Hayes, month XVI

Hayes is 16 months and, for the record, over the last month he:

• loves to make the noises for words he knows. cows, snakes, lions, elephants, birds, dogs, cars, trains etc.
• loves to "count" things. i start him off with one, and he points to the rest and says "two" for all of them. "two, two, two, two."
• tries to run and gets real excited when he picks up speed.
• cut a molar. those things are no joke. he cut a few more regular teeth as well.
• loves to make beds wherever he goes. he drags a pillow, lays down on it with his pooh bear and says "aaah."
• is becoming more attached to his binky. either that or now that he knows how to ask for it, he is asking for it a lot. he calls it a "chi-chi" which is hilarious because we only ever called them binkies - where he decided "chi-chi" i'll never know. what's even more hilarious is when i was little we had a nanny from mexico who called them that and so it's sort of a family joke. i know that getting rid of the binky should be a priority, but we're taking it slow. he just uses it to sleep and longer car rides, and church.
• anytime i am kneeling on the ground, cleaning or picking something up, he notices, drops what he's doing and comes and lays his head on my shoulder. he is too sweet. it reminds me that i need to get on his level more often.
• started to make his way from two naps to one for 3-4 hours. it is a lot easier to do fun things when he's only taking one nap, but i am sure i'll miss two naps once the baby comes.
• he is a great eater! breakfast is a banana with peanut butter. mid morning meal is two eggs scrambled with ham and cheese (seriously he eats two eggs.) after nap snack is pasta with sauce. and then he usually eats some of whatever we're eating throughout the day, plus a never ending supply of snack foods and fruit wherever we go. the kid. can. eat.
• speaking of food: he'll try anything once, much to our dismay. household cleaners, lotions, soaps, makeup, rocks, wood chips, dirt, sand. even more dismaying is when he keeps coming back to eat these things. ay yi yi.
• super loving still. loves to give kisses and hugs to kids his size, obsesses over babies. loves his daddy-o so much. he started hiding behind my legs when new people approach him. he has always taken awhile to warm up to adults he isn't around everyday.
• his obsession with babies makes us really excited. if he sees a stroller or car seat he will make a bee-line to see if there's a baby inside. he loves to pat babies tummies and kiss their toes. he is so soft with them too, he will make an excellent big brother even at 17 months old!
• my belly is pretty much always in the way now, and we've come up with some weird positions so i can feed him his bottle before bed. he has to sit next to me while we read books and is practically drowning in my boobs & belly. it will be nice to have the old body back so i can play and wrestle with him again!