Sixteen Months Old!

Well, my darling, you're not getting any younger, so I'd better write this post already! I will attempt to combine your 15- and 16-month posts, which will hardly do justice to all the cute phases you've been going through lately. But I have a really good excuse. In approximately six months, you will be the proud owner of a baby brother or sister. That's right, we're having another baby! And when you're having a baby (as you may someday discover), at least at first you're really tired. Apparently too tired to update the baby blog.


So what have you been up to for the last two months? We've celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas with many of our wonderful friends and family. We visited Auntie ZaZa and Uncle Josh at their beautiful new house in Michigan. We've been discovering all the indoor delights Chicago has to offer, like the Field Museum, the Exploratorium, the Garfield Park Conservatory, and um, our friends' houses. We got into the holiday spirit by decorating the house, decorating cookies, and wrapping and unwrapping lots of presents.


You are still almost perennially cheerful and ready to play. Many things I read about this age talk about how to manage tantrums, but thankfully so far we've been spared. You are definitely a toddler, though. You seem to never stop moving, and prefer your almost-run to walking any day. And you are always testing limits. Several times a day, you walk up to a radiator and say "hot!" and then wait to see what I'll do. Same with Mommy's books, the knobs on the stove, Mayday's bowls, and so on. You wait for the reminder -- really an agreement with your own reminder -- then gleefully seek out something new to explore. (Seen below with your partner in crime Polly.)


Other things you've been into lately:

• Counting. You can count to 7, some days to 10, as long as no one cares about 8 or 9.
  
• Naming everything. Especially noses. Noses are apparently fascinating (which is not surprising considering your genes).
• Flushing the toilet. Really, who doesn't think this is fun?
• Cars and trucks. Forget gender stereotypes. You like to vroom, vroom.
• That said... your tutu. Oh my, you are fabulous.
• Your play kitchen, play food, and grocery cart. You must've been awfully good this year.

• Real food of any kind, especially sweet potatoes, bananas, avocados, and cheese. This comes as no surprise to anyone who's seen you (or picked you up) lately.
• Music. You demand music pretty much all the time, and you boogie down. We discovered recently that you really like jazz. You cool cat.
  
• Politeness. This is too funny. We've started prompting you to say please and thank you, and you do it with great gusto. "More grapes, Jane?" "Yes, PLEASE!"
• Affection. If you see something you like, you want to hug it. You also tell Daddy and me "I love you" all the time, which becomes no less thrilling with repetition.

You lovely, lovely girl. Happy monthday, my sweet Jane.

Love,
Mommy