15 months!!!

Ben turned 15 months old on July 23rd! His vocabulary is increasing surprisingly fast. He's started saying bye-bye, hi, outside, sky, star, moon, belly, baby, diaper, dinosaur, and yogurt in addition to words he figured out a few months ago (it's hard to keep up). He can tell us the sound that cows, sheep, ducks and snakes make. He's parroting most of what we say, which means mom needs to clean up her language (lol). He's also started to string words together, which is fun to hear. He can point at his eyes, nose, mouth, ears, belly, diaper, feet and head. He's also developing his fine motor skills - he's able to stick a straw in his sippy cups without help. They work a lot on fine motor skills at daycare. Ben's still not walking yet, but is getting close. He'll likely be walking in the next month or so.

Ben loves drawing, coloring, painting, and stamping art. He really enjoys music - he dances along to just about anything we play. He likes climbing or trying to climb up things. He's learned how to climb off of things by turning around and scooting on his belly until his feet hit the floor. He eats everything except salmon and tomatoes (I think he gets the salmon thing from his Mema and the tomato thing from Craig :). He's also starting to eat at the table without a booster seat, which is super convenient for travel.

Speaking of travel, we're still using Ben's pacifier since it's so helpful on the plane and in restaurants when we travel. We're trying to wean him off it this month since our travel schedules are slowing down. He's also still throwing tantrums, but they're getting much better. I don't necessarily like calling them tantrums - he's just showing what he's feeling at the time, which is fine. He's getting much better at listening and waiting for what he wants. Hopefully that will keep improving (although I'm sure it waxes and wanes with kiddos).

This month we took a weekend trip to Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon to get out of the Phoenix heat and then visited Mema and Auntie Nika in LA. Ben's getting to be a pro at air travel. He knows how to work the arm rest and window shades really well :)

Eating out with mom and dad. Not so good with the sippy cup sometimes :) 

Visiting Sunset Crater in Flagstaff, AZ. He thought the rocks were icky.

Exploring Native American ruins at Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument

Waiting patiently for dinner in Flagstaff.

Eating at the table like a big guy, which is really handy in a hotel room.

Ben points out the great unconformity in the Grand Canyon.

Obligatory family pic. 

Ben's favorite part of the Grand Canyon was the air conditioned bus.

Ben gets Ram-Ram on his head. His favorite thing to do in the car is throw objects on his head. Lol.

Mom does Ben's hair :)

Ben's first sushi (vegetarian). 

Visiting the Kidspace Children's Museum in Pasadena.

Auntie Nika shows Ben around Kidspace :)

Ben found some cool fabric rocks and firewood at the Kidspace Museum.

More practice sitting at the table in our Pasadena hotel room.

He loves his Mema.

Love you, Mema!

Huntington Gardens in Pasadena. 

More Huntington Gardens. Ben really liked the Koi.

Franken-Ben.