16 Months

This is a long post, so if you're not interested in all of the "details" feel free to bypass this.

For the last week, Maximus has been down to just one nap a day. It's been working good so far. Before, he was getting up around 5:00 - 6:30 in the mornings and would usually nap 2 - 4 hours later and then again after lunch. But, the problem was, he was starting to fight those afternoon naps and he always seemed tired in the mornings.

He still goes to bed between 7:30 - 8:00 at night (still usually waking up at least once at night) but now he gets up at 7:30 in the morning. Normally, he's awake earlier than that, but I have been trying to not go into his room right when I hear him. Sometimes he goes back to sleep, other times he'll be awake and will be talking and making noises. When I do go in and get him out of his crib, he doesn't seem as tired as he was in the past. We have our mornings then to play, do stuff around the house, or go run errands. After lunch, around 1:00 or so, he goes down for a 1 - 3 hour nap. Overall, he seems to be getting more sleep now with this new schedule. Let's hope this continues to work! 

Maximus comprehends a lot. We will ask him to get something, like his water bottle, or a specific toy and he'll bring it to us. He understands when we say it's time to eat, go night night, bye bye, change his diaper and so on.

I've noticed that he has been saying "me me" lately and I'm not sure what that means. He has repeated certain words that we say such as: moo, boo, mole & dot. I know...strange combination, huh? When we say, Night Night, he'll say, "Nigh Nigh." And when we say we're going to go bye bye, he gets VERY excited and says, "bah bah?" When we change his diaper, he refers to it as "ba ba." And, when I ask him what he wants to do, he'll say, "do?" I don't think he quite understands that.

When he wants to know what something is, he'll say, huh? And he'll keep saying "huh" because he wants you to repeat it over and over again. Or, if he gets excited about us saying we're going to go bye bye or go outside, he'll say, "huh?" (over and over again). You can just see the wheels spinning.  

Anything that beeps, such as car horns, alarms, toys and appliances, he'll say, "beep" or "beep beep." And he'll say "toot toot" when he hears trains.

Everything that is round is a "baah" (ball). This is especially true in the produce section of the grocery store. haha...

Most kids, under the age of 10 are babies to him and he'll make this known by pointing to them and calling them "baby."

When he hears the song, Mambo Italiano, sung by Rosemary Clooney, he'll say, "Mom-O." We also catch him singing to music or mimicking us when we sing/hum.

He doesn't eat as much as he use to and he's never liked sitting in his highchair for an extended amount of time. All normal, but it stresses me out at times. I wonder, is he getting enough food? The answer is yes, but I still worry about it. At least I know when he really enjoys certain foods, because he'll say, "Mmm, Num Num, or Nummy Nummy." He continues to love water over whole milk, but, if we put milk in a cup or glass with a grownup straw, he's usually more apt to drink it. The past couple of days, I've made smoothies for him with whole milk, greek yogurt & blueberries and he likes drinking that out of a container with a straw. When he has his water bottle, oftentimes he hands it over to us, because he wants us to fill it up using the fridge door dispenser.

Maximus has been walking backwards. He also spins in circles to the point of getting dizzy and then tries walking. He thinks it's funny to walk with a blanket or bucket over his head, although he usually ends up running into things. Silly boy! He gets really into clapping these days. He stands and swings his arms out wide by his sides and will clap over and over again.

He loves being outside and gets giddy even to go to the mailbox with us. If I take him in his stroller when he's tired, he'll be out within 10 minutes of our walk. I've taken him on some nice long walks recently.

This boy gets super excited about brushing his teeth. In the mornings, he'll go into the bathroom, point up at the counter & will say, "uh, uh, uh," signaling that he wants to brush his teeth.

Lately he sniffs EVERYTHING. I mentioned before that I noticed him doing this, when I first started putting cinnamon and nutmeg on our oatmeal. I would say, "Doesn't that smell good?" while I was inhaling through my nose. Well, he does this too when we say, smell, stink or P U.  Now, he goes around smelling his toys, blankets, furniture, food, and other objects. And oftentimes, you'll hear him say, "Mmmmm..." It's quite comical!

He doesn't do it all the time, but we'll ask him to give us a kiss and once in a great while he'll kiss us on the mouth. It's the sweetest thing when he does it on command. I have been trying to teach him to blow kisses. He's caught on and will sometimes even kiss my hand. And when he's waving goodbye, he usually has his palm turned towards his face and waves that way.

Maximus is a "helper." He actually enjoys dusting. Hooray! I've got him trained.  He'll take a baby wipe or a rag and he'll wipe the windows, his toys, and furniture. I am pretty clumsy and am always dropping things and saying, "Uh Oh." He says it all the time now...but more like, "Aahhh Oh." He's even said it on his own, in very appropriate circumstances.

He has a love/hate relationship with the big vacuum cleaner. He likes to explore and touch it, but usually when I get it out to vacuum the carpet, he gets all nervous and sometimes cries. I have a smaller hand vac that he really is interested in though. It must be a little less intimidating.

Over the past couple months, Maximus really loves to be read to. When he was much smaller, and I read him stories, he would grab the books & would sometimes even scream. Nowadays, he still grabs the book that I'm reading to him, but overall he is much more interested  and pays attention. When he wants me to read to him, he will stand over at the spot where we read and will point to the books. He really enjoys the "touch and feel" board books and helping turn the pages.

He is interested in playing with his blocks that he can snap together and pull apart and he does this over and over again. He also likes taking old business cards that Rob gave him and he'll stick them in the cracks of drawers or printers, through the lid of an old baby wipe box and in other containers and toys.

At church, he really gets into the songs during praise and worship. He claps and raises his hands and bounces up and down. Several weeks ago, I was singing "Jesus Loves Me" to him. He kept saying, "bah boh" and I figured that he must have been saying, "bible" since the song goes, "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so." He also points to the crosses that we have hanging in our home and looks and points at them when we say, "cross."

That about sums it up for now. I feel SO blessed to have this little guy. It's hard to imagine life without him. Thanks so much for sharing in my joy.

Be sure to stop back by tomorrow. I'm participating in my friend, Anita's,
Simply Irresistible Link Party. It's going to be fun!

Happy day!

hi-d