John Thomas - 16 Month Update

I cannot believe I am doing a 16 month update on John Thomas.  It seems like just yesterday I was writing about him learning to walk!  

 He learns new things constantly and amazes us at how quickly he picks things up.  Every time we are out he is such a social butterfly, talking and waving to everyone he sees.

He got caught standing in the window sill playing in Momma's fountain!

Helping Daddy "drive" the boat

Some of his favorite things:

• being outside, he constantly runs to the door and says, "ahhsiiiii"
• playing with Daddy and Koen
• chasing Lainey
• going with Miss Ne Ne to the "park" (playscape at church)
• being in the water
• reading books
• dumping all his toys out 
• playing on the stairs
• being tickled and wrestling
• swinging
• music and dancing
• loves to sing
• loves shoes, all kinds - I blame his Daddy
• watching videos on the Iphone and Ipad
• driving and "fixing" anything and everything

Occasionally, I let him feed himself yogurt, this is usually followed by a bath.

Developmentally:

• can count to 3 and to 5 or 6 with help
• knows 20+ signs and uses them to communicate
• knows 40+ words and says most of them clearly, my current favorite is "wah-wee" (waffle)
• can point to his head, hair, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, tummy, knees, toes and hands
• uses a few phrases "There it is" "I read it" "Love ya"
• will follow directions to songs, "If You're Happy and You Know It" "Wheels on the Bus"
• uses please, thank you, and sorry (he is getting a lot more familiar with sorry, due to needing to use it)

Enjoying his "Sno Cone" aka crushed ice with a spoon!

A common happening in our lives these days!

He falls asleep every time we get on the boat.  He really dislikes his life jacket, so him napping makes it more tolerable for all!

Things I don't want to forget:

• When he gets excited and runs, he pumps one elbow
• Every morning he comes down the stairs and says, "heyyyyy" to Lainey in the sweetest voice
• He gets super excited when he hears the toaster pop up and says "OHHHH" mouth and eyes wide open
• When he toots, he says, "Woahhh"
• He loves to gather all his toys and blankets, or hoard them as we call it, take them behind the ottoman in front of the sofa and sit on them
• His lovey most of the time can make everything better
• He clasps his hands anytime we go towards his crib and asks to "Pay" - Pray and when we finish or if he thinks we should have finished already he sweetly says, "Ahhhmen"
• In the mornings if we don't get to him quickly enough he will throw everything out of his crib and when we walk in say "Uh Oh"

His hair, is SO long.

Shopping with Momma and Daddy at Costco

Eating:

He is still a great eater! Typically he eats 3 big meals a day with 2 snacks and only has water and breast milk to drink.  I am not nursing, but still have enough in the freezer that I am proud to say he hasn't switched to whole milk yet! Some of his favorites are,  bread - any kind, blueberries, grapes, green beans, waffles, peanut butter, crackers, spinach smoothies, yogurt, and cheese. 

We were grocery shopping and he had to have this apple, like RIGHT NOW.  The nice man even let him keep it when he was checking us out.

He loves breakfast, we get lots of these cheese smiles in the mornings.

Sleep: 

We are going back and forth on whether he is ready to give up his second nap.  For a week or so he will only sleep an hour, and then for a week he will sleep two hours.  So for now, we are still taking two naps a day, one in the morning around 10:00 am, lasting from an hour to two hours and one around 2:30 lasting about the same.  His bedtime is between 8:00 and 9:00 depending on what we have going on, and he normally wakes up between 7:00 and 7:30, sometimes we get lucky and he will sleep until 8:00, but that is rare! 

This was taken during his no morning nap phase.  Miss Stephanie could only get him to sleep by taking him for a stroller ride and was afraid to move him!

Another good lake nap!

Stats:

At his 15 month visit in early May he weighed 24.8 lbs (55%) and was 31.25 inches tall (20%).  

Clothes:

Mostly 12-18 month clothes, and size 4 shoes.  We are still mostly doing cloth diapers, but for outings longer than a couple hours and church, he is in size 5 disposable diapers.

We are still so in love with him, even with the new challenges of toddler hood, we are so blessed that God chose us to be his parents.  There is nothing that sweet cheesy smile cannot fix!

Such a big 16 (almost 17) month old!