Sixteen Months Old

Last Friday Hamilton turned 16 months old. I didn't think it was possible for him to be more vocal than he was, but he's definitely trying to say words and talking all the time. Often his words do not in any way sound like the real words, but I know what he means usually. He's still saying truck, but he's also added pumpkin, train, bird, sock, shoe, and bread to his vocabulary.

He loves exploring the backyard, and he's finally started venturing out of the grass and into the flower beds. Last week he found the secret path nestled between the fence and the bamboo.

He still loves school, and he gives me a goodbye kiss each morning I drop him off. He brought home a necklace made from pasta last week; and when I found it in his bag, he promptly put it back on, wearing it all afternoon.

He's getting much pickier about what he wants to eat, and cheese remains the only specific food for which he uses a sign. He still has only six teeth (four on top, two on bottom), so some foods are not liked right now because of their texture and his lack of back teeth. At least I hope that's the reason.

He loves for me to chase him around downstairs using a scary voice, so we play that game a lot. He now enjoys his zebra toy on the back porch because he's able to get on and off all by himself.

He still loves books and reading. He likes reading to himself, but he also likes to pick out a book, hand it to an adult, and turn himself around backing into the adult's lap. He doesn't always make it through the reading of each book, and he definitely has favorite books from the ones we get at the library. Recently he's enjoyed an I Spy book, The Little Engine that Could, a Thomas the Train book, and a book called Cowboy Bunnies. We visit the library at least every other week, so we can replenish our books. We usually make it for the library's story time, and Hamilton is surprisingly well behaved if he's wearing Rover, his harness and tether. Story time involves not just three books of similar topics, but also stretching and music with dancing.

Mr. Morgan installed a low-hung handle on the screen door for Hamilton. Before the handle, Hamilton would bang on the door or try to pry it open with his little fingers. As Mr. Morgan predicted, as soon as Hamilton discovered the new handle, he excitedly tried it out--over and over again.