16 months old

I'll save the whole I-can't-believe-my-baby-is-already-16-months-old bit and just let you know how he's doing.

Developments:

He climbs up the ladder to get to the upper level of the playground equipment at our park.

He is completely fascinated by the hose and now drinks water from a low-flowing spout.

He likes his pool, but only to splash the water around, he doesn't actually like to sit in it.

He rides on the bike seat we bought used in Spring Lake and likes it.

He has learned to immitate quite a few gestures, and almost everything you say. The gestures include: bouncing a ball off the side of the house (we call it "wall ball"); spreading lotion on his arms and legs; eating with a spoon or fork; putting on shoes; watering the plants with the watering can; turning the water on at the hose, and all the faucets in the house; putting keys into the keyhole of the door; reaching up to the doorknob when he wants to go outside; he reads books to himself sometimes upside down.

He also likes to climb into and out of chairs. He hands me a book, then climbs into his chair so I can read it to him.

His vocabulary is so vast I can't even count all the words he says any more. Around July 20th I counted 23 words that he says regularly, but he hit a surge right after that. I think he says upward of 35 words now. The newest words include: please (peese), plane (pay - said while he points to the sky), shirt (shir), water (wawawawa - said very quickly), and spoon (soom). He also has words for many things that I haven't been able to discern yet. I'm sure they'll be actual words before too long.

He takes one two-hour nap in the afternoon now, which I prefer to the two naps. He puts himself to sleep for naps and at night. As recently as a few weeks ago he had to be rocked all the way to sleep during the day, but he no longer needs that. He sits in his crib and talks and/or reads and then lays down and falls asleep.

He has the sweetest disposition, asking with his eyes and voice tone if he can play with something or do something. He almost never takes things away from other kids and doesn't seem to mind that much when someone takes something away from him, unless it's a ball. He's extremely loveable. Here's a recent picture: