Dear Carder,
I can't believe how quickly time has flown! You are
16 months old now and I can hardly believe it!
Over these last couple of months, you have morphed before our very eyes. Every single day, you look more and more like a little boy and less and less like a baby. Although we still get plenty of moments where you cuddle up and give us love, you are growing so much in your independence daily and you are turning into such a fun little guy. I love spending time with you - from our cuddle time in the morning to playing ball or cars to watching you giggle at something...this is by far my favorite time in your life.
Growth Stats - I have no idea how tall you are right now - at least half of my height for sure. You are TALL - much taller than many of the other boys your age in your day care class - and we hear comments all the time how tall you are... I weighed you on our scales at home the other day and you weighed in at 22.8 pounds.
Teeth - You have 9 teeth now (all of the front incisors and one top molar). This last month, sleep has still been less than stellar, but with 5+ teeth coming in at once, I can't say we expected anything different. We will be glad once all of these baby teeth make their arrival, though. We hate to see you wriggle around in pain all night long. But, if what I read about teeth coming in pairs is true, you should have 3 more molars soon. That will put your total teeth count at 12 with only 8 more to go.
Eating - All of the sudden, most of your food intake comes from table food. Some of your favorites include spaghetti, hot dogs, Sloppy Joe's, macaroni & cheese, sweet potato fries, teriyaki veggies, tomatoes, and fresh fruits. In these last few weeks, you have been a little more picky with your eating habits - I think the teeth erupting are causing some of that, though. We still struggle with getting you to eat most of the veggies in their true form - we are fairly certain it is the texture.
Drinking - After your transition to the toddler room, your drinking has picked up drastically. We went from having every day be "Code Red" on your fluid intake with you drinking 6-8 ounces per day to you being a champ at drinking. Whether it is walking around drinking from a straw or throwing your head back drinking from your other cup, you now readily drink up to 40 ounces per day of water, juice, and (GASP) whole milk. It is such a nice change to not spend every night trying to force you to drink and worrying that we may end up at the ER with a dehydrated little boy.
Sleeping - If there was ANYTHING I could change about you, it would be your sleeping habits. You still don't sleep through the night and I am beginning to wonder if you ever will. After I rock you to sleep each night at around 7:30 and lie you down, you typically wake up around midnight. Sometimes you will go back to sleep in your crib for a little while. By now, I am pretty good at determining when that is going to be a bust. You end up in our bed every night - typically somewhere between 12 and 2. And just when I begin to think that this is ALL a behavioral issue, the teething lets up and you will sleep for 2-3 glorious nights ALL NIGHT LONG. Poor little guy...
Walking/Running - After taking your first few tentative steps by yourself back in July, it took you a while to get brave enough to trust that you could walk more than 3 or 4 steps at a time. Gradually, you got braver, though. On August 24, you walked around all day holding onto my hands. And on August 25, you decided you were a big boy and didn't need me anymore. When your feet hit the ground that morning, you took off walking and didn't look back. Although your steadiness has greatly increased, so has your speed - and with that has come more instability. You have taken more tumbles in the last month than I care to have seen - most of them narrowly missing some sharp edge and some of them right into a piece of furniture. My heart races each time I see you falling towards the ground...But I am such a proud mommy to see you running all over the place!
Getting Into Trouble - Due to your height, you can reach so many things that surprise me (like objects several inches from the edge of the dining room table...). In addition, you can open doors. YES, I SAID OPEN DOORS. Even the ones that you have to pull towards you to open. We have been locking the back door to prevent you from just walking right out into the back yard, but you have been fingering the lock suspiciously and I have a feeling that it will just be a matter of time until you figure that one out. Luckily for us, you haven't started testing your limits on closed doors and you just walk by most of them. The only doors you try to open are the ones you close yourself and the ones that lead to the outdoors. You are also climbing up onto objects and into chairs. Most of the time you exit safely, but this is also cause for heart palpitations lately...
Stairs - You have now mastered both going up the stairs and down the stairs safely. It is so cute to watch you shimmy down the stairwell to the basement to play with your toys down there. You have even started throwing objects down the stairwell in the hopes that we will open the gate to let you go after them. You still have a little trouble with depth perception of drop-offs (i.e. single steps down that you aren't expecting...)
Verbalization - The last couple of months have brought with them a language explosion. You talk ALL THE TIME. A good bit of it is still just babble, but you also have many words that you use. Mama, Dada (which has morphed into just plain DA), Ball, Boat, Dog, Row, Uh-Oh, Ow, Moo, Duck, Car, Truck, Rock. I also have to admit that at this point in time, you call your pacifier "Mamamama" - I don't know if I am happy that you relate my name to comfort and security or upset that I can so easily be replaced by a piece of silicone, but it is what it is...
Hand Gestures/Mimicking - The only sign you have been making is "HAT". But just a couple of days ago, you began signing "MILK"* and "DOG" out of the blue. You readily give "5", you make the signal for touchdown, and when asked where objects are, you put your hands up to your sides mimicking what I have always done when I asked you where something was...In the last couple of months, you have also begun "talking" on the phone - and any object with buttons can be considered a phone.
*This was really surprising as you don't drink milk very much and we haven't made the "MILK" sign in months...
Body Parts - You have begun identifying your/our body parts. You know Hair, Eyes, Nose and Belly Button. I think you also know hands, feet, and mouth - but sometimes your response on those is non-existent.
Favorite Things - Right now, your favorite things include doing anything OUTSIDE, Reading Books, Balls, Cars, and Animals.
I love you, little boy!
Mommy
