Contrary to appearances (e.g., peach-fuzz hair, limited vocabulary, etc.), Ollie's growing up fast.

He's squat and sturdy; although his "walking" is better described as lurching and staggering, he has a low center of gravity and rarely hurts himself when he falls. (Or, at least, he doesn't cry when he topples over and bangs his head against hard objects.)

At the age of 15 months, Ollie's already developed strong food preferences: snack (read: junk) foods, Asian food, nuts (which we know we shouldn't have given him, but we're bad parents) and prunes. ("Prunes" is one of just a half-dozen or so words he can say. The others are: "goh-goh" (meaning Owen), "open," "up," "more," and the de rigeur "mama" and "dada.")

He likes things that spin (e.g., ceiling fans, propellers, CDs, etc.). Owen used to be a big fan of spinning things, too, and frankly, I'm surprised that toymakers haven't capitalized on this peculiar obsession of toddlers.

And just recently, rather than just mimicking his big brother (which he's been doing for months), Ollie's begun to really play with Owen. This morning, for example, they chased each other around with toy cars, and danced together to a Daft Punk album.

Next up: Fighting.