16 Months (4/18/2016)

GENERAL: Life has been so good with my boys.  They are healthy and happy and loving life.  We saw ENT last Monday for Josh's ears and he has an effusion in his left ear (again or the same one…who knows) but we can safely hold off on ear tubes for now.   He very clearly does NOT eat when he isn't feeling well, so I was originally hopeful for tubes for that reason.  However, now that ear infection season has come to an end, I'm hoping he can stay healthy on his own!  He seems to be growing up extra fast these days.  He actually willingly wore the sticker for the pictures this month AND he smiles on command now.

SLEEP: Sleep has still been great!  He had a bad night the other night and ended up in our bed which meant poor sleep for me, but I'm thinking and hoping that that was just a fluke.  He slept from 7:00PM last night until 6:20AM this morning---amazing!!  He usually goes to bed around 7:00 after we read books with Ben I put him to bed awake and he falls asleep right away.  He's such a good boy!  He gets up pretty consistently before 6:00 every morning, but we are not complaining.  His naps are sporadic but he takes at least one nap a day.

EATING:  Josh's eating has been better than usual, but I still wish there was more variety.  He is really good at feeding himself cereal with milk in the morning.  He usually has Cheerios!  He likes string cheese (like his big bro!), grapes, grilled cheese, bread, peaches, oranges, and goldfish.  He used to eat meat but he won't really eat that anymore, unfortunately.  We will keep trying!  He loves his sweets and knows where they are hidden!  He will grunt and point and whine until you understand what he wants! He is still nursing in the evening and morning and I still think this is mostly for comfort.

COMMUNICATION/COGNITION: He can definitely understand more than he can tell us!  I think it's true that kids with older siblings don't talk as much because they have their siblings to talk for them. Ben definitely likes to talk and do everything for Josh.  He very sweetly says, "I have to protect my baby," even when we tell him not to do things so that Josh can learn for himself. ;)  Josh still finds and points out every ball he sees.  He's really good at pointing to whatever you tell him to point to in a book.  Again, big brother likes to try and beat him to the punch!  I think Josh is THIS close to being able to follow my "if you take a bit of this, then you can have that" line that we use on a daily basis with Ben.  Joshy is shy yet funny and social at the same time.  He loves his momma SOOOO much.  The feeling is obviously mutual, though it's hard to hold him non-stop in the morning when I'm trying to get dressed or do my hair.  He does not like to hear, "just a minute, Joshy!"  Lots of tears when he has to be put down.

FINE/GROSS MOTOR: My 2 little athletes are always on the go.  He just started kicking a ball and is getting close to being able to catch a ball too.  He loves to throw and play catch.  He always wants to be included in whatever activity Ben is doing, so it's tennis, golf, basketball, baseball, football, soccer, or some made up game.  The boys love to play "chase" and Josh just giggles and giggles whenever someone chases him.  He is still climbing whatever he can whenever he gets the chance and he still dances whenever he hears music.  I love how he bops around to the beat whenever he hears music!

I just love my boys SO much!  I can't wait to add another (probable BOY!) to the mix!