16 Months Old

Yet another month just went by...how is that possible? Daniel is 16 months old today! What a GREAT Mickey picture we got today! If you click it make it larger, you can see his new molar that is most definitely in...AND get a load of those rosy cheeks! (courtesy of Daniel having spent the previous ten minutes bouncing, flopping, rolling, and having plain old silly crazy fun in the crib when I went in to get him and dress him after his morning nap)

And on that bouncing, flopping, rolling, silly crazy fun note- someone asked me a while back if I had older children because of all the energy Daniel has (in Daniel's defense, we were at Wiggles which is basically free play, so who can blame him?). Apparently younger siblings have more energy than this?!? I laughed and said no- this is all Daniel. When I came home and told Ben this story, he said, "Wait, the next one could have more energy than this?!" Yikes! Anyway, Daniel's energy keeps us going and it is very much a part of who he is! It does wear us out sometimes, but we enjoy every bit of him and all he does.

Daniel's newest trick this week, and I've only seen him do it twice, is to stand on his tiptoes. I barely caught it the other day, and he did it again the next day. He stands on his tiptoes to look out the window and get books and things on shelves, etc. all the time. But I'm talking about in-the-middle-of-the-room standing on his tiptoes without holding onto anything. I thought it was cute. I've been kind of wondering what the next new things will be, since we've obviously gotten to the walking part of development, but I'm certainly in no hurry for running. Though I think jumping would be too cute!

I also have to say that Daniel is confidently independent and I'm so proud of this, even if it means he doesn't always need me. (sniff, sniff) We went to our Wiggles & Giggles class as usual this week, and I'd set Daniel down to let him go play while talking to another mom and Daniel just took off playing. He didn't even notice that I'd moved away to put our coats down- in fact, he never looked for me. I'm not sure how long it would have been till he looked for me, since I did end up going over and playing with him. I'll have to see sometime. My little boy is growing up. He's just so comfortable making himself at home and playing and exploring when we're out and about at Wiggles or even at our playdates. It's neat to watch him.

Daniel's newest words are "wa-wa" for water and "ya-ya" for requesting we play our "yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me" musical toy. He also says "sh" for shoe and "sss" for socks. Daniel's been saying "dada" like crazy this week, too. "Ah-ah" is for up and on. Today he tried very hard to make the short i sound for in (he rediscovered his exersaucer this week which has been a hit because he's discovered all the noise he can make bouncing it up and down!). You can sure see Daniel's thinking gears turning as he's figuring out all the sounds he can make. He does a lot of initial sounds for words so far, but we're good with that- we know what he means and he'll catch on as we repeat the words for him. The one word he says with the most clarity and the most sounds is "down"- though lately, he's been saying "dowm" clear as a bell. Sometimes, he'll look at you with the sweetest, yet most serious, expression and simply say, one time, sometimes quietly, "dowm"- letting you know he wants to down into the basement.

Daniel still eats pretty well. In fact he ate a whole banana for breakfast this morning! He doesn't even really like bananas too often- they're pretty hit or miss, really, but he must have been hungry this morning. Breakfast is still his best meal. Lunch depends, and dinner depends. Snacks are always a hit- he loves his crackers. Daniel still loves meats of any kind and he absolutely loves crescent rolls. We went to my friend Coreen's house for lunch and a playdate a while ago and she has a clear oven door and was baking crescent rolls. Oh my goodness Daniel practically hyperventilated with excitement and kept signing more more more since he could see them and he wanted them now. I was cracking up!

Daniel's new favorite snack of the week, in moderation of course: wafer cookies. I discovered another brand of cookies that doesn't have milk in it and one option was wafer cookies. I totally remembered these cookies from when I was little- so I broke down and bought some for my little guy. They've been a big hit!

Strange food of the week- those jarred roasted red peppers. I had to chop more for a recipe the other day because Daniel ate so many of them before I'd even started cooking! Dinner time is hard for us- Daniel, like many toddlers I'm sure, is not very patient. He sees food and he wants it now. I draw the line at raw meat of course, but he'll try just about anything he sees while we're chopping foods- green onions, carrots, roasted red peppers, etc. We've found this to be a great way to get him to eat veggies, because then when dinner is actually ready, he wants nothing to do with anything besides his meat. Perhaps it's because he's already eaten so much? But I don't think so, because we've tried waiting vs. tasting while prepping- it's when he sees the meat or the rolls we sometimes have, that's all he wants. Hey, whatever works! And meat is good for him- so no complaints.

Other big news- we're well on the road to weaning. Daniel is down to nursing only once a day, at nighttime. And even at that time- he's still on-the-go. So I think he might even be ready to take that one away very soon. Probably sooner than I'll be ready. I do so still enjoy that time. I have to say it's been nice to follow his cues and take this whole weaning thing slowly. But now, I have some serious thinking to do...I have to decide what milk-product I will literally dive into the day I stop nursing. Tough decision...really. But I'm not too anxious for milk-products- I'm just going to miss nursing.

Funny story of the week- Daniel was playing with Ben's office ceiling fan remote control the other day. He was absolutely enthralled with the fact that he could see the light turning on and off as he pushed the buttons. It was cute to watch. The funny part was when he brought the remote into the family room, he would look at the lights in there expecting that they would go on and off, too! (meanwhile, Ben's in his office working and the lights are still going on and off while Daniel tries the lights in the other room) We finally took the batteries out to let Daniel keep playing, and let Ben keep working without flickering lights!

That's a lot of news...whew! But I write it all as much for me as for you, if you're even still reading! Happy 16 Month Birthday, Daniel! Let's go get you your own cushy chair now! :)