In August, Jones was 16 months old!
- Weighs between 25 - 26 pounds. Still wearing some 12 months clothes, but they are almost all noticeably tight on him now, particularly his pajamas. 12 - 18 months is best, 18 months is still a little baggy, but usually good on the length. Moving up to size 5 in shoes.
- Is still a good eater, still loves spinach. Other favorites: vienna sausages, mashed potatoes, chicken, and french fries. He's also a little bit of a beggar - I usually feed him first and then let him run around while Alan and I eat. He inevitably will end up right beside both of us at the table, asking for bites from our plate - last night I fed him several bites of salad and tomato, and he loved it, but I'm not sure if he loved it for its own qualities or because it came off of my plate ... oh well. I hope we're not entering the stage where he refuses to eat anything but chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese ... I've heard that happens ...
- Is fast! He runs everywhere. It's exhausting. Climbing is next on his agenda. He hikes his leg up and tries to climb onto everything. He can actually climb up on our couch, if he piles up pillows and uses them as a step. He is always trying to climb out of the bathtub. I am infinitely grateful that he has not yet attempted to climb out of his crib.
- Loves to ride in his Cozy Coupe - he's not very good at moving it himself yet, but he absolutely loves for you to push him while he rides in it - the faster the better! Sad story, though: I was rolling him down the driveway of our house (which is kind of steep), running along beside him. He was loving it since steep driveway = fast ride. Alas, I had not put shoes on the child (in my defense, he does not like shoes, and it's hot/summertime, so who needs shoes, really?), and at some point, he put his feet down while we were flying merrily down the driveway, and he skinned his feet, all up. We're talking a fair amount of blood and a fair amount of crying. I felt pretty bad. And you have no idea how hard it is to put bandaids on little toes. It hasn't soured him on the Cozy Coupe, though, thank goodness. He also loves to play with any variety of balls and wheeled toys - his little airplane toy is his favorite right now, I would say. He loves to roll things back and forth to you or to throw things back and forth with you - he just laughs and smiles and giggles the whole time you're playing with him. He still really doesn't seem to care that much about his toys in general, he'd rather play with the dogs or the dishtowels, or tupperware, or go get something out of the cabinets, or help with the laundry/play in the laundry baskets.
- Molars are still pushing through - he tends to get his teeth four at a time, usually symetrically on top and bottom, so he's got two molars on top and two on bottom pushing through right now.
- His newest sweet habit is that when you go to pick him up from daycare or from the nursery at church, as soon as he sees you, he breaks into a big smile and runs over to you, arms outstretched. It is so sweet.
- Still sleeping great - he's a bit of a night owl, he's not really ready to go to sleep until at least 9:00, and he's usually awake at 7:00, but that seems to work for him so we don't push him. He is still a terrible napper, unless you have the time to lay down with him, wrap him up in a bear hug, and wait for exhaustion to take him over.
- Is a ladies' man, apparently. The girls at daycare tell me he is always hugging and kissing on the little girls in the class. They probably can't resist his awesome dance skills.
- Still babbling, but adding words, too - he'll talk on his own time, I'm sure. This month we've added "airplane" "please" and "cat" to our vocabulary. This is the area where I am most convinced that he's a smart little toot with a mind of his own - because he absolutely, positively, will not repeat you when you ask him to (as in, "Hey Jones, can you say "airplane"?), but I do think he knows what you are trying to get him to do ... and he has his own mind and he's not going to do it because you're asking him to do it.
- The communication tantrums are beginning (all of the "experts" say that most tantrums at this age are due to the fact that he can't communicate with me and gets frustrated, which I believe), most particularly at meal times when he's trying to tell me something and I don't get it, he throws a big fit - throws his sippy cup in the floor, throws food in the floor, thrashes around in the chair. It's a sight. This is generally limited to breakfast. He's not a morning person (like Mommy).
- Has a new facial expression - a thoughtful frown! It's like, "What? Is something wrong with you?" He generally does it when you do something unexpected.
At 17 months, Jones:
- Probably weighs close to 30 pounds. He can wear 12 -18 months clothes, but they're pretty short on him, but the 18 or 18-24 months are pretty loose. He wears a size 5 shoe (my favorite purchase thus far: Chuck Taylors! The girls at daycare lllooovvvveeeddd it when I brought him in wearing them). I don't know how tall he is ... everybody tells me he's tall and thin, like his Daddy ... he comes up to the bottom of my hip bone/top of my thigh.
- Is not picky, but is slowing down on the amount of food he'll eat. Breakfast has become a struggle and I get reports back from the daycare that usually say he ate "most" of his food but not "all". Oh well ... I'm sure he'll let me know if he's hungry. Favorites include: spinach (my child is Popeye), vienna sausages, mashed potatoes, and carrots. He likes fish, especially salmon, and he loves him some fried chicken.
- He is obsessed with straws. He loves to drink anything out of a straw, and he really wants anything you are drinking out of a straw.
- Is a climber, and may have a future as a yogi - he's always hiking one leg up and then balancing on it, like he's trying to climb on something imaginary. He practices this skill in the bathtub.
- Prefers to play with the dogs or things from the cabinet as far as toys are concerned. He likes to push things around, so we have one of those push-walker things, and he likes it a lot. I've already said he's a climber, and one of his favorite games and toys is to climb up into his walker and wheel around in it for a bit. He needs help getting out, but when he wants out, it's generally just to climb right back into the walker. He loves the remote controls and phones - he's called quite a few people on accident on my cell phone. He likes his toys that sing or make noise, in particular the Fisher Price puppies that sing and dance, and Scout, the Leapfrog Dog.
- Is fast! He runs everywhere, all of the time, and he does it with a purpose. It is simultaneously funny and cute to watch him go.
- Is teething. No fun, since it's all molars.
- Gives high fives and kisses.
- Talks in his own special alien language, with the occasional word thrown in that we (think) we understand.
- Is a good sleeper, and we're graduating to the point where we don't have to rock him to sleep and then put him to bed. We generally give him a cup of milk and rock for a little bit until he's chilled out, but not asleep, and then we put him in his crib, lights out, and he's usually fine with it and goes to sleep on his own. He goes to bed around 9:00 and sleeps all the way until 7:30 or so.
- Was sad to see the pool close - swimming is our favorite: any time, any where!
- Is starting to throw tantrums. He'll fling himself to the floor and wail like his heart is broken, and then he'll kick is feet wildly. Right now, we're just ignoring him and this seems to work. He'll only keep it up for a little bit and then, when he gets no reaction, he'll move on to something else. Obviously, this is just at our house. If we're out anywhere in public and he does it, we usually hustle him out of there (this hasn't happened a lot, only like, twice). Disciplining him by swatting his hands or his little bottom doesn't seem to work. He finds it amusing, and grins and laughs at you. I think we'll try time-out when ignoring him ceases to work.
