June 12, 2014

16 months!

Another month has come and gone, and Madden just keep gets more crazy and fun. We visited the doctor last week for his 15 month appointment and the doctor called him a toddler! A little surprising and hard to hear, but I guess it’s true. My baby is not so much a baby anymore! He is now 24 pounds and about 36 inches long, and is finally in size 4 diapers! He jabbers allllll the time and has the energy to play a lot longer than the day lasts.





























I love how much he’s talking these days. I’m glad I have several videos of him looking up at me with big, wide eyes, and rambling off a bunch of babble. His mouth hardly moves at all when he talks, but he really acts as if he’s really trying to tell me something. Most of the time, his talking ends with a little laugh before he runs off, and always involves a lot of hand movement. He really gets into it!
My favorite thing he says is “Thank you” (“Da Doo”). He says it after EVERYTHING, and it’s the cutest thing ever. He says “Da Doo” whenever he’s given something of course, but the best is when he comes and kisses me and as he’s running off I hear a quiet, “Da doo” every time. He also says it in advance when he wants something, he’ll reach out to whatever he wants and say “Da Doo”. I hope his adorable politeness isn’t just a phase!
I think the only new word he’s added to his vocabulary this month is “Batman.” Jeff’s been working on that one- he thinks Batman is cooler than Superman. So now Madden rarely says Superman unless I force it out of him. He also loves to sing in the bath tub. His favorite song these days is “Old McDonald” and he usually chimes in and helps me sing, “E yi E yi yo”, which just sounds like “Yi yi yi oooo.” He also likes our book, “No more monkeys jumping on the bed,” and always shakes his little finger and says, “No No No.”
Speaking of jumping, he is becoming an expert! He loves climbing onto my bed and jumping like a silly monkey.  He’s really crazy and wobbly and doesn’t seem to know or care where the edge of the bed is, so I’ve learned to line the floor around the bed with pillows so he has a softer landing. He is also great at jumping into the pool from the side, and he’s recently discovered that he can jump off the chair in his bedroom. A few of those landings have ended in a couple tears, but it doesn’t take long before he’s climbing back up to jump off again!
Madden is moving all the time! The days of laying him on the floor and knowing that he won’t go anywhere are long gone.  I don’t even remember what that was like anymore! He darts from one room to the next and makes messes faster than I can clean them up. He has learned how to walk backwards and thinks it’s so fun, he spins in circles and falls down laughing, he picks up invisible things and comes and puts them into my hand, he loves his “Little Blue Truck” city book, and brings it to be several times a day. He can point to every taxi on each page, and says “hi!” and waves when the mayor steps out of the car.
He loves to feed me more than he likes feeding himself, and he’s always bringing me food and won’t leave me alone until I take a bite. He doesn’t like when anything gets stuck to his feet, and in our house it’s usually Cheerios. He stops whatever he’s doing, sits down and picks off the cereal and throws it.
He knows his bedtime routine, and whimpers a little bit even before we get to his room. It’s been hard for me to stick to his 7 o’clock bedtime because he is so energetic and fun at night. He’s probably so excited that dad is home to play, and he acts so silly and makes us laugh. I love putting him to bed though, he’s getting so long and heavy that I can’t hold him very long while standing, so now I sit in the chair and we cuddle and sing songs. He likes to play a couple more games of peeka –boo, and he plays with my hair. If I’m not looking at him, he’ll grab my face and force me to look at him and he gives me lots of good night kisses. Sometimes he’ll stare at me and then he’ll break out into giggles and I wonder what goes on inside his little head. He is the sweetest boy and I miss him during the night when we aren’t together. I love hearing him in the monitor in the morning just singing to himself and l love that he wakes up happy. As soon as he hears the door to his room open, he squeals and jumps up and down and reaches for me. But lately, as soon as I pick him up he squirms to get down and runs straight to the monitor in the wall and yanks it out. This happens every single morning, it’s so funny! He won’t let go of it either until I give him his sippy cup of milk.
 He also loves playing hide and go seek in the house and uses the pantry as his hiding spot every time. When I’m in the kitchen cooking dinner, he hides in the pantry and swings the door open every few seconds and yells, “Baa” for “boo”. We’ve been having so much fun with this game. Sometimes I’ll crouch down behind the counter and wait for him to swing open the pantry, and when he doesn’t see me he comes out and loves when I jump out and scare him. He laughs so hard so far he hasn’t gotten bored with the game!
Something new that he’s started doing is looking at me out of the corner of his eyes. Sometimes he’ll even be looking down at his books or toys, and without moving his head, he’ll look up at me with only his eyes and a little grin and stare at me until I notice. He thinks he’s being so sneaky! I’m so excited to find out what other funny little things he’ll going to pick up in the coming months.
We’re still working on body parts. He knows where his eyes, ears, head, nose, mouth, and belly button are. And he knows what sound a dog makes. He’s a pretty social little guy and is so intrigued by big kids. He does a great job sharing with us, but a little harder time sharing with kids his own age. He got a new bike this month, but his little legs are too short to reach the ground. But he still loves it and likes to fill the trunk with all of his balls.
He loves being outside so much! I can’t wait until we have a yard that he can play in and roam free. Until then, the parking lot is our playground. Every time he wants to go outside he goes into my closet and brings me shoes. Usually they are mismatched and sometimes they are Jeff’s, but I know what they mean. They mean, “Come on mom get your shoes on, we’re going out!” It’s amazing how observant he is too. He’ll often go to the drawer and find our mail keys, walk over to the door and try to put the key into the lock. I’m sure he sees us put the keys into the door and thinks that’s how the door opens. My favorite part though is that he fiddles with the keys first, and picks out the one key he wants to use. He also loves to take the keys to the mail boxes and try to open each mailbox. And, there have been a few times when we’ve been waiting in the car and I bring him up front with me. He takes the car keys and tries to fit them into the ignition! He is one observant little guy!
Anyway, he loves playing outside, and has a fit when it’s time to come back inside. It rains so much here that there are constantly little puddles of hot, oily rain water, and he is drawn to them like a magnet. He has to stomp in every single puddle he sees, it’s impossible for him to leave one untouched. I think he likes the puddles more than the pool actually; it’s very common for him to lie down and roll around in them so it looks like he fell into a pool. It’s starting to get really hot here now that summer is coming, and I usually judge when it’s time to come inside by how much he’s sweating and how pink his little cheeks are. He never seems to care though, he runs around laughing and smiling, and pointing to everything he sees. Jeff and I have figured out the secret to playing tennis with him on the court. We bring a big bowl of ice cubes, and it keeps him occupied long enough for us to play for a while- at least until the ice cubes melt.
My favorite thing about Madden at 16 months is that he is such a kisser. I probably kiss him 1,000 times a day, but he comes to kiss me about 2,000 times a day! He’ll be playing with toys or reading a book, and then he suddenly must get a kissy urge because he jumps up and runs after me with his lips puckered saying, “mmmmmm!” and waits at my feet until I bend over and kiss him. This happens a lot, and I love it so much. It will be a heartbreaking day when he stops doing this. I think he knows that we like his kisses too because he’ll lean in for a smooch when we do something nice for him. He rewards us for taking him outside, or giving him something he wants, reading him a story or playing with him. It’s the best prize I’ve ever received!
We are little obsessed with our little guy, he is so irresistible and brings so much joy to our family. We don’t know what we’d do without him!