16 Months (1/13/2014)

Dear Ben,

Happy 16 month birthday!  I blinked again and another month had passed.  Every single day you are doing something new and I love it!  (Hopefully I'll have time to take your 16 month pics one of these mornings!)

GENERAL:  I believe you are still around 30 inches and when I weighed you yesterday, you came in at 19 pounds and 2 ounces.  You are as happy as can be, almost always.  Recently, 2 different strangers told me that they could tell you are well loved. You are most definitely loved a LOT so I'm glad that it is somehow visible.  You certainly love to give a lot of love yourself, to animals and people alike.  :)

EATING: Your eating has been so-so.  We finally found a vitamin with iron that you will take, so that makes me feel a little better that you are at least getting this!  Your breakfast is typically fruit and blueberries are still your favorite.  You are really liking these puffed popcorn things, which I never in a million years thought I would buy, but they have lots of fat so buy them, I will.  You are starting to eat yogurt again, as long as you are able to feed yourself.  You're getting good at that!  We are still working on getting you to drink whole milk.  You will drink a sippy cup of water during the day, and you have typically 2, 5ish-ounce bottles a day.

SLEEPING:  As I mentioned the other day, you had a nice stretch of sleeping through the night this past weekend.  Unfortunately, that is not the new norm.  You have been getting up once a night, which isn't horrible, but it isn't our first choice either.  :)  You continue to nap about 2 hours during the day, but the timing varies.  We still give you a bottle when you wake up in the night, but again, this is because we want you to get all of the calories you can get!  I should really start breaking you of this habit but it is the only time you will take it!

FINE/GROSS MOTOR:  I probably say this at least daily, but you are SO BUSY.  You love taking all of your toys out and making a big mess.  You love going through drawers, laundry baskets, and anything that can be taken apart.  When you aren't making a mess, you are climbing everywhere.  You are always moving your grey chair somewhere new so you can reach more trouble.  You can't quite get up on to the couch by yourself, but you know how to pull a pillow over for an extra boost.  You like to climb our tiered shelf, so we are slowly clearing that off.  You are getting waaay too close to being able to open the bedroom/bathroom doors by yourself.  You love the bathroom, so that just spells more trouble.

COMMUNICATION/COGNITION: You have really started to talk a lot lately!  You love music and you love to sing and dance.   You had 2 new words today alone.   I was singing "Humpty Dumpty sat on the..." and right on cue you said "wall!"  It was so cute that we had you do it like 10 more times.  And then when it was snowing you pointed outside and said, "snow!"  You still use your signs, but you are now saying "more" with your voice instead of your little hands.  You can label all of your family members when asked where so-and-so is.  You are obsessed with your "Spot" books and you laugh at the same pages every time.  (What is so funny about the penguins??)  You love to be a little helper and whenever you find a crumb on the ground, you are sure to show us and then you'll run and throw it away.  You are super duper attached to your momma!  I can barely go to the bathroom without you banging on the door and waiting for me to come out.  It is reeeaaally hard to get ready in the morning because you constantly want to be held.  You are smiling in the picture below as you wait for me, but typically you are sobbing with big old tears.  Poor daddy!

I can't wait to see what the next month will bring!  These months go way too quickly.  I've been looking at a lot of baby pictures of you lately and I can barely believe that you have grown so quickly.  I love you SO MUCH!