16 Months Old!

Cole is 16 months old. Wow, did that sneak up on us! Sometimes it's hard to even comprehend how much older he seems. He's walking and running so much more confidently, though he still takes his fair share of tumbles. He has a blast kicking around his little soccer ball and throwing his basketball. This kid practically loses his mind (in a good way) when he sees a basketball, so we're grateful to Opa and Nana for getting him one of his very own! He's talking up a storm, seemingly adding words by the day. His current favorite is "bus" (either to tell us that he sees a bus or he wants us to sing "Wheels on the Bus" to him, which happens about a thousand times a day). He's also better at saying "please" when he wants something, and he also signs something that he thinks means please, so that's nice. He's continuing to point at the things he wants, too, which is very helpful in figuring out what the dickens he's after! Other favorites: bye bye (often accompanied by a cute little wave); tunnel; Bryce; Chelsey; waffle; go; purple; and butterfly (well, it's more like "bubby," but he always says it when pointing at a butterfly, so we're counting it). Oh, and his daycare folks claim that he said "dinosaur," but we've never heard it. We'll believe it when we hear it. He's becoming quite the expert at animal sounds, too. Here's a sample: Us: Cole, what do cows say? Cole: Moo, moo. Us: Cole, what do sheep say? Cole: Baaa, baaa. Us: Cole, what do lions (or bears, tigers, or dinosaurs) say? Cole: Roaarrrr. He also knows that horses neigh and that pigs oink, though his neighs and oinks aren't quite as solid as his moos, baaas, and roars. But I swear you can tell he's working on them, which is all kinds of adorable. He's going through a bit of a mommy phase, which is sad for Daddy. But it's cool--it'll even out once we get into the "playing catch and going to batting cages" phase of our relationship. Unfortunately, he's figuring out our tricks, too. Redirection isn't too effective anymore, so we're enduring a lot more screaming. Yes, we have officially entered the Realm of Tantrums. It is a dark, awful place, and I can't wait to leave it. But what can you do? If you give him lots of attention for his bad behavior, then he learns that screaming gets our attention. NOT the message we want to send. But on the other hand, you want to do whatever you can do to stop the screaming. Ugh. But with that said, he's still an incredibly happy kid most of the time, for which we're very thankful. This kid's smile? Lights up a room. Ridiculous, I tell you. (And no, I'm not biased. This is objective fact. Stop judging!) We love you to pieces, bud. 8/21/2012.