16 months!

Sam and Anna are now 16 months old and growing into quite the toddlers!

Gosh, I don't even think I can tally the number of words and signs both Sam and Anna make now.  I'd estimate it is around 50+ total (signs and words) for each of them.  Sam's favorite words in the last month include "boat" and "on" and "off", which he loves to say while flipping the light switch.  I'm also becoming "Mom" more often, although I do still hear "Mama" most of the time.  By far, Anna's favorite word lately is "WOW!"  It is absolutely adorable how she opens her eyes wide and says "Wow-o-Wow-o-Wow!"  in appropriate contexts.  Anna's also really into the "on" and "off", and saying "eye" when poking at pointing at her eye.  She also likes to say "down!" when she's standing on the couch (because she knows she's not supposed to stand, and she wants me to make her sit down.  Anna thinks it is a fun game!)  She is also experimenting with more sounds like saying "strawberry" or "banana" after I give her those foods.   Sam has said "I love Mom" and Anna likes to say "I love you" after you do (melt my heart!)  Body part recognition includes: head, hair, ear, eye, nose, tongue and belly button.  We're working on feet and mouth right now.  New signs both are making: brush teeth, strawberry, airplane, boat, grandma and grandpa.  My mom just about melted herself when Sam said and signed "grandma" when we visited over the 4th of July weekend.  I was a little surprised myself, because Sam and Anna don't often see any of their grandparents.  This is by no means the extent of the new words they know, just the ones that stand out.

Beyond words, Sam and Anna are making more requests than before.  Sam asks to go outside ("out?") or to eat  ("ee?" while signing) without clues that would lead him to think we might be doing one of those things soon.  As I mentioned in the last post, he asked to have his diaper changed the other day.  They will ask to watch Baby Signing Time (by signing it and going to the tv), or ask to be helped "up" into a chair.  Anna's been more widely using "All done" in all situations when she wants to stop whatever it is that she's doing.  They are also understanding and complying with more directions we are giving them. 

Sam's catching up with Anna on the fine motor skills lately.  He's doing really well with stabbing food with a fork compared to last month.  He can stack a tower of blocks 6 blocks tall on his own- maybe more, but it's hard to judge this because when we're stacking blocks, the other one always like to knock the towers down before they are finished!  Anna's showing more and more interest in art related projects.  She enjoyed painting with a paint brush the other day at the Children's Museum.  I'm surprised by how long coloring, painting or using dot markers will hold her attention.

On the tooth front, we now have molars around here!  Both Sam and Anna had their first molar poke through this month.  Sam's top right came through first, while Anna's same molar appeared while we were out of town over the 4th of July weekend.  That makes the total tooth tally Sam: 7, Anna: 9 right now.  We're still waiting for Sam's lower two lateral incisors.  It is interesting to me that Anna got those 2 months ago!  I thought those were supposed to show up before any molars?

I think it's fair to say that Sam is proficient at walking now.  He only really falls occasionally while running.  He is able to walk on hilly or uneven ground.  He never really crawls anymore- gone is the zombie style walk, too!  He loves to chase Bella around inside our house, or walk all the way around our home outside.  Anna is more willing to take steps on her own, but I wouldn't quite say "walking" yet.  She'll take up to 10 steps by herself.  She most likes to walk between Mom and Dad, but not often for transportation to get from one place to another.  She just doesn't like to fall, although I will say she falls much more gracefully that Sam ever did, by basically sitting down if she loses her balance.  I think she walks better when she is holding something rather than by holding her arms out for balance.

Last month I wrote about the temper tantrums they were having.  These seem to be decreasing a little, maybe because every day they are able to communicate their wants more and more or maybe because we're figuring out how to defuse them (or avoid them!) better.  Maybe they are learning how to be more patient a little, too?  It's been a long time since we're had a tantrum from Anna about being in the stroller or from Sam because he wanted to get in the bath before it was ready.

On the flip side, both have been more affectionate lately, and I love it!  They both want to give us goodnight kisses as part of our bedtime routine now.  I love how Sam and Anna want to give each other good night kisses too.  We get more random hugs and kisses throughout the day as well.  Even Bella seems to get more lovin' through pets and kisses lately.  Plus, I already mentioned the "I love"s we've heard.  Pure bliss.

Naps are about the same as last month.  The one change I've noticed is that Sam has trended to wake at around 2:30 on a 1-nap day no matter what time I put them down.  I think he's figured out that if he wakes before Anna he gets a little one-on-one time.  We still have a few 2-nap days when they need it, but they are fewer and fewer each week.  Bedtime is now closer to 7:30/8 pm, and they often wake around 8 am.  We had one 10 am wake up this month after a rare bad night when they were awake for hours in the middle of the night, and some 8:30 - 9 am wake ups.  I'm really loving this change!  It's rare for Sam and Anna to wake up as early as 7 am anymore.  The best part is that they like to chat with each other for 30 minutes after they wake up most days, before I go in their room.  I've found if I delay getting them out of their cribs for that little bit, they are happier.  Since I'm not a morning person, I an really enjoying that extra time to wake up a little myself and drink some coffee before their day starts.  I used to be much more rigid about the timing of their schedule, but this loose following of our schedule is working really well for us right now.

Food-wise, Sam has been on a meat kick lately.  He devoured an entire brat by himself one day, and ate two venison hot dogs the next.  This week, when I asked him if he wanted some chicken to eat, he said "bawk bawk" before popping it in his mouth.  He then repeated the chicken sound the next time he ate a piece.  I like that he's connecting the animal he sees in pictures, with the sound, with the food he's eating and tastes.  Anna has been especially loving peas and corn lately- I think it is because she can get lots of practice using her spoon or fork while eating that.  Both have discovered that mushrooms and black olives are super delicious as well!

(Not the best monthly photo session we've had, but the simple reason is because I'm just not as willing to work extremely hard to get an almost perfect shot.  When it's the 16th time, I say "good enough," and we move on.)