Maybe I should start off every monthly post with this title: 'This is SUCH a fun age!!!' I feel like such an annoying mom by uttering this cliche statement but it's honestly true. I love 'this' stage---no matter when you ask me. And sixteen months is my favorite phase right now:)
June was a fast month for us and it seems like Truman doesn't have any major changes to report but then again, he did sprout 3 more teeth including those blasted upper canines, to bring his grand total to 14 teeth. Another fact that is even more telling about the nights we've had lately: in the past 6 weeks T has popped 7 teeth. Yikes, guys. It just hurts to look at all of those baby nubbin teeth in his little mouth because we all suffered greatly to get them.
(with his buddies Eli and Henry)
(loved Henry's swing)
Truman has always been a kid that feels teething and vaccines, although I know there are children out there who aren't affected by either. After his 15 month shots he had a low grade fever and was super fussy, and then he had a little bug of some sorts at the end of June, too, with another low grade fever and even more fussiness. I think we've gone through about 2 bottles of Ibuprofen in attempts to keep our sanity. Also, his wonderful sleeping patterns went out the window this month (remember the 7 teeth in 6 weeks thing) and he now likes to wake for the day by 5:30 at the latest. There were nights when he would also wake up screaming every 2-3 hours and although starting our days in the 5:00 hour isn't really 'fun', I can assure you that waking up around the clock was much, much worse. I seriously have no idea how we survived those newborn days and I thank God that the night-waking was just a short phase this time around. And we're still letting him use the pacifier for sleep but still feeling guilty for it. This was just not the month to take away his comfort-sucking....maybe next month though. Or maybe not:)
(loves his DaDa)
Mister man is still incredibly vocal and strikes up nonsense conversations with us all the time. He's forming more 'real' words somewhere in there, too, like 'ma' for 'more' and 'dow' for 'down' and 'ba-ba' for Bob. As in, his BOB stroller that he loves and requests often. Did I mention that was one of the best purchases we ever made for our family? He's also really into shaking his head 'YES' and saying 'yeah' now, which is a pretty amazing feat considering that NO was his favorite word and gesture for a majority of his life. I was beginning to worry he'd be a negative nancy and wouldn't learn the word 'yes' but now he'll answer every question with the affirmative. And boy oh boy, does this child have opinions.
One big motor milestone for this month was learning to climb up stairs. He does it in such a cute way, crawling up on his knees and then standing on his feet in between each step. Hasn't quite figured out going down stairs yet, since he basically flings himself down and expects us to control his fall. Isn't it amazing how trusting and innocent kids are? I can't get over it.
T's personality emerges more each day and I think the biggest defining factor for our little man is his social-nature. I am not joking when I say that Truman LOVES people. Going to the grocery store, or Target, or a restaurant is his nirvana because there are so many strangers that he can befriend. He will wave at anyone and everyone and when they look his way, he flashes his killer grin and they immediately become putty in his little hands. It was almost embarrassing the other day at lunch, when he worked the entire room of people and forced them all to fall under his spell. Every table around us commented that he was SO cute, and 'oh my goodness---he loves to wave, doesn't he?' and 'Can I take him home with me?'. Truman is the biggest flirt I know and I can just picture him as a three year old jumping into strangers cars because 'MOM-there is a person who hasn't seen me wave at them yet and they MUST see me wave!!'. I'm picturing a kid-leash in the near future...
Another obsession for our big boy, besides strangers, is the great outdoors. Now that it's finally summer in Wisconsin my child wants to breathe fresh air around the clock. Major meltdowns occur when I force him to come inside for any reason. When he's outside, though, he is in the best mood and loves to walk all around the block on a stick hunt. Yes, any small stick on the sidewalk is fair game and he will pick them up, hand them to me, and continue on his way. We now have a large bucket full of his stick collection and we like to dump them out and inspect them regularly. He used to hate walking in the grass but has recently conquered that fear in the name of finding more sticks. Maybe he will be a lumberjack someday, huh?
Other outdoor activities that make Truman a happy baby: pretending to smell flowers (complete with an adorable scrunch face and sniff), pretending to water flowers with a 'shhhhhh' sound and an empty watering can, and pointing to every leaf on a tree. The options are endless, really.
Besides strangers and the outdoors, his other favorite hobby has to be music. This child has a minor obsession with Raffi songs and demands to go downstairs to grandma's nearly every day to listen to her Raffi tapes. He'll dance up a storm and even head-bang when 'Brush your teeth' comes on and will even gesture like he's brushing his own teeth, while saying 'shhhhhh'. It's pretty amazing, actually. Raffi is number one but a close second has to be any of mom's techno music. The boy just loves Daft Punk, what can I say? :)
So that is sixteen months---loads of fun and tiresome all at once. And definitely my favorite age.
To say that 'we've been through a lot' is truly the biggest understatement of the year. I'm not going to get all mushy about my hubs tonight because there just aren't words. But I will say that when he just saw me typing on my blog the following conversation occurred:
