16 months old

• Sleeps 13-14 hours in a 24 hour period
• Asleep by 1930 and gets up 12 hours later but will play happily in the crib
• Takes one long afternoon nap now....I put her down between 12-1230 and she will nap until it is time to get Davis from school at 1510.
• Cruises along the couch 

• Words: mama, dada, baba, nana (banana), ni ni (night, night), Day (Davis), there, ball, book, uh oh. 
• She shakes head no when I do it
• Plays peekaboo.

• Last night at Target, Davis saw Pikachu on some Pokémon cards and said, “Look, there’s Pikachu” Allison then started playing peekaboo!
• Copies us when we raise our hands
• Loves giving bedtime hugs and kisses.....she will say Mmm while giving us kisses. 

• Goes around the kitchen, bathroom and dining room making messes and emptying out cabinets.

16 months

• Drinks whole milk four times a day, with meals and after afternoon nap. I have had to cut down on the amount of milk he gets to 2 whole sippy cups (20 ounces) per day. He gets water in between.
• Loves solids and will eat anything, favorites are blueberries, grapes. cheese, raisins, mandarin oranges and chips. 
• New words: Teeth, Ella (Bella), that, na na. He has started saying Ps especially when I change his diaper! Words he has already been saying: Daddy, Mama, buddy, Deedee (doggy), baba (bottle), bath, thank you, bat, ball, choo choo, cheese 
• Sleeps about 15 hours in a 24 hour period. 
• Asleep by 1930. Sleeps 12 hours at night and plays happily in his crib until I get him at 0800. 
• Over the last few weeks, transitioned to one nap a day
• Bottom right eye tooth has poked through
• Lays down (and bumps his head) when upset

• Loves sticking his head under the bath faucet
• Claps and gives high fives
• Loves showing off his belly
• Likes to tickle others if he sees any exposed bellies!
• Loves to climb especially if there is food on the table

Left room to put away the dishes and came back to this. 15 month old just sitting on the table eating chips.

The boys' daily routine

I left these instructions of our typical routine for Granny, Granddaddy, Grampa and Granna while Jason and I were gone to Hawaii.

Luke:

• 0730: Up but plays happily in crib
• Breakfast:  Whole milk, warm up milk for 30 seconds and banana for breakfast, he will gladly eat whatever you make for yourself.
• Morning play time, run errands, or go off.
• 0930 to 1000ish start of morning nap: lately he has not been taking a morning nap. If he is up real early or awake in the night he may need one. If you keep him busy and have snacks he can make it until his afternoon nap! If it’s after 10, I would just keep him up and put him down close to 1200.
• If he does take a morning nap. don’t let him sleep longer than 1 ½ hours.If he takes a long morning nap, the afternoon nap is messed up and he will be ready for bed too early!
• 1100-1130: Lunch with whole milk
• Half a sandwich (peanut butter and jelly or ham/mustard), fruit (grapes need to be cut up) and cheese. He will eat anything though
• Play time
• 1200-1230: Start of nap routine. clean diaper, sleep sack, bedtime songs, crib with pillow pet, taggie blanket, yellow blanket and giraffe.
• Most of the time I do this together with Davis. Read in Davis’ room and then start Luke’s bedtime routine while Davis gathers whatever he wants for bed.
• Bedtime songs: Jesus Loves Me, The B-I-B-L-E, Jesus Loves The Little Children, I Love You Lord.
• Sometimes Luke will run to his room, grab his taggie blanket and bring it to you with his thumb in his mouth. That is another sign that he is ready for bed!
• If he does take a morning nap, afternoon nap should be between 1330-1400 or 2-3 hours after waking up.
• 1430-1500: Up from nap.
• Snack and milk or water when he wakes up
• Afternoon play time
• 1700-1730: Dinner
• Playtime, walk to mailbox
• Our mailbox is the group next to the package bins, #12. Keys are in 4Runner and stroller.
• 1830-1845: Bathtime, jammies, bottle (usually just a sip), brush teeth (sing God Is So Good while brushing teeth), and read book/songs then bed.
• Sometimes he acts wired during songs but still put him to bed.
   

No more than 2 full bottles a day, may have water in between

Davis

• 0630-0700: he’ll come find you
• Send him potty
• Can watch a show or movie while you get breakfast ready!
• Breakfast: Milk (1%) Granola bar and eggs. He sometimes will eat what you make for yourself
• Morning play time, run errands, or go off.
• If you go off, pack a snack and water
• Snack at 1000, he'll ask for it! Yogurt, applesauce or fruit if he didn't eat a good breakfast. Goldfish or whatever he requests if he did eat a good breakfast.
• 1100-1130: Lunch is usually close to 11.
• Pbj or ham/mustard, fruit, pickle, chips after eats most of the sandwich

• Play time
• 1230: Start of nap routines
• Start nap routine with both boys in Davis’ room for story time.
• Will put Luke down while Davis goes potty, gathers a few cars or trains for bed
• He may play quietly in his room for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. He needs to stay in his room alone for this quiet time. He may have water in his sippy cup.
• Bedtime songs: Jesus Loves Me, The B-I-B-L-E, Jesus Loves The Little Children, I Love You Lord.
• Snack time when he wakes up or Luke gets up
• Afternoon play time
• 1700-1730: Dinner
• Playtime, rides bike to mailbox
• 1900: Bath when Luke is going to bed
• Doesn't have to have one every night unless he is real dirty
• Usually will ask for a snack, leave dinner plate out if he hardly ate, if he did eat good, may have yogurt, applesauce, or mandarin oranges.

• 1930: Bedtime if he didn’t nap
• 2000: Bedtime if he did nap
• If he naps make a big deal about how he gets to stay up late because he had a good nap

• At 1930 or 2000, brush teeth, read/songs/pray. He may have water in his sippy cup.

Potty

• Send him potty when he wakes up or wakes you up.
• Before or after breakfast
• Then usually about every hour or so when we are changing what we are doing (going downstairs, outside, leaving to run errands, before snack time, etc)
• Pullups for naps, bedtime and when we go off.
• Remind him to go poop in the potty. Usually first thing in the morning or after lunch.

16 months old

Davis is sleeping 13 1/2 to 15 1/2 hours in a 24 hour period. He successfully went down to one nap a day without any trouble! A typical day is waking up between 0730-0830. He plays in the crib for awhile before he wants to get out. We have breakfast by 0900 and then have the morning to play around the house, take a walk to the park, or run errands. I am loving one nap a day. It really frees us up to go places! Lunch is at 1200 and then I let him play until 1230. Nap usually lasts 2-3 hours. Daddy gets home by 1630 so I work on supper then. Dinner is at 1730 and then he plays until bath time. Bath time is by 1900 and he is usually asleep by 1930. Here are tidbits from this month:

• At his 16 month appointment, he finally tripled his birth weight! He weighed 21 pounds, 13 ounces (11th percentile for kids his age) 32.5 inches long (80%) and head circumference is still 18.5 (39%). 
• His new words this month are: Mommy (instead of Momma!) yes, shoes, Lella (Bella), night-night, socks, pie (I have no idea why he says this but he always says it after dinner and he has never eaten pie!) nola (granola), boo (peek a boo), dat (that). Words he already has been saying are: Daddy, baba (sippy cup), nana (banana), eat,  hi, no, uh oh, car, doggy, light, side (outside) yuck, ball and baby. He will repeat most every word!
• Wears size 18 months clothes, size 5 shoe, and will be moving to a size 4 diaper when we are through the last box of 3s
• Finally has a third tooth up top.
• Likes to help around the house and very interested in what others are doing

•  Will give kisses if you ask!
• Hard to get pictures of him because as soon as he sees the camera he comes running: These pictures were taken 5 seconds apart!

A typical day in the life of a 16 month old:

0730-0830: wakes up and plays in his crib before he wants to get out.

0900: breakfast.

Then have the morning to play around the house, take a walk to the park, or run errands.

1200: lunch and then I let him play until naptime

1230: nap, usually lasts 2-3 hours

1530: Snack and play time

1630: Daddy gets home so I work on supper

1730: dinner

Play time with Daddy

1830: Time to go D (downstairs)

1900: Bath

1930: asleep

A weekend with Grampa and Granna

Grampa and Granna came to visit over the weekend. I am not sure who had more fun, Davis or Granna and Grampa! We love to have family come to town.

Helper

Our sweet boy helping Mommy get the house ready for Grampa and Granna!

Happy Fall, Y'all

This afternoon I was in North Cedar Falls so I decided to take the boy on a walk around Big Woods Lake. Here are pictures from our walk:

The bridge: 

"Up to no good" look

A glimpse to see if I am near...

and he's off...

with a look back

The prairie:

The leaves: 

The path: 

When we lived in Cedar Falls, I ran this route all the time. During our runs, I would share with Jenny how difficult it was for us to start a family. Both of us knew that in due time, we would be going on walks around Big Woods Lake with my baby! Today I didn't get to run around Big Woods Lake with my dear friend. Instead, the boy and I strolled and sometimes walked along the path. Yes, it took twice as long as it used to but I wouldn't have it any other way!

Nosy neighbor?

The boy taking a break from playing ball to see what the neighbor is doing