16 Months - The Boo Edition

These last few weeks have been pretty much awesome. I think this might be the most fun I've had as a parent, and there isn't a day that goes by that your mother and I don't talk about how "crazy" you are.

You have moved into your "collection" stage. It started with Gords, which you first started calling "ba's" You had to have one with you constantly. It has since evolved into grabbing whatever you see first. It starts the moment you get out of bed and carries on all throughout the day. Whether it is a gord, a monkey, a doggie, stacked cups, whatever, you get obsessed with "things" and have to have one in your hands at all times.

Your ability to remember things is uncanny. Long gone are the days where we could hide something or distract you to make you forget. Now you seem to lock in on something and won't forget it. You are/were obsessed with the hair dryer, constantly stroking your hair and saying "dra" "dra", even pointing to our heads. And again, the moment you wake up, you roll over, hop up in your little sleep sack, and say "dra, dra", before we even have a chance to get you out of bed.

You are constantly saying new things. Often times calling something one minute, then after we say the correct name, you catch on and start calling it by its correct one. It still amazes me and how quickly you catch on. In fact I've had to watch myself a few times. One day as we were watching a Purdue game I was a little upset, as I often am these days when I watch them, I stood up and threw my hands up and almost yelled. You jumped up threw your hands up and yelled right with me. A quick lesson in fatherhood of how much you watch us for your cues.

You have a bit of independence, and need to create your own spaces. You love to pick things up and take them to your little chair, set them in the chair, sit down, then reach behind you and hold them on your lap. It's as if the chair is yours and whatever you put on there is in your "safety" zone. You also love to climb up on the big couch and push off all of the pillows. And if mom or I are sitting on it, you try to push us off. Once we get off you sit there with a proud little smile on your face.

As crazy and independent as you are, you are still very much a cuddler. You love to sit on our laps, often times sitting on us, getting up, sitting on us, getting up....You have a crazy obsession with dancing. Apparently you and mom dance while I am at work, and now you want the CD player on and want to dance all the time. So much so that you grab our hands and stick them out straight as if we are ballroom dancing. If we don't dance with you right away you stand in the middle of the room and twhirl in circles. baby. Cuddling you at this age is almost as sweet as it was when you were just a little baby.

You are growing up more and more each day. Each day is filled with a new adventure, something new learned, and a little bit more of your baby-ness disappearing. As I've said this is the most fun I've had, and I think that we have had so far as parents. Your personality is overwhelming at times, but beautiful and I hope that you continue to have this beautiful spirit as you continue to grow up!