote 'pleasant boy' last time you were here. That's not the norm; I don't usually make editorial comments like that." Good start.

Height: 33.75 inches - that puts him off the charts tall. His current height just shy of the 50th percentile for average 2 year olds.

Weight: I was close. He's 25 lbs even. He's still averaging about 1 lb per month. He's slightly above the 50th percentile.

Head: 18.75 inches. Again in the slightly above 50th percentile range to match his weight.

We got quizzed on his diet, which seemed to please the doc. We left out that he's already eating peanut butter - no need to ruin a good visit. I made the decision to press ahead with peanut butter for a number of reasons. The main one being that there is not a single person in either of our families with peanut allergies, so it's unlikely that he would have one. As I told Beau in the car - he's way more likely to have a milk allergy or an allergy to corn or nitrites since we have folks with those allergies in the family. Also, he was exposed to peanuts a few times inadvertently as a younger baby with no ill effects. And I got tired of feeding him grilled cheese every day for lunch.

He's generally healthy. On track developmentally. The Doc called him "fun" today and "pleasant" again, marvelling that Jesse didn't freak out when he walked in like most kids his age and also didn't really fuss much when he was examined.

He got two shots and did fuss during that process, but I would too with three big people holding me down and a couple of pin-pricks in my thighs.

We gave him animal cracker and milk afterward and he's konked out for an afternoon nap.

W all needed a haircut so yesterday we decided to all go to Cartoon Cuts since they cater well to kids. Jesse went first and was incredibly traumatized, but the stylist was great to keep going even when Jesse was screaming-crying and wiggling to get away. He's got a cute haircut and looks more like a little boy.







We followed up the family haircuts with lunch at Chik-Fil-A, where Jesse chowed on chicken nuggets and waffle fries and managed to drink milk from a real straw quite well and to his great delight.

Also, I think he's starting to look more like his Dad. This was proved when Beau pulled out old photo albums to look at his baby pictures. I'll have to scan a couple to post - Jesse looks just like he did as a baby. What's amazing is that he looks just like me as a baby, too, at times. So he's a good blend of us both. It's cool to see it.

I knew it was a matter of time before Jesse started two things:

1. Climbing out of the crib.

2. Removing his diaper and playing with the poop.

The question was only about which one would occur first.

We have a winner!

Playing with poop.

It got to be about 8:30am this morning and we realized that Jesse hadn't made a sound to indicate that we was awake. And this was later than he normally wakes up. So Beau headed up first to check on him and as I was on my way up the stairs I could hear him groaning, "Oh no!"

I walked into the room to see Jesse sitting in his crib, surrounded by his blankies and with a very soaked and dirty diaper next to him. And poop all over the place. Guh-ross.

Beau put him in the tub while I cleaned up the crib. Fortunately the poop was solid and he didn't smear it too badly. But it was bad enough.

This is what happens when your toddler no longer wears zippered footie pjs to bed. Today, I'm on the hunt for lightweight footie pjs in his size because it is still cool enough at night for him to wear them. And I don't want to deal with a poopy crib every morning. It's bad enough dealing with a poppy dog crate every morning already.

[UPDATE Sat 4/19]: The mystery of Jesse's silence was solved yesterday at the time of his nap. I got back down to the basement after putting him in his crib and just a few minutes later I realized I couldn't hear the music playing through the monitor. So I looked the receiver down here and all looked fine. then I trekked all the way back up to check the monitor in his room - it was turned off. Then on my way back down I noticed that the receiver in our bedroom was not lit up - it was also turned off.

Turns out Beau turned off the monitor in Jesse's room the other day - the story why is too long to tell. He has no recollection of turning off the receiver in our room, but I didn't do it.

So now we're wondering just how long Jesse was awake in his crib waiting for one of us to come get him before he finally got bored enough to strip off the diaper and start playing. It could have been a good two hours judging from the time he woke up this morning. Poor kid.

I know I’m not the only mom who thinks her kid is special, but some things are just a marvel to me. Take last evening, for instance.

We had finished dinner and I was cleaning up, so Beau took Jesse outside to play for a bit. This was the first time the boy had been on grass (it sounds like he never gets out, but he was an infant last spring/summer and then we had winter). Anyway, he didn’t seem to like it much. He didn’t want to touch it with his hands at all and he kept one leg raised above the blades as much as he could. I think the blades of grass tickled his little ankles.

When I got out there he was seated. Beau picked him up and he held his feet up, not wanting to put them down. He did eventually, and then he stayed planted with his hands upraised to avoid touching the grass. When he lost his balance, he was great at compensating and keeping on his feet without having to move his feet, often squatting to regain his balance. He did land on his butt eventually, but managed to go down without using his hands and he kept his hands up in the “Don’t shoot, mister” gesture.

I went back in to finish the dishes and when I went back out he was standing on the bottom step leading up to the deck. He had made his way over there and decided he preferred it, inspecting the weeds under the deck from the safety of the flat, not prickly wooden step.

Too cute.

Jesse has gotten heavier in the past couple of months. This is to be expected, of course, but even Beau commented that it's getting harder to schlep up to his room from the basement when carrying the kid.

His next appointment isn't for a while (I still need to call about that), so we decided to try to figure out how much he weighs. Beau got on his scales with a pre-bath Jesse and made note of the weight. Then he handed Jesse to me and weighed himself sans kid. The difference?

35 pounds!

I'm convinced that he can't weigh that much really. Right?

I mean at his 1 year check up he was 22.5 lbs. How has he gained 13 lbs in two months? If I were to guess I'd say he's about 30 lbs, but that's still a huge increase.

We need to measure his length.

Can you tell I'm a bit panicked? *deep breaths*

The thing is he's not fat at all. I mean he's got chubs on his thighs and his face is filling out, but he's a long, lean boy.

I'm calling his doctor right now to make that appointment for his next check up. This is crazy.

[UPDATE]: 15 month check up is scheduled for April 28th. We have a popular pediatrician - that was the first available date after Jesse turns 15 months on the 16th.

Jesse has figured out that the camera flash is uncomfortable for his eyes. That's yogurt on his face.



After I turned of the flash I got this cute shot. It was one of many really blurry shots because he doesn't ever sit still.



The other day I managed to get some cute shots.



And then one of me holding the Sleepy Baby, who is so tiny and sweet compared to our bruiser. He drooled on my arm. I didn't care.

He is such a little show off towards the end when he knows I've got the camera.

So apparently I forgot to mention that Jesse is walking. He's been walking for a while now - he did walking-crawling for a bit and then decided that he likes walking, so he pretty much just walks.

Really, he's always preferred to be on his feet. Even from birth. He was breech after all, so it makes sense.

New video from last night.

Beau and I were preparing dinner and fed Jesse early. He was starting to get bored in his highchair so I started goofing around with him, eventually landing myself in The Crane position from The Karate Kid. That is what it's called right? When Ralph Macchio was on that post with one leg up and his arms out? It's on the movie poster.

Anyway, Jesse started to laugh. And then I did the kick and he exploded into a huge belly laugh. I got a workout for the next 20 minutes or so and then realized this was video gold and went to get the camera before the laughter turned to tears.



**I just uploaded to clip to YouTube - it should be ready for viewing in about 10 minutes.**

The video I took last time got deleted by mistake so I took new video today. Jesse has a great time in his doorway jumper, the one he managed to escape from. Beau tightened up the cord and he sits higher now - can't get out. What he can do is get it twisted up tight so that he spins. He's a pro.

For most of the beginning I was watching him over the camera - the camera obscured his feet. You'll notice when I caught sight of his feet in the camera window by the laughter - I had never seen that before, but Beau tells me that's the norm. It's about 3 minutes long - stick with it - he's got some cute moments.



**Notes:

1. I'm in Beau's office. When he looks into the office he's looking for Beau, who was at school at the time.

2. When he looks down the hall he's looking for Annie-the-dog. The den/my office are down that way, too.

3. I got those little slipper shoes for him at Christmas on Etsy - you can see them here. He's about out grown them, but even if they continued to fit him to 18 months we'd have to trash them anyway - the toes are almost worn through. Now I understand why. I wonder if they would have worn away like that on regular carpet as opposed to Berber?

Lunch time today. He enjoyed some leftover potatoes from our pot roast dinner on Wednesday and about 1/4 of my chicken breast sandwich. And his milk. My boy loves his milk.

This one kills me with his cuteness and charm.



Just normal cuteness.



The curtains behind him were made by my awesome mother.

I also got great video of him in his exersaucer watching Baby McDonald, which is his new favorite DVD of all time. I'm too lazy to link, sorry Disney.

Man, today is the Jesse scares the crap out of his parents day.

I was washing dishes after dinner and Beau had Jesse in the living room. Gates were up at the front stairs and the kitchen doorway, the basement door was closed. I could hear them talking on occasion.

And then I came to the kitchen door to ask Beau to walk Annie as I was finishing up. He got up as I headed back to the sink to finish the pots when I heard, "Where's Jesse?"

What?

I climbed over the kitchen gate and looked into the room then headed toward the dining room area as Beau started up the stairs.

Surely the kid hadn't made it all the way upstairs that fast? And why wasn't that gate in place?

While my heart pounded in panic, Beau laughed. A couple of seconds later, he came down with a smiling Jesse in his arms. "He was at your nightstand with his hand on your books."

Relieved, I reminded Beau that we need to do better with the gates. And then when I took Jesse up to bed, I noticed the night light was pulled out of the hall socket, so we need to put covers on those upstairs now, too.

Oh, and taking Jesse up to bed meant walking behind him as he crawled his way up the stairs again (we wanted to watch him). He is quite fast, but he did stumble and would have fallen if I hadn't been there to catch him. Thank you, Lord, for protecting him on his first trip up alone.

This kid is a scary one. We have to watch him like a hawk.

After his escape from the jumper and in order to get some work done before he napped, I put Jesse in his PnP with Baby Neptune, which he loves.




We comment that he gets his ears from his father. The evidence:



I love the back view of his cute little head. He is stinkin' cute.

Photo quality is grainy because I zoomed in with the camera so as not to interrupt him too much.

I put Jesse in his jumper about 15 minutes ago. Shortly after, Beau called about his interview and we laughed at the yelling coming from down the hall.

Then things got quiet - no yelling, no jumping - but I didn't worry much since he has figured out how to make the thing spin. But I was going to check on him in a sec, after I finished one thing I was working on.

That's when I heard a noise behind me and I turned in my chair to see Jesse crawling toward me with some pamphlet in his hand (that he must have taken from a low bookshelf in Beau's office).

What on earth?

I picked him up and went back to Beau's office doorway to find the jumper in place and looking like I had lifted Jesse out of it. Nothing else was out of the ordinary.

So how on earth did he get out by himself?

We are in serious trouble.


***I do not believe in reincarnation.

On Friday I was carrying Jesse downstairs from his nap. Our main stairs have a landing before the actual staircase starts up. I missed a step and landed hard on the landing and my momentum caused me to move forward fast enough that I couldn't prevent the back of Jesse's head from smacking against the wall. It was a loud thudding smack and I felt awful. He cried for about 2 seconds and was fine. He's amazing - I was still anxious about it and he was sucking down some milk like nothing happened.

But that's not his first injury. He got the first one yesterday.

I didn't see what happened, just the aftermath, because I was making guacamole for our small group Super Bowl party. Beau was sitting with Jesse at the table after Jesse finished lunch. He was still in his highchair. Next thing I knew there was a horrible crashing sound and I turned around to see Jesse face down, still strapped into the chair, which was on top of him.

Beau got him up quickly and we took a look at him quickly while Jesse screamed. No serious damage, but he did have a small scrape under his left eye and it swelled up a little at the outer corner. He's also got a small bump/bruise on his forehead to the left a bit.

He cried for a couple of minutes, but I think that's because I kept pestering him to clean up his face and inspect his eye instead of letting him just be held by Daddy. As soon as I left him alone, he stopped crying and started laughing.

I swear that kid is going to limp into the house one day laughing about how he just broke his leg.

I'll try to get a picture of the eye after he wakes up. He had a late night.

When Jesse was a newborn, I read Goodnight Moon to him every night. This lasted until he was about 4 months old and then I somehow got out of the habit. But on occasion I'd break out GM before bedtime for a reading.

Yesterday, on a visit to Target, I found a board book version of GM and bought it. Jesse loves board books - mostly for chewing on the spine.

So last night I sat with him in the rocker after putting him in his jammies and grabbed the GM board book to read to him. He was very excited - I think he recognized the picture on the cover. I read the first page and had my finger behind the next page, ready to turn it when he reached over at the right moment to turn the page for me. So I read the next two pages and he turned the page right on cue. This continued through the whole book.

Toward the end, I was tearing up at this next indication of his learning. It's so fun to watch him figure out new things.

Oh, and speaking of new books, he received The Bear Snores On from Uncle Bill and he loves that one now, too. So I plan to alternate the bedtime stories between the two for a bit.

Extra purchase at Target: Baby Einstein: Baby Wordsworth DVD

This is the place holder for the post to come following Jesse's doctor's appointment at 11:30am. He just woke up from his nap, which is good timing since we need to leave in about 5 minutes.

[UPDATE 1:30pm]: Just got home. Here's the scoop on our A+ boy:

1. Weight - 22 lbs, 8 oz. 50%, which is up from his last check up. Doc said he was kind of surprised his percentile went up because it's more likely for kids to lose a bit at this age as they get more active. I assured him that Jesse is plenty active, just a good eater.

3. Height - 31". About 80%, which is down from the 90% he was last time, but he's still taller than average. This we know.

4. Head - 46.36cm. 50%, which is where he was last time and is in line with his weight.

We've been given the green light on all foods except peanuts/peanut butter and shellfish. We've also been given the green light to stop formula as fast as Jesse will allow it. He said some kids will make the cold turkey switch to whole milk just fine. Others need to be eased into the change. We've already started to add milk in his formula - 2oz milk with the rest being formula - and he takes that just fine. So tomorrow's first sippy cup may be 50-50 to see how he takes it. If we can wean him from the formula quickly, we may have about 1/2-2/3 of a large can (generic brand equivalent of Emfamil LIPID) that we can donate to the Sleepys.

He was impressed that Jesse is already transitioned to a sippy cup almost exclusively. At this point he gets bottles when all of the sippies are not clean. And he's doing well learning how to use a straw cup, too. He's still figuring out that he doesn't need to tilt that cup up to get the drink to come out. Those last couple of ounces are still tricky.

He commented on how even tempered Jesse is and how rare it is for a kid his age. I told him this was normal and he said, "Well, that's a sign of exceptional parenting ... or really good luck." I laughed. He warned that this is the time that not only does he start to show stranger fear, but also a preference for Mom since that's who he's around the most. I laughed and said that actually he spends more time with Dad since I work away from home more often and that he is already displaying a preference for Daddy. He thought that was hilarious.

Jesse got two vaccinations today - chicken pox and MMR. Typical warnings about low-grade fever for the next couple of days and also the possibility of a light rash in the next week. No concern, just a small reaction to the shots.

As a treat for being so good, I shared some McDonald's fries with Jesse on the way home and now he's being fed leftover chicken by Daddy before some play time and his afternoon nap.