16 -17 months

Because she is a dedicated reader and post commenter, because she inspires me to write these monthly posts (mine are very similar in structure to hers), and because I said I'd dedicate the next post to whoever gave me some true blog love (read: whoever commented in my last post "The Update on the Update"), I'm dedicating this post to Randalin. 

So Cole turned 16 months almost three weeks ago. Considering my last monthly post was the 14-15 month update, it's only natural that I am giving you this update. In between months. Again. I swear, I meant to do this on purpose.

I'll tell you one thing - this boy loves to talk. Even when he is talking jibberish, it's freaking adorable.
Keith emailed me this morning and said they had a great morning together. They had a long conversation, but Keith wasn't sure what about.

He has so many words lately it is unreal. My list could go on and on. But I'll share with you more than a few notables. Did you really think I could share just a few?

Word explosion


Shaking and nodding
First, I'll start with the agreeable Cole. When he first started answering questions it was to cutely shake his head "no."
Mama: "Did you have fun with Mama today Cole?"
Cole: Shakes his head vigorously back and forth.

Then Keith taught him the fine art of nodding his head. Now, he answers "yes" to everything. And I mean, everything. And when he does it he even somehow makes his eyes nod up and down, up and down. He does it with such emphasis, that you really do believe he understands you. Each and every time.
"Do you love Dada?"
"Did you have fun today?"
"Are you going to buy us a new house when you get older?"
"Are you going to attend a Vermont snowboarding academy and study to be an Olympic snowboarder?"

Please tell me we are not the only parents to ask these questions...


High chair
This is more like "High-ch" but we use that word whenever we want to be sure he wants to eat. If he doesn't want to sit in it, then likely he's just nodded his head to "Do you want an apple?" only because he likes to nod his head.

Hello
He liked to play pretend phone and whenever he has an old phone, my cell phone, or an object that could possibly resemble a phone (in his mind anyway), he holds it up to his ear and says "Hewwo."
It's too damn cute.

Bra
I am going to hell for this, but since he's still nursing he gets curious as to what holds the Doo Doo. So I taught him bra, not consciously, but only because I would constantly say - "hold on let me unhook my bra." Once, I said "What's in the bra, Cole?" expecting him to respond, "Doo Doo." Instead he said "Da Da." I'm still laughing about that one.

Out and Up
He annunciates the T in "out" so it is adorable whenever he says it "OUTTT." He runs to the door whenever I mention the word, but he knows he has to put on his hat and shoes (shus) before we can go out. And ever since he learned to say "Up" he says it whenever he wants us to pick him up. Then he'll say "Down" moments later and it becomes this tiring game that I'm sure many of you have played before.

Hot and Cold
Chances are whenever we give him food, it is piping hot. So I usually have to blow on it to cool it off. Because he is naturally so impatient for the food's impending arrival in his mouth, I have to make a big production of it by blowing on it dramatically. Now, he's taken to saying "hot" and then clasping his mouth, as he's about to eat something. Likewise when we give him a teething ring that has been in the fridge, sometimes he won't want to hold it because it's "cole". Funny he says his name, and I still understand it as cold.

Simple sentences
He's been saying some very basic simple sentences. They began at the end of the summer. Here they are:

I don't know.

Where's Dada?

There's Dada.

I do.

I Cole. ( this is a very recent one)
I see (although it also sounds like he could be trying to say "asshole")

You have to listen carefully to understand these, but they are there and they have been uttered more than once. It's truly amazing how he went from this babbling immobile tiny human being to one that speaks and runs around with his arms flailing behind him like wings.


What Cole loves

• To play with two toys at a time
• To throw his food onto the floor (we're really working on that!)
• To look out the window and watch the neighborhood kids (especially if they are doing dangerous things- like riding around without helmets or playing with someone's wheelchair on the road)
• To play with older kids
• Sticks and rocks
• To watch the school buses drive past his day care (the director sometimes takes him out to watch them and just the other day I got there in time to hold him while we watched. He literally screamed at the top of his lungs every time a bus passed: "THAT!!!")
• To watch trucks
• To hug the cats, pat the cats, sit on the cats
• To run around the front lawn and being chased
• To climb into his high chair
• To go for walks in his stroller
• To check the mail
• To look in the mirror (this never gets old!)
• Bubbles - in the bathtub or outside
• To be worn and see the world from my perspective
• To be held so he can see what's on the kitchen counter.
• To pretend to cook
• To help us cook
• To play with any and all kitchen utensils
• To climb his crib
• To sit on rubber balls
• To watch Barney (Ba!)

Behavioral Challenges

This is one that started sometime over the summer, I'm not exactly sure when. I didn't want to write about it because I thought it made me a bad parent. I was ashamed, and I felt helpless to make it stop. I know it sounds silly, but I thought I had done something wrong to cause it. You probably would think that this would have been the best place to write about it, but I didn't want to share it. The behavioral challenge is that Cole bangs his head. It's a way to self soothe, but he also does it to get attention. He bangs it on the back of his high chair, the wall, the window, and sometimes (scarily) the floor. Over the past month or two I've reached out in various ways to friends and medical professionals to learn how I can put an end to it. I've come to the conclusion that I have to ignore it, distract him, and not focus on it, unless of course he really hurts himself (which he has only done a few times). But it's a behavior that can last until he's 3, so as much as I want it to go away, I don't think it's going to end anytime soon.

This month's pictures that illustrate some of his loves and some that were just too damn cute not to show you...

He loves his shoos.

Oven mitts as puppets - who knew?

Cooking up a sweet sauce for the family.

What? You never try to climb on something using your face?

Mr. Serious

Seriously. All a toddler needs is a stainless steel bowl and a wooden spoon. Forget all of those other toys.

Before we put the old glider on the side of the road for free, Cole used it as his rocker when he drank his afternoon bottle. Anyone know where I can get a kid's rocker?

Cole doing some microwave cooking with Chef Barbie

The wings are in place...

And he's off! 

Eating yogurt with a spoon

Posing for Mama

Looking for a good recipe (I told you this kid loves to cook)

And coming soon.... Cole's first school picture! The results were adorable. His teachers were not exaggerating.