When he gets up in the morning, he likes to play right away. No lounging around or cuddling, just get out the toys and play. His favorite toys are of course the tractors and pretty much anything that has wheels. His favorite place to drive them is on people. As I sit here typing, he is driving his smaller tractor up and down my legs of course humming to make the motor sounds.
After he plays for awhile, he starts pointing to the kitchen and saying "Deese". His food varies a lot but he's a good eater and must be going through a growth spurt because he seems to be a bottomless pit right now. He can eat 2 to 3 eggs, a pear, a banana and then half an hour later can eat more. I'm glad he loves all kinds of vegetables and fruits. That is what he gets most of the time with his eggs, French toast, grilled cheese or casseroles. This morning, he had a pear and 2 slices of French toast.
He likes to brush his teeth with Mommy. We sing "This is the way we brush our teeth" as we brush his. He will stay still for 2 rounds of the song, so we brush fast. Of course, he only has 8, so it doesn't take long.
After he brushes his teeth it's back to playing or reading books. There is no schedule to his play time. If he wants to read a book he brings it to me or even sits on the floor and looks at it himself. When he's playing, he tries to figure things out on his own, but if he needs help, he will ask for it (sounds like "Dopeese" for "help please"). He does get pretty frustrated sometimes and at those times he either needs to be redirected to something else or if I can calm him down enough to show him how to do it then I will.
Finley has shown already to be a pretty strong-willed child...I wonder where he gets that from. I've done some research on this subject and I've started with some pretty solid disciplining already. When he knows he's not supposed to be doing something, and he keeps doing it, he will be punished. We've already seen that he tries to push the limits. An example of this is a corner of our living room where all of the computer and telephone cords are. They are all together kind of blocked off by the computer desk and chair. He knows not to go back there, but he will run back there and either hide in the corner or just stand there laughing about it. If he hears me coming, he will run out and pretend like he hasn't done anything wrong (I didn't believe it either until I hid around the corner and watched him do this).
At 10:30 he goes down for his first nap. I'm not sure how much longer he will be taking 2 naps. Some days he lets me know that he only needs 1 by either not going down for his second nap or just being wide awake until noon or so. I'm trying to be really flexible with this as I know this is usually the age when they transition into 1 nap. Since he's been eating a lot more he's been sleeping a lot more too. For the last couple of weeks he has been taking two 2-hour naps a day and sometimes a little longer. His second nap is at 3:30.
Finley loves going up and down stairs...more up though and he LOVES to be chased up the stairs. He gets really excited though any time he's being chased. That may be one of his favorite games. He also has begun to really like playing hide and seek. He can't hide by himself since he comes out right away when you start calling his name, but he loves to try and find people. There was one day when it was just the two of us playing. I was trying to teach him how to hide, but when I started saying "Where is Finley?" he came right out of his hiding place. I decided to pretend like I didn't see him. He thought it was hilarious that I couldn't see him right in front of me, but when I said it again, he thought I was really looking hard for something so he started to help me. In essence, he was looking under the bed and behind the rocking chair for himself. It was even a little confusing for me...=) We found him though and made a really big deal out of it.
I'm guessing Finley to be around 23 to 23-1/2 pounds and I have no clue on his height. He'll be having his 15-month checkup at the beginning of December, so I'll post it then. He's in 12 to 18 month clothes and size 5 to 6 shoes depending on the brand. He wears more 6s though. He's in size 3 diapers and has been for most of his life now. He doesn't like coats and despises mittens and hats. He'll have to get used to them though. Matthew wanted to take him out to the farm for a few minutes to get corn on Saturday so we bundled him up in a snowsuit just to try it out. They didn't make it out of the back yard. Finley fell and was so mad about the big snowsuit he just layed there and cried. He ended up wearing jeans, a sweatshirt, a coat, hat, mittens and tennis shoes. He still wasn't happy, but at least he was able to move.
Finley plays really well with other kids and loves play dates and the nursery. Yesterday morning when we got to the nursery at church he started wiggling to get in there and play. The nursery worker came over and he practically jumped out of my arms and into hers to get in there. He was the only kid in there for the first little while, but he didn't mind and went straight for the rocking car (a kid-sized car that he can get in and rock). The nursery workers almost always comment on how well he does in there with the other kids. If someone takes his toy he doesn't get too upset and can usually find something else to play with right away. I honestly just think that he's not quite old enough to care when another kid takes something he's playing with.
I think Daddy is his favorite person. When Matthew gets home from work Finley loves to greet him at the door with a smile and sometimes with a tractor that they should drive through the house. Matthew has a bigger toy tractor that he drives and Finley has a smaller one. They both have to bend over to drive their tractors and it is hilarious to see them try and run through the house with them...but more hilarious to see Matthew do it. I'm so thankful that Matthew and Finley enjoy each other. Matthew looks forward to my Ladies Nights because he gets Finley to himself.
Finn goes to bed at 8 and we are fairly strict with this. If I know he has to be up later, he gets a little bit later nap in the afternoon. He knows when it's time to go down for a nap and when bedtime is and I think we all like this predictable schedule. All I have to do now is pick him up, tell him it's time for a nap and he will lay his head on my shoulder and go right down in his crib. Usually there is no sound that comes from his room when he goes down. It took a long time and a lot of frustration to get him to this point, but he is happy with it and so I'm happy with it. He will sleep about 12 hours through the night. With teething he will wake up sometimes crying, but most of the time he's able to put himself back to sleep. All in all, Finley is a happy, well-adjusted 15-month-old little boy and we love him like crazy!
Here are some of the most recent pictures I have for now.
Finley in the cubby I cleared out for him in the kitchen. It's to the right of the stove and to the left of the dishwasher, so it's really in the middle of my working place in the kitchen and he loves it in there. Apparently, on my last Ladies Night (last Saturday) Matthew climbed in there with Finley and they just sat together talking. So sweet.
Matthew reading to Finn and Jeramy reading to Mattea. Danae and I thought this was a great picture.
Jeramy is reading the big John Deere book and Matthew is reading Dr. Seuss.
Jeramy reading to Finn.
Finley and Mattea sitting together. We had about 5 seconds to take this picture.
And then they were gone...
I was trying to take a picture of his big belly after eating but he wouldn't stay still for me. I think you get the idea though.=)
It's kind of hard to see in this picture, but he is putting money in his piggy bank from Bama and Paka. He knows where to put money when he finds it.
It's now full, so we'll have to get some coin rolls and start saving them for him.
