Walker, 16 Months Old

Happy 16 months, Walker!

He's a cute little buddy...

Hmm. Selecting the perfect branch to play with. (These decorative branches are off-limits. But that doesn't stop him from trying to convince me that they are not off-limits.)

Clearly, he's up to no good.

And two seconds later, this is what he started doing. Hitting his sister with a branch. Very typical. He is just trying to get her attention and he wants her to play with him.

And then he found the broom. Always fun...

Apparently my bathroom needed some brooming. :) This is where the broom came to rest.

a sister-created wrestling/jumping/rolling play area

Lainey, taking flight, ready to tackle Walker.

And he's down! And thankfully happy about it!

This is my favorite picture of the day! Look how excited he is that she's about to land on him!

"Here, Mom. Take a business card."

This is what most of my pictures of the two of them look like these days.

These two broke into my jewelry armoire. (Not a hard thing to do.)

Oohing and aahing over their precious finds. (Some necklaces for Lainey, and a watch for Walker.)

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And now, a few facts about our sweet 16-month-old boy...

Loves:

• eating foods in their whole form (a whole piece of pizza, a half of a sandwich, etc.)
• awakening on his own and hanging out in his crib until we come and get him - many times he'll just be sitting in his crib, not making a peep, waiting for us to enter his room
• reading his books by himself (and with you, too)
• riding inside the Little Tikes cars that we have in the backyard - he loves the honking horns and the steering wheels
• pointing to the pictures of the football, basketball, soccer ball, and baseball/glove on his wall - we have to do this before every naptime and bedtime
• taking the fake, decorative branches out of their pot and hitting his sister with them (imagine the arcade game called Whac-A-Mole...that's kinda what it looks like)
• banging, hitting, throwing...arg...
• picking flowers and pointing out teeny tiny bugs
• holding Reagan's leash on walks
• riding his sister's scooter (we push the scooter while he rides on it)
• yard signs of any kind, even ones that are there to show that the house is protected by an alarm system
• broccoli
• holding Reagan's leash when we go on walks
• Swiper, Map, Backpack, and Dora from Dora the Explorer
• He loves trying to tell Swiper the fox, "Swiper no swiping!" He gets all excited and just tries to say something when he spots Swiper on TV. He does the same thing when asked to say, "Map!"
• Elmo
• bubbles (still) - he'll chase you around with the bubble wand until you start blowing bubbles for him to run after
• apples and pineapple
• peanut butter, banana, and honey sandwiches
• strawberry cream cheese
• trying to escape designated areas
• chocolate - he'll separate an entire granola bar just to get at the chocolate chips
• M&Ms
• lollipops

Accomplishments:

• can climb on stools, chairs
• Whenever he tries to communicate, he says "ettss" or "attss." Those are big words to him. Someday, we hope he clues us in on their meanings.
• New "words" are..."ba" (ball) and "ha" (hi) and "buh" (bye). And that's just what I think. I'm not sure that he's actually said anything definitive yet.
• running...well, toddling along at a very fast pace
• easily scales the ladder to the fort and can now go down the slide by himself
• can open doors that have levers as knobs - he can't turn a knob, yet, but he can definitely pull down a lever
• can throw a pretty good fit - he lays down and cries, and he's really strong so sometimes it's hard to keep that little boy from accidentally hurting himself
• definitely shaking his head back and forth means "no"
• He is starting to play upstairs with his sister...UNASSISTED. This is HUGE for us. Even if it's just five minutes before I have to go up there and tend to a crying child, it's still five minutes that I can use to do something in peace (like clean, haha). That's BIG in a mom's world!
• understands so much of what we say...and getting better and better at pointing out objects in books and doing what we ask him to do
• really getting good at sweeping his hands back and forth across his tray when he doesn't want the food that is on there, causing the food to go flying (this makes Reagan very happy...or very sick, depending on what she gets ahold of)

Strong, strong dislikes:

• spicy food – even pepperonis - he cries and and cries and tries to get the food out of his mouth
• when he's told "no" - especially if you do it in a loud voice...it brings on many, many tears
• swimming and being in cold water - no swim lessons for this kid any time soon
• shopping carts
• snacks when he really wants a meal
• carrots, tomatoes, sometimes grapes...his food preferences are definitely changing

Funny stuff:

• anything can be a phone - including an apple juice box and a dollhouse TV
• Instead of putting his fists to his cheeks to express frustration, he now puts his hands over his mouth.
• has picked up his fair share of Reagan poop and rabbit poop (awesome)

I'm really looking forward to what next month brings. Little ones change so fast at this stage! We love you, Walkies. Thanks for making our lives brighter!