16 Months!

~On your mark, get set, go! Brennan is running!
~He enjoys "helping" Mommy and Daddy get him dressed/undressed. He has been pulling his shirt over his head after we take his arms out of the sleeves for awhile. Recently, he has been trying to put his pants, shirts, socks, and shoes on. He also likes undoing the velcro on his shoes and removing his socks.
~Brennan is officially weaned. I always planned to nurse until he was 1 year. Due to his previous reaction to yogurt and the pediatrician's recommendation to postpone introducing more dairy, the weaning process was also postponed. After successfully introducing cow's milk, he was only nursing before bedtime. Mother's day was his last day of nursing. He's done a fantastic job! After reading bedtime books with Daddy, he has a little bit of snuggle time and lullabies with Mommy before going into his bed.
~When put into bed, Brennan will turn on his music soother (attached to his crib), grab his blankie and blanket, tuck them under his belly, and quickly head into dreamland.
~Typical sleeping habits: Goes to bed at 6:45pm, Wakes up at 6:30am. Naps for ~45 minutes in the morning and ~2 hours in the afternoon. He naps longer at the babysitter's house than at home. After waking, he will happily talk in his bed until he throws his blankie and blanket overboard. Then, it's game over.
~In addition to snakes, he also consistently recites noises for cows, ducks, and dogs! He recently started to make noises for elephants.
~Childproofing means nothing to our little Houdini. Brennan can easily remove two types of door locks and safety-close lids (e.g., squeeze and turn lids; push and turn lids).
~Brennan enjoys reading books after dinner. He'll regularly bring book after book to Mommy or Daddy and climb onto our lap. Once a book is done, he'll immediately pop up and retrieve another. He especially likes look-and-find books and his "Brennan's book", which has pictures of friends and family.
~He loves to eat! He frequently asks for "crackers" and "O's" His favorite meal is spaghetti and he loves all fruits. He also enjoys peas, corn, green beans, green pepper, cucumber, and carrots. He is typically served his veggies first, since he prefers fruit. We're cutting his food less (e.g., 1/4 sandwich rather than bite size pieces) and he enjoys "dunking" his food, including dunking nuggets into mustard and grilled cheese into tomato soup. When asked if he wants breakfast/lunch/dinner/snack, Brennan will stop playing, come to you, and ask "Up?!" repeatedly or go to his chair in the dining room.
~Brennan has several Sesame Street books and toys that he really enjoys. He can identify many of the characters. He also names several: "Elma/Elmo" (Elmo), "Cook-Cook" (Cookie Monster), and "Osc" (Oscar).
~He has a great attention span and will play with a toy for an extended amount of time. Although, when he's tired, his attention span diminishes and he jumps from toy to toy.
~He's beginning to identify danger. When Mommy or Daddy is at the stove, he repeatedly announces "Hot!" and also refers to Mommy's travel coffee cup as "Hot!"
~Brennan continues to prefer using his left hand, including feeding himself and turning pages in books. While there is still plenty of time for him to determine a dominate hand, we're wondering if we need to brush up on our left-handed skills!
~He's much better at navigating around obstacles when walking. Instead of not watching where he's going and attempting to walk over objects, he'll (usually) maneuver himself around or find a different route.
~Some cute new sayings: "Ashes, Ashes, Down!" (from Ring Around the Rosy)and "Ah-Oh" ("Uh-oh")
~His language skills continue to amaze us. He attempts to repeat many words that he hears and his receptive language grows everyday!
~Brennan enjoys playing with blocks. He is starting to stack them and continues to enjoy demolishing towers built by others.

ENT Appointment

After waiting two weeks for insurance clearance, and two more weeks for an open appointment time, Brennan finally had his appointment with the ENT today! We started off with hearing tests and a tympanometer reading. The woman testing his hearing was impressed with Brennan's language, including asking for "more" and identifying "blocks." Then, we met with the doctor, who took another look in Brennan's ears. He explained that Brennan's hearing is great, the fluid in his ears has cleared, and he doesn't currently have an ear infection! He also said that there was a small amount of negative pressure in one of his ears. Due to the testing results today and being infection-free for ~1.5-2 months, he didn't recommend any treatment. We return in 2 months to make sure everything still looks good!

Happy Easter!

We were fortunate to see many family members this Easter weekend. On Good Friday, we met up with Grandma and Grandpa Mealy, Aunt Adrianna, Uncle Will, and cousins Ava, Corinne, and Elise in Brecksville. On Saturday, we traveled to Salem to visit with Grandpa and Grandma Swartz and Uncle Matt. We also were able to spend some time with Adam's Aunt Betsy, Uncle Gary, and cousins John and Justin. Brennan had fun visiting with everyone. He also enjoyed repeatedly crawling up Grandpa and Grandma's stairs. The Easter Bunny brought many fun treats, including a puzzle, bubble mower, books, Sesame Street DVDs, and eggs filled with yogurt bites and chocolate covered raisins.

15 Months!

Our sweet boy is 15 months old today!

~Brennan's walking speed is increasing! He's not running, but he definitely walks very quickly!
~His vocabulary is growing! Some commonly heard words: Mama, Dada, Daddy, Up, Down, More, All done, Cracker, Book, Hot, Hat, Blocks, Door, Juice, Home, Night night, and Out.
~Although he was once afraid of the stairs, he now loves them! He crawls up the basement stairs a few times a week and has started to ask "More" when reaching the top.
~Current favorite foods: Crackers, Cheerios, Pears, Mandarin Oranges, Berries (fresh, dried, or frozen), Spaghetti, Pickles, Olives, Corn (cooked or frozen), Peas (cooked or frozen), Tacos, Sloppy Joe, Grapes, Apples, Kiwi, Ham, Cookies, Tomato soup, Ice cream, and Yogurt. Favorite condiment: Mustard. He gets excited when we sees it and wants to watch you put it on individual bites of food. He will not eat plain cheese.
~He has cut four molars. We don't think canines are too far behind.
~Brennan is becoming more patient after waking up in bed. He will happily talk in bed in the morning. At times, he'll be heard over the monitor saying "Up?" He has also waited quietly, standing and looking at his bedroom door until someone peeks in. He's not quite as patient when hungry and watching his food be prepared.
~We returned to the pediatrician for follow up for his ear infection. The pediatrician explained that they "looked great", using only an otoscope. Having continued worries about fluid in his ears, Mommy's best friend, Jenn, examined them with her tympanometer a few days after his appointment. Sure enough, there's still fluid. We're in the process of getting a consultation appointment with a local ENT.
~Just as with "more", he is using the sign "all done" for situations other than eating. All done with his bath, all done in his bed, all done getting dressed, and all done in the car seat. No fussing, just 'all done.'
~He is able to identify his nose, belly, feet, and belly button.
~When Brennan is encouraged to dance by Mommy and Daddy, he frequently "twirls" in circles with one arm extended. We think he learned this from a friend at day care.

He Climbs!

Brennan has decided that stairs aren't so scary after all! As recommended by Mommy's PT friend, we increased how often he saw us traveling stairs and tried putting objects of interest out of reach. Due to a recent case of Mommy-itis, I became the object of interest. After a few times of climbing while fussing for Mommy, he'll now happily climb up the stairs independently!

Up!

One of Brennan's new favorite words is "Up!" He says it quite a bit--when standing at your legs, when wanting to get taken out of his crib, when walking around a room, and, sometimes, when you're already holding him. He says it very clearly! Sometimes he emphasizes the /p/, making a 'raspberry' noise.

In other language news, he can:
-Tell you the sound a snake makes (We need to work on more cute and cuddly animals!)
-Blow kisses when asked
-Identify his feet
-Go to the appropriate location when asked...most of the time (kitchen, Brennan's room, Mommy and Daddy's room, basement, chair (highchair), and bathroom)
-Repeat "Please", sounding more like "Blease"
-Repeat "Mama", occasionally walking around stating "My-ma-ma!"

Back to the Pediatrician, Part 2

We ventured back to the pediatrician last Friday morning, just a few days after going to check his ears. He was absolutely miserable-crying, unhappy, only wanting to be held, and after having a fever on Thursday evening, we knew something was up. While his ears didn't look better, they didn't look worse. We were given a new antibiotic. It was explained that this antibiotic has done the trick for other children in a similar situation as Brennan; several ear infections and on the verge of a referral to an ENT. We discussed the possibility of breathing treatments for his wheezing and coughing, but decided to see if it cleared up in a few days. Luckily, the antibiotics appeared to kick in on Sunday afternoon as our happy and energetic little man returned! He's still coughing a bit, but it's getting better. After several heart wrenching days of seeing him so uncomfortable, it was a relief to have him back to "normal"! He's still a bit clingy. I don't think the 3 molars about to cut are helping! We go back mid-April to check his ears.