16 Months

The time is flying by and my little boy is getting so big. He amazes me everyday. He is funny, smart, helpful, and so sweet. He pushes me to be a better woman each day so that I can show him the love Jesus has for him. There are of course difficult moments, but I would say they are few and far between. I think I am about to have an awakening when Eli is born..but for now I am enjoying each minute James and I have together alone. Here is what James is up to this month:

-Talking! He says "yes, no, ball, more, please, mama, dadda, bye-bye, moon, nana (banana), up, papa, ma (for grandma), and Ba (for baily)" :) He also makes the "t" sound for truck. He is imitating all the time trying to say new words. He is is going be using sentences soon I think. It was funny we were at Trader Joes yesterday and we seriously had a conversation the whole time we were there. We walk in and he knows right where the samples are so he pointed over there and did the sign for "eat". So we went over there and tried the food. Then he saw the train that's painted on the wall and does the sign for train. He then signed "more" because he wanted more food. Then we are walking through an aisle and he does the "cow" sound because there is a cow painted on the wall. And then he sees a man wearing a hat so he does the sign for "hat." Then he saw a drinking fountain and signed "drink". I was dying laughing because he was full out communicating everything he was thinking while we were there. It was so fun.

-Gross Motor: James loves to be up on the "big boy" bar stool to eat instead of in his highchair or he'll grab a book and lead me over to the couch so we can sit there and read it instead of on the floor. He loves to step on books or the laundry basket so that he can then get up onto something else. He looks at me while he tries to climb up on the table because he knows he's not suppose to. He's a pleaser though usually and if I say no he will go find something else to do. There are certain things that he will do the opposite when I ask him to do something though..he still tests his limits. He also loves to stomp his feet (ever since he had to stomp the snow off his feet after playing in the snow)and go 'round and 'round in circles. He thinks is so funny.

-Hiding: It's hilarious. I will be cooking or folding laundry and all of a sudden I don't see James and it's really quiet. So I go look for him and one of the first times he had found a hiding spot as I'm calling his name I looked in our room, his room, the bathroom and didn't see him or hear him still! I seriously got a little worried. I checked the bottom of the stairs to see if he had fallen down them without me knowing! He hadn't..so I rechecked the bedroom and then I see his feet sticking out of the curtain! So I look behind the curtain and there he is smiling looking up at me. So since then I have found him behind the shower curtain, under the bed and behind the curtains. He just likes a little quiet time!

-He is eating well still..likes to try everything and will eat anything we are eating for dinner. Daddy feeds him with combinations of food on each spoonful. James prefers to have at least one pea or kernel of corn with each bite. Daddy says, "corn, potato and chicken" and James nods his head. Daddy says, "potato and chicken." James says, "no" and points to the corn. It's just amazing how well he understands what we are saying. He will respond with the correct "yes" or "no" most of the time.

-Momma's Boy: James has always come to me when he needs something, but this week he's taken it to a new a whole new level. Yesterday Mike had come home early and ended up getting James up from his nap while I was watching the bachelor (I was busy!) James always asks for "momma" or "dadda" when he wakes up..it's always the opposite of the person who is getting him out of his crib. So Mike took him to see me and then took him up to eat. James started screaming saying "momma" for like 5 minutes. He never did get over it. Mike tried to feed him and James ended up choking so he decided to quit and bring him down to me. And anytime I leave the room he is asking, "momma?" And has to come find me right away. So sweet. I read a blog today about how we should be delighting in the Lord's presence like our kids delight in ours. It made me think for sure. http://www.mannaformoms.com/devotions/thats_my_mommy.html
-An update from one of my last posts..he is still waking up in the night. We have continued to let him try and soothe himself and it still breaks my heart. I don't want him to think I am not there to comfort him when he's scared! There have been good nights and average nights. A couple nights ago he woke up and just whined for a couple minutes and was back to sleep. Then there was last night where he was crying for 10 minutes and I say to Mike, "will you go in there and pat him and sing so he isn't scared?" So Mike went in there and it just made it worse. James was then yelling for "mama" and wouldn't calm down. So I go in there and of course he tells me "eat" (he never forgets anything!) and I told him, "No we aren't eating right now, but I can rock you." So I rocked him for a couple minutes. Enough to calm down his deep breathes from screaming, and I put him in the crib. He kinda whimpered for a couple minutes and then was quiet. Of course 10 minutes later though he was crying again, but this time he calmed himself down and went back to sleep for the rest of the night. It's still such a hard thing to know what to do!

-He still loves to read. My sister got him a sign language book for Christmas and he loves to get that out and have me point to the picture and say "how do you say..milk?" And then he shows me the sign. He loves the animal sounds books and train books. He is obsessed with the garbage truck lately. The truck comes on Tuesdays right before we leave for MUMS and so each morning he looks out the window and asks me where the truck is. He sticks out his tongue (his way of saying trash or yuck) and then does the 't' sound for truck. Today the truck was a little late so it came as we were getting in the car and he wasn't as sure he wanted to see it! He got a little worried from all the noises it was making.

-He loves to help me cook. He especially loves to do the chopper. He will get out the chopper and a cutting board and pretend like he is chopping! It's so cute.  He'll get out a pan and a spoon out of the dishwasher when we are putting away the dishes and start stirring. But he always wants up on the counter so he can see what I'm doing.

-Still no luck on potty training. I tried a couple days of putting him on every hour to see if he'd go. And I tried giving him some chocolate (he loves treats) if he went potty or poop. Basically putting him on kept him from going all day and then he'd go in the evening when I wasn't as attentive or I'd catch him starting and we'd go sit on the toilet so he'd go a little in his diaper and then nothing on the toilet and then the rest in a new diaper after we got off the toilet! So that was wasting more diapers than just letting him go! So I have backed off a little bit. We'll see in another month or so if can catch on. It is just so amazing how he is so smart and understands most of what I say and will do what I ask him to..except poop in the toilet :)

In other news..I am 32 weeks along with Eli. I am feeling pretty good. I kinda hit a point this week where I was like, "um I feel big and uncomfortable and I still have 8 more weeks to get bigger!? No thanks!" But I'm trying to enjoy each minute I have with James because I know it is about to get crazy. Eli is an active little guy though. He is always moving! Well until I tell Mike to put his hand on my stomach to feel him..then he's absolutely still. It's so funny how that happens every time.

Today is Valentines Day. Mike and I are going out to dinner tomorrow night so we can miss the crowd. We have a couple coupons for Famous Daves so we are going to go there. And then we have a gift card for Lazlos so we plan on using that in March. We are trying to be intentional about getting a couple of dates in before Eli comes because then it's back to having to nurse every 2 hours (at least!) and just being tired again! I feel like Mike and I are doing pretty well relationship-wise. I have been trying to be more intentional about tapping into his love language..touch. Mine is acts of service and so that's how I try to show love and that just doesn't do it for him :) It seems like I do it for a week and then slack off again, but hopefully I can keep it going a little longer this time!