He's not that old.

I have a confession.

Sometimes, I am guilty of having expectations too high for my young son.

Ever since he'd been in daycare with me (when he was 3 months old), I have compared him to the older children around him. I'd like to think that's a natural thing to do. I'm sure it is.

But, it didn't take long for Spencer to gain enough pounds and grow enough inches to be as big in size as the next youngest child who was about six months older than him.

Now, as a elementary school student, and older, six months doesn't seem like much at all. But, in infancy and toddler-hood especially, six months is a BIG difference.

He started eating baby cereal at 3 months old, and baby food at 4 months. He moved to small foods and finger foods pretty early. He learned to crawl at 10 months. He was walking before he was one. He can say words. He can go up and down stairs. He can use a cup. He has great fine motor skills. He loves to color and draw. He loves to put objects into lines, or things like golf tees into their small holes. He's on track, if not "ahead" in some areas.

Now, granted, when he was "tested" on the Denver Development Scale a few weeks ago, developmentally, in most areas, he was at the 18-24 month level. I know that part of that is because of daycare and spending time being one of the youngest there. And that's awesome.

But, I tend to forget that he's NOT that old.

He's 15 months old. FIFTEEN MONTHS. Not 18 months. 15 months. That's pretty close to just being ONE yet. Not two. ONE.

Occasionally, especially at daycare, I found, I would get kind of frustrated that he wasn't cleaning up toys like the 18 month-olds and the 2 year-olds do. He'd put one or two toys in a bucket, and more often than not, pick it back up and dump it all over the floor.

But, I'd say that's pretty normal. It's OKAY.

And we're working on it at home now. He is really good at picking up his die-cast (Matchbox/Hot Wheels) cars and putting them away. Sure, sometimes he dumps them out, but generally, he's good at just putting them away. He's getting good at picking up his Mr. Potato Head pieces, too.

I also find that I get frustrated, sometimes, not always, when he throws his cup on the floor. Or he only stabs food with his fork and then it sometimes flings off instead of putting it in his mouth. I didn't start him with a fork until a month or two ago, because I just didn't want to deal with the mess. So of course, he's not got it down yet. And that's normal, I think. And that's OKAY. He'll learn. He doesn't always do it to be naughty. He's learning.

Those are two small areas in which I compare him and forget that he's only one. He's not two. He's one. I am sure there are more, but right now, I guess I can't think of them.

I like the fact that right now, it's just us at home. Baby Bo is still growing inside of me, and the dog is a different species. So, it's just Spencer and I. I can focus on him. I can focus on what he "needs" to learn, and what he's great at. And I can stop comparing him, for the most part, to kids 6 months to 9 months older than him. I can remind myself that he is GREAT just the way he is.

He's only 15 months old.