Roman turned 15 months old this week, which means we should probably stop referring to him as a “baby!” This morning Harper and I took him in for his 15-month checkup and he once again is at the top of the growth chart. He is over 33 inches tall (93rd percentile), weighs 27 pounds 2 ounces (82nd percentile) and his head size is in the 85th percentile. Not only is he big for his age, but he is bigger than Harper was at her 2-year checkup, officially weighs more than she does now and has a bigger head than her!
He is right on track developmentally, despite not talking much, and the only thing we need to do is quit the bottle. We still give him a bottle at naptimes and bedtime, which isn’t a huge deal except that it’s bad for his teeth. I just put him down for a nap without one and he did fine, so I don’t think it will be a tough adjustment. At the end of the appointment both kids got their vaccinations (just flu for Harper), and Roman had three shots with NO tears! That’s better than I do!
Roman continues to be an absolute joy. He is such an easy and good-natured baby and very rarely gets upset about anything. When he does get upset, it’s usually because we give Harper something to eat and he wants some too! He eats a ridiculous amount – as much as I do at most meals and 2-3 times more than Harper does. He will eat pretty much anything, but most recently has been into pomegranate seeds and Thai food. He still takes two good naps a day and goes to sleep without putting up a fight. Normally he sleeps through the night, but this week has been waking up with sore teeth. I’ve learned that until they are over two, there’s always something that will bother them at night. The only real complaint we have about him is that he has started to be a pain in restaurants, and we love dining out! It looks like we’ll be doing more take-out for a while.
It has been really interesting for us to have a boy and a girl because they are SO different. Roman is super physical and loves to bang and hit things. He drives cars and trucks all over the furniture and the walls, and we never had to show him how to do it. He likes to throw things, and when he gets really excited about a book, he will start hitting it violently. He absolutely loves reading and is constantly brining us books and climbing into our laps for a story. He wants to do whatever his sister is doing, and follows her every move. Lately he has been getting really excited about Dora the Explorer, but I’m pretty sure it’s only because Harper is excited about it (much to my dismay).
The other big difference between the two of them is that Roman is very clingy to Portman and I. A lot of times he won’t even let his grandparents hold him, while Harper calls everyone “my new best friend.” When he’s at home with just us he is Mr. Independent and won’t let us do anything for him, but when we are visiting someone else we end up holding him a lot. Yesterday we went on a little walk around the neighborhood and Roman walked behind Harper the entire way! He stuck to the sidewalk and wouldn’t let me carry him at all. It was very cute.
Sometimes I still can’t believe we have an almost 3-year-old and an almost 18- month-old. Time has flown by with the two of them! I’ve learned so much by having two so close together, mostly that all of the “little things” are not a big deal. When Harper was a baby I got nervous about how she would react to each new milestone – taking the bottle away, crying it out, staying overnight with grandparents, sleeping in a different bed, etc., but when Roman was born there was no more time for worrying about every little thing. It turns out that kids adapt really quickly and there’s really not much to stress about. When they are teenagers I will have way more to worry about, so I plan to enjoy these easier years!