My heart-breaker at (almost) 16 months

Max will be 16 months on Thursday.  I love, love, love this age and he is so precious to me. 

Max has started perfecting the art of tantrums.  When they begin, we say, "Uh oh, the raptor is loose!" He throws himself on the ground, cries/whines, flips around a bit, and then ends the tantrum as quickly as he started it.

Boom! I'm a heart-breaker.  Check out my chest, ladies. 

Max is so lovey and kind and gentle (except for when he (playfully) bites me or pulls his sister's hair) and sweet.  When Claire or Brody are sad, he gives them hugs. Today Claire was throwing a fit and he walked over and laid his head on her chest. He loves to cuddle and give hugs and kisses.  He blows kisses and waves his arm up and down and says, "Bye! bye! bye!"

He loves to go with you and hates being left behind.  Whenever me or Josh leave, he stands at the door, banging and crying. If he sees me putting my shoes and coat on, he walks over and quickly grabs his coat or hat and tries putting them on. 

Max is so playful.  He loves to laugh and have fun. He loves being tickled and tries to tickle others by tapping them and saying, "tick tick tick tick".  He thinks it's hilarious when you smell his feet, wrinkle your face in disgust and say, "oh P-U! Your feet are STINKY!!"  Gets him every.time. 

Max surprises me with how much he talks. I've been keeping a list of his words on my phone (because my phone is generally embarrassingly attached to me) and here's what I've tracked. And these are the words I've heard more than once or twice.  There's others that I think were flukes (like "Love you"; he was just copying Josh and hasn't said it again). 

Mommy

Daddy

Up

Hi

Bye

Puppy

Omi

Papa

Nana (banana)

Oh no

No

Bro (Brody)

Brody

Bue (bluberry)

Moo (when you ask what a cow says, also when you ask what any other animal (besides sheep) says too)

Wa-wa (water)

Mo (more)

Peez (please)

All duh (all done)

Elmo

Hat

Dop (stop)

On

Off

P-U

Max is a GREAT night-time sleeper.  He sometimes wakes once or twice (or thrice) towards the morning and either goes back to sleep on his own or needs us to lay him back down. Sometimes he doesn't make a sound all night at all.  Max goes to bed around 7:15PM and gets up around 6:30AM.  Like his sister did, he wakes up with a dry diaper every single morning. While most kids his age have transitioned to one nap per day, he's still at a strong two, if not three, naps.  The first is around 8:30-9:00AM.  Then another mid-day and sometimes a third later in the afternoon.  I remember asking my 'mom friends' how their kids transitioned to one nap per day when Claire was 18 months old (just a couple days before Max was born). Claire consistently took two naps a day until she was two years old. I guess my children just like shorter and more frequent rest breaks. 

At his fifteenth month well-visit, Max weighed 22 lbs 11 oz (25%) and was 30 1/4 inches tall (25%).  His head was 19 1/4 inches (90%).  To me, he looks bigger than the 25th percentile and looks more proportionate than his head size would indicate.  He wears size 4 shoe and size 12-18 month clothing. 

Side note. Claire's sparkly peep-toe shoes? and sequin skinny jeans? and pink jean jacket?  I love having a girl. 

Max has an obsession with food.  That kid loves to eat.  He'll scarf down any fruit. Also loves cheese, yogurt, pasta, bread, oatmeal.  He hates vegetables (but gets a good dose of carrots every morning in his homemade oatmeal- gotcha, Max!) and doesn't care for meat. 

Other things about Max?  He climbs the stairs like a pro and has even learned how to slide down on his belly. One of his favorite things to do is get on his tiiiiipy toes to crawl into Claire's bed and lay his head on her pillow. He has a love/love relationship with his paci.  He giggles and belly-laughs.  Max runs with his head turned to the side. He head-bangs when we play music, often with so much passion that he falls over.  Likes to "attack" me and Josh by slapping our chest or stomach and laughing.  

Max can be shy, just like his sister. I see lots of his personality already matching hers. 

This little boy has stolen my heart.  I am so thankful to be Mommy to a boy.  A little boy who thinks his Mommy is the center of his universe. 

If you got through this entire blog post dedicated to my sweet boy, I'll be impressed. For the record, I spend the time putting down all of these details because I transfer them to my annual Shutter.fly book.  These children grow up way too fast and I just feel this need to capture and remember them at each stage!