15 MONTHS

Tonight I got emotional putting Hanley down for bed.  As tears welled up in my eyes, I asked Cody why he has to grow up so fast. Without skipping a beat, Cody said "Honey, he was smearing handfuls of sh*t all over his crib this morning.  He's not that old!"


Well, yes.  That did happen this morning.  Hanley was indeed caught this morning finger painting with goods from his own diaper. Not really how we wanted to start the day...but it's still hard to believe my baby is becoming less and less of a baby each day.

At 15 months old...

-Portland got snow in February! We got a 5-6 inches at our house but other parts of Portland got up to 10 inches. It was Hanley's first experience with snow!!! He wasn't too sure what to think about the snow at first and wasn't thrilled about getting bundled up in his snow gear.  We pulled him around on the sled but it wasn't until Cody took him sledding down the driveway, that he really seemed to start enjoying it. He's a natural dare devil. By the 2nd day, he had no problems getting bundled up because he knew it meant he got to go out to play! And by the 3rd day, if he saw his snow suit out, he begged to put it on!

-I have been reading to Hanley since day 1 and he has always enjoyed it.  In fact, before he became mobile, reading to him would calm him down when he was cranky. When he started walking he lost interest in reading.  He wanted to constantly be on the go and acted like he didn't have the time for that anymore! Just in the last couple of weeks, he started getting back into reading again!!! Which totally makes this Mama's day! I will often find him sitting there just flipping through different books on his own.  Sometimes he will even bring me a book and crawl up on my lap so I can read it to him. 

-Earlier I posted about Hanley's use of vocabulary.  What I didn't mention is that somehow we escaped (at least for now!) from him using the word "no".  I know far too often, that is a favorite first word for kiddos.


-If he wants you to do something, he will grab your hand and place it on exactly what he wants.  It's so cute but demanding at the same time!


-We spent Super Bowl at Mindy and Clayton's house.  Hanley had lots of fun breaking in all Baby Jaclyn's new toys! At nap time, we put him in Jaclyn's crib which is equipped with the video monitor.  We have never used a monitor of any kind at our house but I have to say, I loved being able to see him put himself down for nap! I think Mindy made me a believer in the video monitor...Future Olson Baby #2 may just get a video monitor someday!


-One night last week, Hanley woke up twice in the middle of the night.  This is really unusual for our great little sleeper.  He's working on another molar so I couldn't blame him too much though!  The first time, we let him settle himself back down but the second time I went in to check in on him. I picked him up and rocked him back to sleep.  He fell asleep immediately but I just couldn't bring myself to put him back down. I rocked him for 45 minutes before going back to bed and let me tell you...I LOVED every moment of it! Since we like to encourage self soothing, intervening isn't something I would normally do.  But in the back of my mind, I thought I better take advantage of the opportunity because someday he's not going to want me to rock him. He's only little once and darn it, I was going to indulge in the moment! So, I did just that.

His Growing Vocabulary

Today I got an extra snow day (okay, more like an ICE day) at home with Hanley! Today has been one of those days that makes me wish I was a stay at home mom.  All I am going to say is that Cody better come home and remind me of the "difficult" days at home before I walk into work tomorrow and resign...


Today also happens to be Hanley 15 month birthday! We celebrated by finally getting out of the house to play (after being snowed/iced in since Thursday evening)! The roads weren't too bad (I only hit one slick spot that made my heart race).


This month I really noticed Hanley's ability to communicate has increased drastically but I don't believe I have really blogged about his use of vocabulary.  So here it is...


1) His first word was "bye" at 10 months old. I distinctly remember going to the grocery store on a Sunday in September (the day after Cody's high school reunion).  He went around the store waving to everyone, saying "bye".
2) His second word was "hi" at 12 months old.  He shocked Cody and I both when he picked up the phone and said "hi".  This was also his first phone call.  Here is Kim's account of that call on Nov 19th...

"I had my first phone call from Hanley last night. It went something like this:
Oma: Hello ( a little jostling of the phone) hello, Hanley is that you?

Hanley : Hi (clear as a bell)

Oma: Hi Hanley ! How are you today?

Hanley : (a little Hanley speak Oma has not learned yet)

Oma: Have you been a good boy today?...

Hanley: (very enthusiastically ) Da!

I think that is Norwegian or Canadian for 'Hell yeah!'
And then he hung up! I love you little man!"

3)A few days after that phone call he FINALLY started saying "Mama" and "Dada".

4)More recently he has started saying "uh-oh" whenever something is dropped (He often purposely drops things so he can say it! He also says" stinky" and plugs his nose!

5)Other words he says but aren't as clear are "thank you" and "cracker".

Date Night!

I called my Mom a three weeks ago and begged her to come up to give Cody and I a night out.  Okay, lets be real, there was no begging involved! My Mom jumped at the chance to have a night with the boy Hanley lucked out and got a night with not only Meme but Grandpa too! This can only mean one thing...he was double spoiled :o)

Cuddles with Grandpa!

We started our night with dinner and drinks before the Blazer's game.

The Blazers were playing Minnesota and Cody happened to get great seats from work! The last time I watched Kevin Love play was at Mac Court and we all know the local boy didn't get any love there (after choosing to play for an out of state team-UCLA). It was fun to watch him play again and see him receive lots of support from the crowd. We both had a great time cheering on the Blazers and were happy to leave with a win that night!


After the game, we went out for ice cream before heading home. It was a fun way to spend our night out together.


I was a little worried about leaving Hanley just because he had been so clingy since our return home from vacation.  It would be the first night since then that someone else put him to bed. Of course he did great! My Mom said the night was filled with lots of laughter and he went to bed right on time with no problems.


Meme was extra lucky that night. Not only did she get to spend the evening with such a happy boy but she got to be the last one to give him his VERY LAST bottle.  After that night, he was done.  Done for good.