Auggie at 16 Months!

Today is Auggie's 16 month birthday! Yay, our little guy is getting not-so-little every day, and is developing in amazing ways. I will never cease to be amazed at how Auggie learns!

Eating
Auggie is officially weaned, and was in fact weaned a week or so before his 15 month birthday. Tear. I really enjoyed nursing the little guy, and would have happily continued, but was getting encouragement from other people in my life to end. Arrgh. What can you do? It just kind of happened. I know he also would have happily nursed till kingdom-come if I let him. :( Oh well. Our time in Chicago this winter allowed for easy weaning of his post-nap nursing session (distraction!), which left nursing before bed and during the night once or so. Then Dan put Auggie to bed one night. And within a few nights there was no more nursing. (Btw, not being the only one who puts Auggie to bed is a major plus.) ... Coincidentally Auggie now sleeps through the night. I guess that's just the sacrifice/pay-off, huh? I miss it, but look forward to round two..

With regards to solid food, Auggie is of course thriving. Although he is getting a bit picky about things and will look at a food morsel like an olive or piece of pineapple and decide not to eat it without even trying it. I just need to keep offering different foods–he did finally go for that piece of pineapple and liked it.

Skill-wise, it's been for several months now that Auggie will grab for his spoon and try to feed himself. This can be messy, but with the hopes of him one day feeding himself with utensils, I started scooping food for him and then handing him the spoon. He's pretty darn good at getting the bowl of the spoon in his mouth, I'd even give him about 90% accuracy. Whether or not the food makes it to his mouth with the spoon is around 60-70%. Last week I started putting a suction bowl full of food on Auggie's tray and helped him with the scooping part. He's improving quickly and now can get the food on his spoon about half the time himself. There are still hilarious moments when I catch him vigorously stabbing at his food with his spoon hoping to catch something but always coming up empty-handed. It's cute. :)

Sleeping
Well, you already heard it. He's sleeping through the night! Thanks for all of your prayers and words of encouragement when I posted on my frustrations with him and sleep. It was shortly thereafter that he started sleeping through the night. (Along with the weaning.) He still wakes me up if he even lets out one cough as I am now a life long light-sleeper, but staying in a nice warm bed is a great alternative to padding down the hallway to troubleshoot. He would wake every night for the first two weeks or so after The Weaning (no thanks to the cold he caught), and my rule was that if he yelled/cried, I'd go to the bathroom first. If he was still awake when I was done then I'd go check on him. Auggie only stayed awake that long once.

Physical Activity
Auggie is such a boy! And I love it!! He climbs everywhere - the couch, ottoman, stairs, toy box, glider rocking chair, window seat - you name it, he's there. He hugs, and it's adorable! This morning he gave Stella a hug and she just looked at me like, what's happening? It was too cute. He hugs Dan and me regularly and says 'huuh' while hugging. He's not running per say yet, but Auggie can get pretty fast if he has something set on his mind. ... I think he's doing everything he's supposed to be doing!

Words
This is a fascinating skill to observe as Auggie learns new words. He adds to his vocabulary weekly if not daily. Here are his words/signs:

• Dog: Dah (his first word)
  
• Cock-a-doodle-do: Cock-roooooo (second real word)
• Car: Kahhhh (Grandma Donna taught him this over Christmas, and he says it constantly when referring to cars, trucks, play cars/trucks, and almost anything with at least four wheels. Dan and I often correct him when he's referring to a semi truck, but it's still so cute.)
• Shoes: Shoooos
• Socks: Oks (only used a few times)
  
• Keys: Kheee (paired with Kahhhh makes his first phrase 'car keys')
• Cheese: Ch-EEs
  
• All done: 'Ahhhh' with hands up
• Milk: sign - squeezes hand
• Please: sign - rubs chest with hand
  
• Hug: Huuh
• Hot: Hahhhh; sign - hand outstretched, plam down
  
• Water: Gah; sign - points at mouth with finger
• Ball: Gagh or Gahl (very similar to water)
• Train: Cho-choo
• Yes: Yah or Yas

And I'm sure there are more that I'm not thinking of. Too fun!!

Auggie and Stella
... Are best friends! It seems like I spend all of my time at home refereeing them as if they were real siblings. Auggie will come up and poke Stella in the eyeballs (or at least attempt to), open her jowls, plop down next to her on her bed, or take the bone she's chewing on right out of her mouth. She just looks at him like, come on! What a sweet dog. She is extremely loyal and I know it would take a LOT for her to ever lash out at him–including just barking. (For the record I never leave them alone together. If I step out of the baby-gated area I either take one with me or send Stella outside. Dogs are still dogs and you can't be too careful.)

Stella is equally as interested in Auggie. He is a constant source of food whether I like it or not, and he is a new-found playmate. Stella will bring Auggie her tug toy or bone, and play with him with the appropriate amount of force (much less than if playing with Dan or me.) She also waits outside the dining room while Auggie eats, ready to jump over the gate and clean up after him as soon as I give her the okay. Yes dogs are work, but every family with a toddler should have one. Imagine never stepping on another Cheerio again in your life. :)

...

I know this post is missing 16-month pictures. I've been slacking lately despite moving our camera to a more accessible place in the house. Bad Val. I will have to work on that and post pics soon.