Parker is 16 Months Old

                

I’m a bad mother and missed the 15 month update – actually, I was busy being a good mom and there wasn’t a great time to pause and type an update.  Parker is now napping and Benton is out of town, so this is a good time to catch up.

At 16 months, Parker is a hot mess – both literally and figuratively.  We’re breaking heat records with almost 50 days of over 100 degrees. Not that this is news to anyone, but I want to document it for posterity.  I was born in September of 1980 in Austin, Texas, and my mom always told me how the Summer of 1980 was the hottest on record.  Soooo glad that I’m not spending the Summer of 2011 pregnant, but its still been miserably hot.  So hot in fact, that its too hot to go to the pool, run errands, go to the park, walk with the stroller, etc….

Back to the hot mess. Benton asked me at 15 months if the “terrible twos” can hit early. I told him that I think its just going to get worse for the next 9 months.  Parker still climbs on tables, chairs, up cabinets, on ottomans, on beds, etc.  He has no fear about sliding off of any of these objects either.  No fear also applies to the swimming pool – he loves going down headfirst on the slide at the pool. 

We took two weeks of mommy and me swim lessons and I’ll admit that it was pretty worthless.  Don’t get me wrong, it was great bonding and I worked out from 9-10 each morning then we booked it downstairs for our group of 4 toddlers in the pool.  Parker did not like being told what to do and when to do it.  No splashing or kicking on command for this stinker.  However, he did love jumping off the lilly pads and the best part was eating a full brunch by the pool afterwards.  I did pick up some things to work with him on, but we won’t be taking another set of lessons for another six months or even until next summer!

Other developments at 16 months include an expanding vocabulary and a lovely high-pitched scream when he doesn’t have a word to express himself.  It may be a happy scream, scared scream, or mad scream, but they all sound like nails on a chalkboard.  His words now include momma, dada, Jack (says it constantly, normally without the ‘K’ sound), pops (as in barbeque pop chips or my dad), nana, wawa (water), aqua (his first Spanish word), da (down), uh (up, or uhhh figure out what I want you to do), ya (yes), and na (no), bleh (blueberry), waff (waffle).  When in doubt, he will point, whine, or grab your finger, or literally pull your legs where he wants you to go so he can tell you what he wants.

Playing with Olivia Gossett

Its been so fun to figure out that he really does observe so much around him.  He notices planes that fly overhead, he wants to see what is on top of counters, he watches lights and ceiling fans, and is curious about what is in closets, cabinets, under beds, etc.  Which basically means that he is into everything all the time = hot mess.