Here it is, your long over-due 16 month letter! Do you know what my Daddy always told me? "Why put off until tomorrow that which can be done today?" I hope you learn that lesson better than I have! Just a few wonderful things I want to remember about your past two months...
You still love your Lambie to pieces...in fact, I was beginning to worry that Lambie would quickly be worn to pieces! As a result, we instituted a Lambie bedtime. When you get up in the morning/from a nap, you give Lambie a kiss, tuck him under the blanket, and then you happily hand pop out your binkie so I can put it in Lambie's mouth (well, sorta...I don't think he actually really has a mouth). Then as we walk out the door, you wave bye-bye to him.
One of your favorite things to do is to pick up your little plastic step and carry it all over the house. You set it down and climb up to whatever you need. Sometimes it's to reach things on the counter, but mostly you love to stand in front of the window and look out. You also love to use the step upstairs to climb up into the rocker (sometimes to rock, mostly to climb down and do it all over again.) The more I think about it, you love to climb on, stand on and ride anything you can. I often find you trying to ride your small tonka truck, piggy bank toy and bouncy ball. And just yesterday I turned around to find you on top of the dining room table! I hope I can always remember the little impish look on your face when I saw you! You seemed to say, "I know I shouldn't be up here, but look aren't you so proud of what I did?" And I am so proud of you...so much so that I think my heart will burst with pride and love!
Another current favorite is taking off lids and putting things together. You love manuevering "coins" into your play piggy bank and especially love putting lids on containers. When we go upstairs, you bee-line for the bathroom drawer. Once there, you unscrew the lids of either the toothpaste or Mommy's lipgloss and proceed to suck on the tube until I take it away. Which of course is never well recieved. Boy, oh, boy little mister, you sure can let us know when you're not happy. You've even taken to stomping your feet while you have a temper tantrum. Luckily it seems you've learned it is not a good idea to run over and bang your head on the nearest object when you are upset!
You just use about 6 words right now...Dada, Mama (which sometimes comes out just 'Mum'), dah (dog), woof (also for the dog), haw (hot), bah (ball). However, you're beginning to use sign-language like crazy! You can sign the sweetest 'please' when you want something (which can turn into a chest pounding please and demanding finger point if you don't get it). You also have just starting using the sign for more and will often sign "More, please." It's adorable of course, but it also really helps us understand what you want. It seems that you understand everything we say and you love to follow directions (ok, most of the time).
Having a limited vocabulary seems in no way to limit your ability to "talk" on the phone! You love to walk around the house holding the phone in the crook of your neck, "talking." And even more than talking on the phone, you love to push the buttons on the phone. In all actuality, you love to push buttons on anything that has them available. You have a knack for finding phones, calculators, remotes and the like!
Each evening, when I say, "Guess who's home? Daddy's home." You drop whatever you are doing to run look out the window. Then as soon as you see Daddy, you squeal and run to wait for him at the front door. I know it melts his heart to come home to your outstretched arms!
Meal time has definitely been interesting! You pretty much feed yourself all of the time and actually have developed quite good accuracy with your spoon and fork. You still have moments of frustation/boredom (not sure which) when you throw food on the floor, but it seems you are developing a better understanding about table manners (at least we hope!). I'm trying to think of what to write as your favorites, but it seems they are forever changing. One day, you will only eat all the meat off your plate, the next day you'll eat everything but the meat. There are a few things though that never seem to go out of style...crackers of any kind, cheesesticks (Well, any cheese for that matter...you even pick the cheese off of your grilled cheese sandwich!), peanut butter, pears, yogurt with fruit (not such a big fan of the plain anymore), and like your mommy, sweets of any kind! (You don't get them often, but last night you ate an entire chocolate chip cookie, then in sign language asked, "More, please, please, please!").
I guess your inconsistent eating habits may have something to do with your small stature! At your last well-baby check, you weighed a whopping 21.8 pounds (10%) and measured 30 1/2 inches (25%). Though you may be small, you're growing normally and make up for it with a supersize personality!
I promise I will try to do a better job of not putting off your letters and baby calendar in the next few weeks. You are doing so many new and wonderful things each day, I want to be able to remember it forever! I love you, little man!
Love, Mommy
Playing peekaboo with Daddy...
Talking Maddy's shoes for a spin!
I heard some commotion in the bathroom the other day and discovered a surprise in the towel basket. You had emptied out all of the towels and happily climbed in. Of course I had to take you downstairs to show Daddy!
Now this is how you color!
