Dreamer.Thinker.Player.: Ben's 16 Months!

Our littlest one isn't so little anymore. Wow it is like he has become this super awesome little tyke overnight! I just love this kid! Everything he does just makes me smile!

I started writing this blog when he was 15 months...a lot can happen in a month...but better late than never...

The Check Up Stats from his 15 month visit:
Weight: 25 lbs 14 oz = 69%
Height: 32 1/4" = 82%
Head: 49.5 cm = 96%
Everything at the check up went great! He is a super healthy and happy kid! He has had approximately 6 ear infections over the past year, so it was discussed to have tubes, but thankfully, his ears look great right now!! Fingers crossed this coming sickly season doesn't hit him as hard.

The Boys:
Fun times are our house these days! The boys are playing together all the time now! And to our delight, they play well together. Every morning usually Ben wakes up first, and when Jonathan joins us, Ben jumps up and down and hugs him. It is the sweetest thing. Jonathan of course loves it and hugs him back. Jonathan wants Ben to come sit in his lap. Ben will gladly do so! Jonathan just has to watch out, because anytime he is on the floor now, Ben thinks its an open invitation to come sit on him!! ha!

Playing the drums while sitting on brother.

Moving Around:
Ben is almost in constant motion. Loves to be independent and move around. Instead of walking or running, I say that he "trots"! Its so funny! He has a spring to his little step! He loves crawling into, under or on top of things. So we always have to have an eye on him. He has had some nasty falls over the past few months. A couple of them I was preparing to race him to the emergency room, but as my pediatrician said, some kids are seemly made of steel. And it appears our little one might just be!

His favorite hiding place! He giggles and giggles under there!

We were at the Museum at the "Risk" exhibit. I felt bad that he was trapped in his stroller so I let him out and he took off! I thought this was funny - the sign - no thanks, he doesn't need any encouragement! :)

Loves to crawl into things...and giggle.

Words:
"Dada" - used to be the word for everything...but now...
"Momma" - is the word for everything!
"JJ" - is a nickname we call Jonathan and I do believe that Ben has called him that several times.
"Woof, Woof" - he will say this when he sees a dog.
"All Done" - I am pretty sure that he has been saying this for at least a month. He will say it when he is done eating.
"Uh Oh" - when he drops something.
"Ball Ball" - he loves balls! LOVES them. He is actually really good at throwing and kicking.

Communication:
Ben actually doesn't need many words to communicate. He is amazing at communicating. I almost always know what he wants or needs. He uses looks, gestures and noises to communicate with us and it is extremely effective.
The biggest thing that he has started is nodding YES or NO. It just happened one day, we were like, 'do you want more yogurt?' and he nodded YES. So now we ask him things all the time and he lets us know.
His comprehension is amazing as well. I told him to go pick up his airplane and put it in the toy bin...and he did it! I will ask him to go get his water and bring it to me...and he will! Maybe it's just me, but I think that 15 months is great for understanding and executing commands.

Animals:
His new FAVORITE thing is animals. Seriously. He will scream and jump up and down and point and stand on tippy toes when he sees an animal in real life, on TV or in a book...even if it is just a cartoon! We were in Target and there was a large cartoon dog hanging from the ceiling and he flipped out. It took me a little bit to figure out what in the world his was pointing at! Ha! It's a good thing we have a membership to the zoo! As soon as this weather cools off we will be there all the time!!

Eating:
Eating has been great with Ben. He is eating almost only table food now. He will try almost anything. He wants to eat what I am eating and he will typically ask for more. He loves cheese, (dry) cereal, mac and cheese, almost any pasta, hot dogs, corn, carrots, any fruit.

Playing:
Ben thinks that he is one of the big kids, especially when he is playing with Jonathan and his friends. And for the most part, he does really well. There are sometime that Ben will knock down a building that Jonathan has built and that does not go over very well, but that is going to happen and we ALL learn from it. But it is pretty cool. Jonathan wants Ben to come play with him in his room and they play with trains or cars. Or Jonathan will read to Ben. Or they will both sit quietly and read (look at the pictures). I just couldn't be happier with this phase!