Fifteen Months

Our baby is all grown up! At fifteen months, I've got my hands full with this boy. He is a total ball of energy. If he's not running, climbing, or eating, he's not happy! He now has 8 teeth and constant banged up knees from playing outside. His favorite toys are still Scout, his lawn mower, and his books! Here's a little list of all the things Levi has been up to lately!

• Walking/Running. The day after Levi turned a year old, he took off and he hasn't slowed down since. It's actually funny because now and then I'll catch him crawling (usually when he's playing with his trucks) and I just laugh because I haven't seen him crawl in so long!
• Laughing at his own jokes. Levi babbles pretty much non stop when he's playing around here. Every now and then we'll hear him talk and talk, and then he'll throw his head back laughing like, "Wow, that was a good one, Self!" Kills me.
• Wrestles. I'm learning his love language is touch. The more we wrestle around by throwing blankets at each other or we're tackling him to tickle him, the more lovey and happy he gets. If we're not available to wrestle with him, he then recruits Sophie or Scout and jumps around on our bed or the couch until he finds something else to entertain him (or until Sophie's had enough!)
• Kisses. My personal favorite. The other day he actually stopped, grabbed my face, then pulled me in to kiss me. Heart melted.
• Waving "hi" and "bye" and giving high fives. He did all these things at 1, but now they're much more intense. What once was a calm little wave of the fingers is now a full out arm flopping around, and his high fives actually "clap" a little. Then when he's done, he claps for himself!
• Levi knows what a lion says, what a monkey says, how airplanes fly, and where his belly is. We're working on
  
  his nose and what a train says. I think he understands more than he lets on, and sometimes that concerns me ;)
• He has NO interest being in the stroller. Trips to the zoo have come to a halt after an all out war by the penguins a few weeks ago. He just wants to run in every direction other than where we'd like him to go. Fun times.

• Full out fits. These will strike at any time, so we must be on guard. ;) He will
  scream and clench his fists and grit his teeth while shaking his head "no." When we're at home, we just ignore it and after about 10 minutes the kid comes to grips. When we're in public, we....well, we're still trying to figure out how to handle that. These fits have me questioning my parenting ability at times, but I've been reassured fits are just something toddlers do to test boundaries, so I'm hoping  he'll just learn super fast that Mama always wins. :)

Seeing more and more of who Levi is and his heart just blesses my life. I'm so thankful for his sweet, adventurous demeanor. He plays hard, sleeps hard, and loves hard, and he keeps us on our toes! My prayer for him grows all the time. Every night we pray that Levi would "get a good nights sleep so that he could grow to know and follow You. Make him a man among men, that he would spread Your Word to the nations and be a leader in his family, his work, and in his community." It's been so fun to watch Levi discover more and more of the world around him, and I pray for the grace and discernment I need to be the best mom I could be to him.

We love you, Levi Jack, and we enjoy watching you grow more every day!