16 Months Old

At 16 months, Mr. Personality is saying multiple phrases and is uber dramatic. He does not cry when he falls unless he's really ticked that he fell... but it only lasts for a second until you straighten him back up. He can fall two feet off the couch and roll over and crawl back up without a hint of a whine . . . but he has a certain desire to make sure he puts all kinds of emotion into everything he says (whisper, melodrama, yelling, sarcasm, etc. He does it all).

"Oh no!" or "Ohhh NOOOOOO!" is Adam's favorite phrase. He picked it up from Little Einsteins, where Annie says "oh no!" when Big Jet (the bully airplane) or any bully appears and does something mean... but Adam has perfected it to become the most overdramatic 16 month old you've ever met. He furrows his eyebrows and looks extremely concerned and in slow-motion says, "ohhhh NOOO!"

He spilled the cat food in the automatic feeder in our bedroom (cat food everywhere) and cried for two seconds because it halfway scared him and because he thought he might be in trouble. I came into the room and said, "oh no, Adam." and said it was okay... and whenever he came back to that spot for the next 3 days he'd moan, "Ohhh NOOO!" over and over and over again. He's hilarious.

He has a third tooth slowly making an entrance on the top, and his favorite thing to do now is brush his teeth. Well, he likes standing on the stool at the sink in the bathroom, looking in the mirror and smiling at himself, washing his hands, and sucking on his toothbrush. If you say let's go "night night," he squirms and tries to run and "hide" between the bookshelf and the wall... but if you follow it up with, "let's go brush your teeth," he smiles, sticks his tongue out, points at his 2 and 1/8's worth of teeth and hauls to the bathroom so he can "brush his teeth."

So now Adam can respond positively to "where's your tongue?" "Where's your nose?" (he wrinkles his nose when he points to it) and "Where are your teeth?"

Last night, Adam pointed to the moon and called it a "ball," and I told him it was the moon. He saw a few airplanes and practiced saying "aa-pay." He even called me "Mama" a few times last night and this morning, which is extremely rare. 16 months is a tough age to be, apparently, and I think poor Adam is going through the "teenage" phase of being a baby, as I'm calling it... he's still a sweetheart, but he's expanding his boundaries and enjoying some extra freedom (like sleeping on the cot at daycare and playing outside in the nice fall weather with his friends). Yesterday when I picked him up from school the whole class was playing outside, and he saw me, grinned, and took off the other direction and wanted me to just stick around while he finished playing (which I did for a few minutes). When we got home, he was on a fun rampage in the mancave and the backyard: touching everything, yelling, grinning, testing every boundary that could possibly be set... etc. And then he had a bath, a cup of milk, and chilled with Dad on the recliners.

Feet in cup holders is the new way to watch TV in the man cave.

This morning we goofed off at breakfast and played around... and when I dropped him off at daycare he gave poor Ms. Tiffany a dirty look and turned away. Then she told me to stop laughing, and I couldn't help it... it's not that I think he should be rude or give anyone, especially Tiffany, that look, but Mr. Drama always catches me off guard with his personality. I'm so thankful that I get to drop Adam off everyday with someone he loves, someone who loves him, and then be able to get to hear stories about him when I pick him up. Tiffany really loves her job, and it shows. I think I'm getting spoiled now to see what it's like to have great childcare after all of those early months in that horrible school. I'm going to start thinking it will always be this great... and will be really sad when Adam has to move to a new classroom!

So I wanted to share some of our videos from this morning when Adam and I goofed off at breakfast. It's hard to rush off to work in the morning when you could be having so much more fun at home with your toddler.

Yogurt King - Adam didn't have much appetite and waved his hands "All Done" -- I got up to throw away a napkin and Adam used his stealth to snatch the half empty yogurt cup and spoon off the table.


After breakfast we played Adam's new favorite game called "Where's Dad?" He shrugs his shoulders, turns his palms up, and looks for Dad. Usually he checks the back door, the living room, and the recliner.