16 months old

16 months came in with a bang in the form of a stomach virus. After my last post, we had one more episode of vomiting/fever the next night, followed by a a few bouts of diarrhea. He is finally back to normal with his eating. All of this (I'm sure) was courtesy of his Mother's Morning out program. I am glad the sickness is over, though! This past month has been such fun! At 16 months, Jackson:

-has a huge vocabulary! Every day is something new. His latest words: walrus, moo, eeyore, pooh, waddle, slide, shell, chair, baby. Granted, he says most of the more advanced words in his own special way (ex waddle-wadewa), but it's close enough! He knows exactly what they are when he is saying them. My favorite is when he says Eeyore. It is so cute!

-He is really into reading. We always read two books before bed, but he now wants to read all the time. He loves the touch and feel books. He is getting really good at learning all of the noises that the animals in the books make and repeating them when we get to the page.

-His new best friend is the elephant humidifier. Seriously, when he gets a glipse of "Mr. Elephant", he lights up and races over to "talk" to him. Jackson loves to point out his eyes, nose, and belly button (the knob to adjust the mist). It is so cute to see. He gets really loud and excited talking to Mr. Elephant and I always hear new words although I can't tell what they mean yet.

-He has moved from screeching when he is frustrated to a full on scream. We have only heard it twice now. The first time me and Justin looked at eachother like "What the HECK was that?". He follows the scream by trying to bite anything he can. I guess it comes out when he gets really mad. We just calmly ignore it until he bites. Then he gets time out. Whats funny is that he has never once thrown a fit at Mothers Morning out. They always compliment him on how sweet and even tempered he is. I guess he saves the good stuff for us!

-Jackson is in a VERY clingy phase with me. If I am not around, he is fine with Justin and will play and have a good ole time. If I am in the room, however, and not paying him attention he gets really upset. He will hang on me and pull on my clothes until I pick him up. He will whine and say MAMA in a very pitiful voice nonstop until I pick him up. God forbid if I leave the room. This has made cooking hard because he will just hang on the baby gate looking at me and whine/cry. Sometimes I am able to tune it out, but if it goes on and on I feel myself getting annoyed. Funny thing is as soon as I start feeling irritated, I also start to feel very calm and patient and I will pick him up and give him a lots of love. I guess I realize that he will only be this way for such a short time. One day soon he will not want anything to do with mommy. He is such a sweet boy!

-He is still a dancing machine. His new move: Get LOW! He loves to get low and dance and come back up. He's got some good rhythm/moves if I do say so myself! He dances to anything that resembles music or has a beat. He is also loving his Fisher Price little peoples Christmas CD.

-He loves to hide and pop out to surprise us. He will say BOO when he pops out. His other favorite game is the slamming doors game. He also loves to be chased and tickled by daddy.

-This last update I will summarize as to not sound like a broken record.
Sleep: still the same-we get into an awesome waking once-a-night pattern and then he gets a cold and we take a step back
Eating: Getting better every day. Loves mac and cheese and peas like it's nobody's business. He is on a cheese strike. Ever since we came back from Dallas, he won't eat cheese. I am not sure why?
Nursing-Yes, were still there. No doubt I have created a nursing monster. A very cute nursing monster. Problem is that he asks for it now and gets upset if I wont give it to him. He walks up and points and says "boo". Is it possible that he wants it more now than he used to? Because it sure seems that way. It stresses me out thinking how I am going to get him weaned. Justin makes jokes about him nursing until he's a teenager and I don't even laugh anymore. I'm just taking it day by day at this point. My goal is to be done by 18 months. Ahhh we'll see!

Everytime we look at Jackson we see him becoming more and more of a little boy. No doubt, he is growing up before our very eyes. We treasure each and every moment with him. I look forward to what each new day brings!