15 Month Update
We now have a 15 month old…. well 16 months now but that’s okay.
Being a first time parent is hard. There are so many things you worry about since it’s all new. I feel like I’m always in a state of constant panic and wonder if she is developing on track, if she is eating enough fruits and veggies, what her schedule should be like, etc. I find these types of posts helpful, because it helps me remember what I learned back in school - there isn’t one type of way a child develops and grows. I also wanted to start sharing these for other mamas so they could feel the same comfort.
This post will include all of the fun stuff like her vibrant personality and her favorite foods. But it will also include the helpful stuff like her development, milestones, routine, and our favorites. So, I hope you enjoy this 15 month update of our little Evelyn Violet and find it useful!
Related post: Evelyn’s 12 Month Pictures
Growth
We had her 15 month check-up in the beginning of September. Her growth curve is pretty much the same. She’s tall, at 31” (66th Percentile), about 21 lbs (41st percentile), and 18.5” (83rd percentile) in head circumference.
She is a skinny and tall baby! The Pediatrician said this was appropriate for her age and just to make sure she is still getting plenty of healthy fats - which I will talk about next!
Meals
Evelyn is very independent, and always hungry (she gets that from her mama). So we typically eat 3 small meals a day with a snack in between each. We chose to do the Baby Wed Leaning method for Evelyn, which is that a child is exclusively breast/formula fed until 6 months. Then at 6 month, after they reach a few developmental milestones, they can begin eating everything we are already eating. You just have to cut up things a certain way for their pincer grasps and learn the difference between gaging and choking.
Because of this, as long as Evelyn is feeding herself, she will eat just about anything! So far, we are winning with the toddler appetite. We are a mostly plant based family, but we still eat a little meat. Some of our current favorite meal/snack ideas are:
Toast with peanut butter, cottage cheese, fruit
Smoothies - I add in frozen avocado to add some healthy fats into our diet
Goldfish Veggie crackers made from tomatoes
Goldfish Veggie crackers made from carrots
Fruit & Veggie Squeeze pouches
Frozen GoGurt sticks
Plant based pastas
Soup with grilled cheese sandwiches
Dried or frozen fruit
yogurt covered raisins
Oatmeal with fruit
Evelyn thoroughly enjoys her fruits, so I’m always looking for ways to sneak in some veggies throughout the day to make sure she is getting enough of both. I love sneaking veggies into smoothies (which we usually have one as our first snack of the day), and I will include kale, spinach, frozen celery, frozen avocados, or frozen beets. I’m always experimenting what veggies to include and with what fruits to ensure a yummy smoothie!
Right now, I only breastfeed if she asks for it, which can be 1-2 times a day, or some days not at all. But we always make sure she gets at least 16oz of milk a day, whether it’s breastmilk, almond milk, or whole milk. She also drinks everything out of a Munchkin 360 cup or a cup with a straw.
Also thanks to Baby Led Weaning, she can use a spoon and a fork! She loves using them, but sometimes it is much easier to just use your fingers. Although, she doesn’t like her hands being dirty so I think that is why she is so persistent on using a spoon or fork.
Shop some of our favorite mealtime items:
Routine
Our routine has been pretty consistent since she was probably about 10 months old. She’s always been go-go-go, so she’s really cut down on the naps. The only difference is that sometimes we have a play date with some of our friends to get some socialization in!
Our routine is as follows:
8:30am: wake up, sometimes nurse, I begin making breakfast
9:00am: we have breakfast. After breakfast, we will sit and play, read books, explore, and learn for a little.
10:00am: Independent play with educational TV playing while I do house chores.
10:30am: Snack
12:00pm: Lunch. After lunch, we brush our teeth, shower, and begin our naptime routine.
1:00pm: Nap
3:00pm: Snack
4:00pm: Go for a walk, if we haven’t been able to go outside yet then we will walk her to the neighborhood park and let her run around for a bit.
5:30pm: Dinner
6:00pm: Independent play while we clean up dinner and do some more chores.
7:00pm: Begin night time routine
7:30pm: Bedtime
Sleep
Evelyn has always been a great sleeper and has been sleeping through the night since she was 2 months old! She was going through a learning growth spurt a few months ago and would fight naps or bedtime, but she’s back to herself and going to sleep without a fuss. She goes to bed about 7:30pm and will wake up about 8:30am, so about 13 hours per night.
Her naps are always the same and last 2-3 hours.
Speech + Development/accomlishments
As a Linguist and TESOL professional, I love to keep a record of her language development. Our Pediatrician wanted to make sure she knew at least 4 words at her visit, which she did - and more.
We have been working as a family to learn American Sign Language, Japanese, and I’ve been teaching Evelyn Spanish while Charlie has been teaching her French. With the sheer amount of lexical items coming in Evelyn’s direction, I am thoroughly impressed by how vocal she is already! Most multilingual children have delayed speech because they are absorbing the rules of each other their languages and the context in which each is spoken. However, our PED said that only means that she will be acting like a teenager by 3… fun.
Her word list (to date since July):
All done - ASL
More - ASL
Food - ASL
Wow - Verbal
Daddy - Verbal
Momma - Verbal
Yeah - Verbal & with a head nod
Bye - Verbal & with a wave
Hey - Verbal
Nana(banana) - Verbal
Grammy - Verbal (she’s only said it once though)
Moo - Verbal
Bawk (chicken clucking) - Verbal
Owl & “who” - Verbal
Meow - Verbal
‘Woo-woo‘ (dog howling/barking) - Verbal
Items she can identify:
She can recognize almost ever body part & point when prompted
She can recognize and point at various animals, make the animal noise, and identify them if said in one of the other languages she is learning
She has also started to realize when something is not right-side up and can fix it.
I’ve been encouraging Evelyn to climb more so that she develops those muscles. We don’t have any toddler toys or jungle gyms for that. So instead, I remove one of the couch cushions and place a blanket in its stead. The couch cushion is placed on the floor along with pillows - our very own budget obstacle course! If you’ve seen some of the videos I’ve been posting, she also loves to help with chores - and she is so good at it too!
Personality
Evelyn is quite boisterous. She is also incredibly good at critical thinking, she’s creative, and independent. She knows exactly what she wants, when she wants it, and the communication barrier sometimes causes a tantrum. She also likes to pick on you and push the boundaries of rules.
That being said, she is also the sweetest toddler. She loves to give hugs, kisses, and to share her snacks or toys with you! She loves to pick on you until she is belly laughing, and by then, so are you! She is such a hilarious toddler and I’m loving getting to see her grow and develop.
Play + Toys
Right now, we are loving our subscription to KiwiCo! We get the Panda crate, which come every other month. And each crate comes with notes for the parents to help you understand how to help your child develop and what they are able to do at this age. It has been so nice to have those milestones written out and explained! It really helps reassure you as a parent. And if you use my link, you can get $10 off your first crate!
Other than that, she loves to read her books, play with puzzles, play in her kitchen at my parents, anything that has to do with outdoors, and we love to make her some sensory activities for educational time!
I will link all her favorite toys below:
Related post: Baby Liggett Newborn
Every day we make new memories that I will cherish forever! I love seeing my Google memories of what we were doing just a year ago, and how small she was! We literally feel like we are the luckiest parents in the world, and that we were meant to go on this adventure. I hope you enjoyed this 15 month update and I hope to do more motherhood posts in the future!
How old are your babies right now? What’s your favorite part of this stage?
