Monthly Snapshot: Gates at 15 Months

Throughout the month I take a lot of photos. I start a lot of blog posts on the train, while I'm standing in line. I look forward to synthesizing those reflections on what Gates has been doing or is up to into a cohesive narrative for her The First Two Years Blurb book. Lately I'm having trouble finding the time.
 

 

This month's portrait and update almost didn't happen, for reasons similar to why Gates' Nine Month portrait didn't. With a new full-time day job and lots of projects going on, I've been prioritizing spending time with Gates over chronicling her life.
 

Not wanting another gap in Gates' twenty four month portrait series, we set up the camera on Saturday (a little late in the month) and had our photo session. (If you're planning on taking monthly portraits, keep it simple. I shared tips I wish I'd known before I started in place of Gates' Nine Month portrait.) Photos from Gates' 15 month photo session are up on Flickr, and you can find her "official" 15 month portrait there.
 

Here are the highlights of what Gates has been doing over the past month.
 

Gates' love affair with books continues. Some mornings she pulls out and go throughs over twenty books in a session. Often she has us read sections from a favorite multiple times. Recently she's been into stories about farm animals and the alphabet.
 

 

Sprite has also learned that the only safe place at The Station is in our bedroom under the bed or behind a locked door. Vertical escapes just represent a dare to Gates to go higher in pursuit of the cat.
 

 

It seems as though every day Gates is doing something new. This month she took her first tentative step by herself. She stood up in the middle of the living room without assistance or pulling herself up by holding the edge of a table or a chair. She paused, made sure we were watching and then walked.
 

She's also begun matching lids with pots by color. The blue lid goes on the blue pot. The red lid goes on the red skillet and so on. And she's completing "puzzles," putting a circular block into a block with a corresponding cutout. When she successfully completes the shape she claps. Her eyes get really big and she smiles wide when she sees we're watching and clapping along with her.
 

 

In other firsts, Gates got her first pair of shoes, well actually first two pairs. She started daycare, and she tried ice cream.
 

 

What did 15 Months look like for your Little One?
 

Additional candids of Gates from last month, some of which were shared on Instagram, but most not shared previously, have been added to The First Two Years Flickr gallery.
 

Ciao Bella!

Eden!
 

P.S. Don't feel like commenting? Strike up a conversation with me elsewhere: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest.
 

Credits: All layouts designed by and images taken by Eden Hensley Silverstein for The Road to the Good Life.
 

Monthly Snapshot is a monthly series, published on either the second or fourth Monday of each month, depending on whether Gates has a well baby check up or not, that chronicles Gates' growth during her first twenty four months. This series was inspired by Nicole Balch of Making it Lovely's series for her two children: Eleanor and August.