Last week our little man turned 15 months old and today I took him into the doctor for his 15 month well child check. When the doctor asked me how he is doing with different milestones, specifically walking and talking, I told him there is not much change, if any at all, from his 12 month check 3 months ago. Mitchell does not walk, at all, and is not even close. He could walk, but he is not even close because he has NO desire, not even a little bit. I demonstrated this to the doctor by trying to get Mitch to stand, hold my hands and walk around the exam room, but Mitchell started whining and immediately slumped to the ground to try and escape by crawling away. This happens 9 out of 10 times at home when we try this. The other 1 time, he will hold onto one or both of our hands, walk a few steps with our help, then lose interest and fall to the ground to crawl. Hmmmm....
Next is talking- he only says "Mama" and "Daddy." He used to say "Dog" but doesn't say that anymore, and I did coax him to say "Nana" one day, but that's it. I told the doctor that we know that he's behind, but we believe most of it to be due to 2 things: laziness/lack of interest on his part and 2: lack of help from us, as we often need to spend much of our time trying to keep up with Chloe and her needs. Mitchell often gets his needs taken care of last due to his sister, but he has always been so mellow that his needs aren't always as apparent as his much more vocal sister.
Anyways- the doctor was quite concerned with these delays, especially his lack of desire to walk. He commented that Mitchell really needs to be walking. The doctor told us that we really need to work with him in the next month to try and get him walking and that if in a month's time he still isn't walking, we'll need to start physical therapy with him. Yikes..... After putting Chloe down for bed, we started Session #1 of "Get Mitchell to Walk." It is very rare that we get to spend time with just Mitchell and we used it to play and encourage standing and walking. Session #1 did not go well.... he screamed and threw fits every time we tried to get him to walk. It may be a very long month for us with a very determined baby who DOES NOT WANT TO WALK.
Although he does not talk or walk, Mitch understands a lot and has a few new tricks up his sleeve. His cutest trick started over Christmas break. We took LOTS of pictures and Mitchell got used to hearing the phrase, "Say cheese!" when ever we took a picture. He quickly learned to make a very cheesy smile whenever we said, "Cheese!" Here are a few of the cheesy smiles we caught on camera when we said "cheese." (He would do it right on cue every time and it was a riot).
Head back
Eyes closed
Yes, this is a smile.....
CHEESE!
A more recent trick is his obsession with finding things to stand on. He refuses to walk, but will crawl around until he finds ANYTHING solid to stand on and easily climbs up on it.
His latest new trick is his interest in his old binkies that he hasn't used since he was 3 or 4 months old (he is an avid thumb sucker). He has been teething for the past few weeks and has been working on his one year molars (those have NOT been fun for anyone in this house....) and I think he likes the feel of the silicone binky on his aching, swollen gums.
This night, after reading stories, he refused to go to bed without the binky and threw a fit when I tried to take it away. He is addicted to his thumb sucking and I refuse to let him be attached to both the thumb AND the binky. I'm hoping it's just a phase.....
As you can see, he doesn't even have it all the way in his mouth and doesn't really suck on it- just chews. I haven't hidden them yet because he's been in so much pain with his teething that I know it brings him relief. And- he keeps finding them in places I didn't know they were. They are the next thing I throw out!
Wish us luck on the walking and talking. On a brighter note- only 3 more months until nursery! The countdown has begun.....
Oh- and his 15 month stats are:
Weight: 26 pounds, 8 oz: 75%
Height: 31.5 inches: 50-75%
Head: 49.5 cm: 97%
See? His (big) head says it all- he's VERY smart. I know he has the brains to walk......
6 comments:
I've seen plenty of kids not walking at 15 months and turn out perfectly fine. So I'd say don't worry about it too much. I'm sure he'll be fine on his own. Obviously he's strong enough if he can pull himself up to a standing position on his own.
Jason has always been a lazy little guy too (also possessing a large noggan and not talking either.) Maybe it's cause they both have big sisters who do all the talking for them.
Cute (and cheesy) pictures!
I'm sure one of these days he's just going to take off and not walk, but just run instead. Plus-like my doctor keeps saying about "bigger" kids, they have to learn to do these things with almost double the weight of all other kids! That's what I keep telling myself about Carter as all the other kids his age are crawling and Carter can't even sit up yet!
Don't worry-at least he's still cute
walking is a matter of motivation! Our nephew Caleb just learned to walk about a month or so ago and he has an august birthday, so timing is not that important...good luck!
HEY!! I've been wanting to take time to comment on blogs forever, and today is the day! Oh my heck, Mitchell is so cute. I remember when we took Abby to the Dr. before she turned 1 and he said don't be suprised if she isn't walking by the time she turns 1 because she is such a chunk!! But because she was our only child I was determined to get her walking by her fisrt birthday. She did good...we were taking steps by then. But anyways..I guess it is good to have a concerned Doctor rather than one that doesn't really care that much.
Seeing the pictures of Mitchell makes me excited to have a boy!! And I'm not suprised that you knew it was a boy all along! I love that ESP...always knowing what each other is thinking power! I always tell Aaron about it! Anways, hope all is well and I must add that Chloe looks adorable in her glasses!! Good luck with everything!!
Mitchell may be lazy and grumpy but he sure is cute. I love the eyes closed grins. Let's hope he grows out of the fake smiles by the time he goes to school.
I haven't had time to check with my "experts" yet but as soon as I do, I'll let you know. I really don't think you have anything to worry about. He'll walk when he's ready.
Love to all of you!
Did I mention that he is a miniature Benjamin? He is, it is sort of freaky, but really really cute!
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