16 Months

To: My Little Cub

I can't believe a week from today you will be 17 months old. Wow. Already? I can't believe when we measured you this morning that your little head reached the 33 inches mark. Your size 7 shoes seemed snug this morning. Your fall sweaters are now too short on the arms and waist. When did all this happen? You found your first Jordans yesterday, in your closet. I couldn't believe how tiny they were. Half the size of your current shoes. Were your feet ever really that small?! I no longer remember the days when your hands were curled into little fists. When did they change? You woke up in the middle of the night the other day and reached for me. You touched my face and layed your little head on my neck. I love that you are now capable of so much. That your affection is out of choice. My sweet little boy. Today you sat on the toilet (with the lid down) brushing your teeth, while I brushed mine at the sink. You sat there, with your legs dangling down, sucking on your toothbrush. I loved the way you smiled at me because you were happy that you had your own little brush. (Even though I had to re-brush them myself a few minutes later to make sure they were cleaned.) You now have almost a full mouth of teeth! Last count was 12! Molars and all. Now you can chomp, chomp, chomp. Although, you are still such a picky eater when it comes to the stuff you should be chomping. Sweets are your food/snack of choice. Your latest favs are: cookies, Cheerios (when Kix isn't an option), Teddy Grahams, peanut butter on multi-grain bread, blueberries, yogurt, brown rice with applesauce and black beans with rice (on most days). Last month you loved bananas and oranges but that seems to be a fad of the latter month. You no longer eat baby food - does this mean you are no longer a baby?! Ay. So many changes. You love to wear your winter boots, even if it means wearing them in the house. And you love your red, puffy winter coat from your godfather. Your favorite outift seems to be your fuzzy footie pjs. You LOVE these and will grab a pair from the hamper if you see one. You have a strange sock fetish that I don't quite get. If you see a pair laying around (yours or mine) you will immediately grab and walk around the house holding them close to you. Silly little guy. You don't like TV or cartoons much but will stop every now and then for your old time favs: Classical Baby, The Wiggles and your new fav: Mickey Mouse Club. You love music and to dance (it's in the genes). It's been about two months since you started crawling on and off my bed and silly me I thought it meant that you had skipped the phase of potentially falling off the bed since you can so easily get yourself off now. Wrong. Today, for the first time, you fell off the bed. :(  You cried for about two minutes while I held you close. I felt awful. It was my fault. I should have known better. But ultimately, you were okay. Just a little shaken up. No bumps, no bruises. Whew. I realized this morning while we were getting ready to leave that you can easily reach the window blinds & door knobs. A new set of safety locks need to be installed. Friday, I discovered you were able to reach the oven knobs (uh oh!). And yesterday I realized you can now reach things on the counter that are pushed away from the edge, maybe two inches back. It's funny to me how you quickly learned how to stretch, stretch and streeeetch those arms to get to what you want. I used to be able to leave you in the bed drinking your bottle while I shower. No longer the case. You now come running into the bathroom and play peek-a-boo with the shower curtain when I shower. (My already short showers have been cut to 2 minutes.) You thought it was silly this morning when I couldn't get my turtleneck over my head and made a ridiculous face while I pulled it over. You laughed and thought I meant to look funny. lol. Last week, we fell on a mountain of snow while trying to get to daycare. We laughed then too. You and I, cracking up, while we struggled to get up and regain our balance. I love that we can laugh at the silliest and yet not so silly moments. ;)

Can't wait to see what new discoveries are made this month...

Love,
Mama Bear