16 Months

LJ is 16 months old today (actually, he turned 16 months old a week and a half ago...  Blog?  What blog?!).  He is a sweet, busy, loud, silly, rough, adventurous boy.

He still signs to communicate most things and when all else fails (or he's in a hurry) he'll just SCREAM (sigh)!  He has very few words but is pretty consistent with Dad ('dada') and ball ('ba').  He also makes sounds for things such as car, cat, sheep, monkey, cow, and duck.  He's down to one nap a day and sleeps with his blanket, burp cloth and pacifier. He loves to be in on the action and if you ask him a question, he'll nod yes or answer in some sort of gibberish you can't understand. He also...

  waves 'bye-bye' to daddy everyday

 loves to sweep and vacuum

 falls asleep on the go

 claps for his brother and sister (who were putting on a show about lions and cheetahs...)

 loves the nerf gun 

(though he usually wants you to shoot it so he can retrieve the darts)

 thinks that slides are just as good for going up as they are for going down

 

 believes that everything is better with a big stick (especially the playground)

and loves L and I Man.

 Did I mention that he's busy?!

Bird Watchers

These two.  

They've become quite the bird watchers over the past school year.  It all started with this book that we used to learn about a variety of birds during our simple study of the 50 states...

   

and then this little guy paid a visit to our swing set (this is what got me into bird watching, you see, we don't get cardinals around here, or maybe we do and I've never noticed, but I've lived here for 12 years and this is the first time I've ever seen one)

(I Man's cardinal)

and of course we had to draw them in our nature journals

(L's cardinal)

{Nerd fact:  7 states claim the cardinal as their state bird, making it the most popular!}.

And then, the book explained how to make a bird blind...

and L made a sign "welcome all birds!"

 a posed picture for mom

and the wait was on (I took these pictures without them knowing - love them!).  They took books and snacks and while they didn't last as long as I thought they would, they did report seeing sparrows and robins.  :)   

Other visitors to our yard this spring/summer include this American Redstart,

a goldfinch trying...

very hard to get the string off of our soccer net (he didn't),

and Mr. &

Mrs. Mallard

 

 who came for a swim in our ditch a few weeks ago.

Since then, Mrs. Mallard has been back several times

 and just this week, we discovered that she's nesting under a bush by our front step.  See her tail feathers in the center of the picture?  Look closely a little further left and you can see her eye. And while it might not be ideal for a duck to nest right next to your front door, we're all hoping she stays and that her eggs hatch, because seeing a mama duck with her little ducklings (just like in Make Way for Ducklings) would be the icing on these bird watchers cake! 

Oh, and no, we're not walking like the bird watcher in Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation (yet!)...

but we might have our noses buried in one of these books

and our hands full of robin eggs!

For my own records:  other birds we've seen in the yard, but have not photographed include sparrows, robins, chickadees, purple finches (which are actually reddish, not purple), a blue jay, an oriole (we think) and grackles.

14 Months

LJ is 14 months old today.  He's all kinds of happy, silly, funny, loud, busy, crazy, into everything fun! He answers to LJ (his real name), Baby and Stinker, and he is a busy, BUSY boy!  LJ doesn't have many (or any?) words yet, although, he does say, "Dada" and makes a sound for a car (something like vroom), he also makes a sound like "quack, quack, quack" when he's making the sign for duck. He signs: more, all done, please, thank you, eat, milk, tubby, bird, duck, brush teeth, fan, and book.  Oh, and he's also made up his own sign for "paci" because he's slightly addicted to his pacifier which looks a lot like the sign for 'eat'.  If you ask him a question, he nods his head yes, whether he wants whatever you're asking him about or not. He loves to brush his hair and his teeth but only if he can do it by himself!  He can identify his hair and toes (not sure why he has those two down) and if you ask him to 'go find Leo' (his stuffed lion from the San Diego Zoo), he will!
 

(he loves his paci, but thankfully you can still see his smile in his eyes and his dimples!)

The year of the baby might be over, but toddler-hood, it's in full swing!

Currently ~ L

enjoying American Girl books and movies

looking forward to zoo camp, VBS, swimming lessons, and art class this summer

playing outside every afternoon

creating all. of. the. time (I find little masterpieces strewn everywhere; on paper, concrete {with chalk, of course} and even the bathroom mirror)!

eating Mini Wheats for breakfast every morning

climbing a new tree in the backyard and

sitting on one of it's branches to read

watching birds and

looking up their names in a field guide from the library (did you know that those blue-headed black birds are actually called grackles??)

requesting only hot dogs, PB&J or cheesy tortillas for lunch (we're so healthy, I know)

wishing life was fair

He's Walking!

LJ has been taking a few steps (in between falling and crawling) for about two weeks, and while his 'first steps' have already been recorded in his baby book, I wouldn't have said he was walking.  Until today. Today he walked from one side of the living room to the other all. by. himself! 

See?

(Click here to see I Man walk for the first time)

the big ONE!

That's right!  This baby boy is ONE (does that mean I can't call him baby, anymore?  Nah!) and yesterday we celebrated his first birthday.  It was a day full of family, presents and CAKE!    

  

 (through the months)

(LJ wasn't sure what to do with the cake.  I had to put some in his mouth before he figured out to eat it...

he did all right, though, don't ya think?)

 

(bubbles - the best spring birthday party favor ever!)

Happy Birthday, Baby!

Twelve Months

LJ is twelve months old today, and try as I have to 'enjoy every minute,' ONE has snuck up on me all the same.  Seriously, how did we get from...

this, 

to this?!

At twelve months LJ:  

Takes two naps, most days

Sleeps from about 9 - 7:30 at night

Gets two bottles (morning and night - although I'm attempting to drop that morning one TODAY!)

Feeds himself 3 meals and sometimes a snack (and wants nothing to do with being spoon fed!)
Crawls quickly

Cruises the furniture

Pulls to standing on anything (if you stand still long enough, he'll use you!)

Gets into ev.er.y.thing!

Walks behind his sister's old pink stroller the push toy

Climbs the stairs and

Backs down them safely if you make him

Signs 'all done' and 'more,' but would rather screech instead, sigh

Loves to be wherever the action is and 

Is still the sweetest baby ever!

Happy Birthday sweet boy, we love you so!