15 months

Who replaced my sweet baby boy hereWith this big kid?! Bennett had a couple big growth spurts in the last couple months and is suddenly a big, giant grown up little toddler. I didn't want to believe it until I saw the photographic evidence.This is Bennett's 15 month update. We had his doctor's appointment a couple days ago. Everything is going great, Bennett is healthy as can be and developing beautifully. The stats:

Height: 32 1/2 inches (90%)
Weight: 25 lb 12 oz (60%)
Head: 48 cm (75%)

For those keeping track, his head and weight are about the same as always, but Bennett made a huge jump in height and is apparently on the skinny side...which I have a hard time believing. I mean, seriously, this kid eats like a grown man. He is solid. I was actually starting to worry I was letting him eat too much. Apparently that's not an issue. Have another cheddar bunny, kiddo. Go nuts. (Yeah, I'd left a box of crackers out one night and Bennett found them in the morning and made himself some breakfast. He was pretty pleased with himself.)Bennett having one of grandma's famous cinnamon rolls before General Conference last weekend. He was in heaven!

Besides eating his weight in carbs, Bennett has been doing exactly what he should be doing at this age: getting into everything and exuding overwhelming cuteness. These are my current, random thoughts about B:

Every baby is special and unique, especially to the ones who know them best. Bennett, at 15 months, can run at me, full speed with his arm and pointer finger extended and when he gets to me touch my eye lashes, without poking me in the eye. I think that's a pretty impressive feat of hand-eye coordination that not a lot of adults could manage.
On the flip side, at 15 months, Bennett still doesn't reliably say "Mama" or "Dada" or anything of substance really. He is special and unique...I try to tell myself that, rather than dwell on the nightmare I have of a 25 year old Bennett, a savant with the traveling circus who catches flaming arrows out of midair, but can't spell his own name (As you can tell from my imagination, I am also a little special...).
Bennett babbles constantly, but doesn't say anything that sounds like words. No "ma" for milk, or "da" for doggy. If you ask him to go get his milk or doggy, he will, he knows what the words mean...it's like it hasn't occurred to him to try and say milk or doggy. The story goes that Mark didn't have a first word, he went straight to his first sentence, "Mommy, where are you?" (Apparently their house was really, really big). I wonder if Bennett's going to get up one day (probably on the same morning his worried mother has finally signed him up for early intervention to keep her traveling circus dream from becoming a reality) and ask me politely to change his diaper, make him some scrambled eggs and fetch the NY Times for him.

The two most common things people who meet Bennett say are, "What beautiful eyes!" and something along the lines of, "He looks like he's studying the world." Studying the world pretty much sums Bennett up. His pace is almost frenetic sometimes the way he runs around the house touching, moving and examining everything. All babies are like this, I think, but Bennett just seems to do it was so much purpose and focus.
He loves to stick his finger in his nose. Or your nose, so watch out next time you see this crazy kid.
Bennett's been going to bed really easily lately, in part because of his puppers. As soon as you put him down in his crib, he holds paws with his two doggies and goes right to sleep. Isn't that the cutest thing?
We took a few family photos last week. Here are a couple of them. Father and son going to check out the John Deer.
Momma and Bennett pointing at the goats.
The best group shot we could manage with a tripod and a self timer.

That's all for now folks!