15 months.

As of yesterday, Luka is actually 16 months old! So far his summer has been all about new skills. He finally got the hang of walking right at 15 months, and now he runs around like it's effortless. New words can be heard through the almost constant babbling, "three", "green", "blue", "this", "that", "baaa" (like a sheep in one of his books), and "get" (trying to say guitar) are his latest words. When his dad walks in from work in the evenings, Lu gives him a hardy round of applause. I admit I'm a tad jealous over that one.





Lu went swimming for the first time, with his cousins. He was apprehensive at first, but he soon took to it really well. Lots of splashing and pool toy munching ensued.



At his 15 month well visit, we discovered that Lu is now 18 pounds and 29" long. So he's grown two inches since his last visit! His weight still isn't very high, but for a preemie with his own chart to go by, his doctor is okay with his weight. One issue he has is his head circumference did not grow at all, and has only grown very little since his 9 month visit. His doc said that some kids just have smaller heads, and since he is meeting his developmental milestones, we probably don't have much to worry about. She wants to check him again in another month just in case, and if his head still hasn't grown then he may need an MRI (or was it a CT scan? A scan of some sort...)to make sure his head is okay. We are trying not to worry. And he is developing so well, it's easy to forget about the head thing for now.



Luka has had several colds and even the flu in the past year, but a few weeks ago he was so terribly sick that we just didn't know what to do. He had a super high fever for five days, and was so pitiful he didn't want to play, walk, or even move at all. He pretty much laid in our arms moaning for almost five days straight. It turned out to be roseola, a common childhood illness. He was diagnosed with an unnamed virus until the telltale roseola rash appeared at the end of the sickness. Before the rash appeared we had him at the doctor four times in one week. It was so sad. I know we have his whole life to be worried about various illnesses, and whoa am I not looking forward to that. My heart was hurting so much not being able to help him feel better. Poor little guy. But he's all healed up for now.



Luka's appetite has increased lately, and he is enjoying feeding himself more and more. Some of his common foods as of late:

-oatmeal with flax oil and fruit mixed in
-toast with almond butter or peanut butter
-bagel with vegan cream cheese
-fruit and veggie protein smoothie
-pasta with olive oil and nutritional yeast
-tofu scramble
-peas coated in coconut oil
-bananas, bananas, bananas
-bananas
-veggie burger patty
-still lovin' the avocados
-anything we are eating
Smoothies are a real life saver when Lu isn't feeling up to eating a lot. I can blend together just about anything and serve it to him with a straw, and he will drink it up. A typical smoothie- banana, frozen berries, rice protein, flax oil, soy yogurt, handful of spinach or kale, almond milk. Blended until smooth, a super meal!

Life with Lu continues to challenge and amuse us. He is fun, he is frustrating, he is adorable, he is smart, he is our kid.