16 Months!

Made it through Wednesday! Ours involved a lot of down time because Marshall slept until 8:30 (my hero of a husband somehow managed to convince Marshall to go back to sleep at 5:15) AND took an almost-two hour nap. I had no idea what to do with myself. Our house is spotless, though, and I got around to a few chores I had been putting off.

The rest of the day didn't involve anything spectacular; we took a short walk, and I did some Pilates-style stuff after Marshall was in bed. For dinner we all ate a squash salad:
- 3 zucchini
- 2 delicata squash
- 1 head Romaine lettuce
- Burrata cheese
- olive oil and balsamic

I chopped the squash(es?) and roasted them with olive oil, salt, and pepper at 425 degrees for about 25 minutes, tossing once. Then I just threw everything else together for big salads!

Tonight Terry has some work to finish, so I'm hoping to head to bed early. By the way, special shout out to Ann from Pittsburgh! Thanks for the e-mail today!


And now...Happy 16 months to Marshall! Here, 16 fun facts:

- Marshall weighs 25 pounds and is 32 1/2 inches tall. He was 33 inches at his last appointment, so something is off, but he's somewhere around there. Lots of people comment on how tall he is! I agree; he's a big boy. Lifting him up and down--especially carrying him plus some groceries upstairs--makes me feel like I can skip my upper body workouts. Plus, he's really looking like a boy now. I am a bit in denial, because in person I still see him as a baby, but looking at photos I really can't deny he's a total toddler.

- He can walk backwards! It's hilarious to watch him practice. He'll randomly stop in his tracks and just step back a few steps, then forward, then back, over and over.

- Books are still a huge hit, but we're noticing that he really has some favorites. He'll continue to pull the same ones down from the shelf for us to read, even if we put them in different places (he even knows which book is which based on the spine, not just the covers!). Current favorites: Down By the Bay; Go, Dog. Go!; 10 Little Rubber Ducks; Goodnight Gorilla.

- I guess it's pretty cliche, but this boy loves his trucks. He loves hearing them outside, loves to watch the garbage and recycling trucks on our street, loves pointing out trucks when we go for walks, loves playing with his toy trucks. He says "truck" ("jruh-jruh!") at least 50 times per day.

- Stacking was a huge hit all month! Blocks, mostly, but occasionally he would find random objects to stack on each other!

- Sleep is a dream at the moment. For nap time, I tell him it's nap time and he points to his room, sticks his thumb in his mouth, and walks to his crib, then goes to sleep on his own and sleeps 90 minutes to three hours (though there were a few very short naps this month, too). At night, we've really whittled down the bedtime routine to bath, pjs, story, brushing teeth, family pictures, then one song as Terry walks out of the room. He sleeps through the night (11-12 hours) most of the time, but again we've had several midnight wake ups this month, too. None of this is to say it's been a breeze: Getting to this point in our sleep routines took a LONG time (as you know if you've been reading along!) and lots of adjusting to find what works for Marshall. Now that we've got a good rhythm, I'm sure something will come along to throw us for a loop!

- Eating was great this month! Last month he seemed to be a little less enthusiastic about eating and would spit out a lot of foods, but we're back on track now. He eats a TON, too, though some of that may be a growth spurt. Favorite foods: fruit, yogurt, smoothies, and bread.

- Words he can say (that Terry and I can understand, anyway): mama, dada, truck, cat, dog, JanJan (my mom's name), that, bus, shoes, ball, baby, bowl, walrus, whale, moon.

- Shakes head for "yes" or "no" (although he really doesn't exactly answer yes/no questions--we can just tell him to say yes or no and he will do it); signs "more," "all done," "again".

- Marshall learned to call for me from his crib when he wakes up. The good news: he doesn't cry when he wakes up! The bad news: He repeats "mama" over and over and over again until we go in there. It's so sweet at first, and then I want to throw the monitor out the window.

- Tantrums are still relatively tame, but he gets upset when someone takes something from him that he wants (duh, Julie), or he's super tired. Oh, and usually the moments before a meal (when I'm prepping something in the kitchen), he's a bit of a nightmare--lots of fussing, impatience, whining, sometimes full on wailing. He's still easily distracted, though, so we're using that to our advantage.

- Marshall's favorite part of every day: anytime we see a dog.

- Other favorite activities: bath time, going outside, playing at the park, MyGym classes, and experiencing anything new.

- Crawling up on the couch, then standing on said couch, and now vaulting off the side of the couch are all new stunts this month. I'm thrilled, as you can imagine.

- Yesterday Marshall walked over to Jenn and gave her a hug, completely independently. It was such a sweet little moment! He's never voluntarily hugged anyone before, including his mama, so apparently Aunt Jenny has a magic aura.

- Marshall LOOOOOOVES Scout. When we read a book about a cat, he points to where Scout is. Whenever possible, he tries to pet Scout, which is more often than I would have guessed (Scout acts like he is miserable around Marshall, but he really doesn't make much effort to stay away from him, so I think he secretly loves the baby). Most of the time, if we need a distraction, we can ask Marshall to "find Scout" and he'll go on a little hunt!

16 months...crazy! I'm overjoyed to see this little boy growing up. He is by far the best thing I have ever created, and I could not be more proud to be his mama. Here's to the next month!