16 Months Old Today

Okay, this is probably just going to be a big ol' brag on my amazing son so that is your warning :) My book on development only goes through 12 months so I don't really know what he's "supposed" to be doing but I can tell you what he does do. I have an Amercian Academy of Pediatrics book that says what he should be able to do by the end of the second year. Well, we're not even halfway through the second year and he's been walking for almost 6 months now, he can walk backwards no problem, he can spin in a circle till he's dizzy, he can run (even if it's a little wonky looking), he can kick a ball, he can stand on tiptoe, he can throw a great tantrum, he can communicate somewhat, he's starting to use a spoon, can follow instructions (when he wants to), can climb just about anything that he's not too short for...okay, so he's developing just fine is my point. He surprises us with something new just about every day. We absolutely love who he is becoming.

The other day we made a list of all the words he can say (his own version of, anyway): ball, mail, mama, bye bye, night night, down, banana, doggie, juice, no no, uh oh, and all gone. Those words he'll use correctly and unprompted. He overgeneralizes a little now (it's common for this age, apparently) and he calls all animals (and babies) "doggie" and he uses "banana" for apples and grapes too. Just like he currently calls us both "mama". He used to say "dada" but stopped. There are a few other words he used to use just fine but for some reason he doesn't anymore: more, cat, bonk, and bam. Strange. Every once in awhile he'll throw in another word (like "jump" or "nose") but it's not one of his regular words. He has other ways of communicating like a few signs, or he makes sounds: a couple animal sounds, car/truck sounds, tongue clicking, "mmmmm" with a lip smack if he's hungry, or he'll saw "Awww" when he gives a hug or cuddles. Sometimes I can't believe how much we're able to communicate with each other these days.

Today at the store he said and waved "bye bye" to the people checking out ahead of us. And that was unprompted too. He's so darn cute! While we were driving in the car I heard him start laughing so I looked over at the car next to us and the woman was making silly faces for him. How fun! He's such a blast to have around most of the time.

I'm feeling like such a proud mama today if you couldn't tell. Here is another musical movie montage I made of him in his toybox yesterday. It's nothing fancy, sorry. Check him out at the very end being a big faker. It was too funny not to laugh. Big fake sad boy.