JB lately

They say it is always darkest before the dawn.  I know that's a little dramatic for this post, but JB was definitely going through what I would call a "needy" stage over the past month, which I think was magnified by how easy going he typically is, our ridiculously busy schedule, and him trying to grow 2 molars and learn how to walk simultaneously.  Whew! I'm tired just typing that.

Needless to say, one day he arrived at 16 months and the clouds rolled back and he was his happy self again! Ben was teasing the other day saying how much easier things had gotten, and its true.  So I started thinking it might be time to sit down and document some of the fun things that he is doing.

• Walking! Hallelujah! Late crawling is totally overrated! Just kidding, but as they say kids just learn to do things when they want to do things- you can't rush them, it just happens.  It only took me 2 kids to figure this out ;)
• Has all of his teeth (maybe 1 more to go?? It's hard to pry my way in there)
• Parroting pretty much anything we say or ask him to try saying
• Learning & initiating lots of words/phrases: Please, Thank you, Yes, Nooooo!, duck, duck, goose, Bible, tries to count "uuuuhhh, oooooo, eeeeee", I love you, umbrella, slide, walk, water, black, blue, Sissy, Jesus, book, brush, hat, sock, shoes, bath, bubbles, ball, sheeewy (stinky), diaper, bounce, peek-a-boo, baby, night-night,  (I'm sure there are more but that's all I can remember for now)
• Points to head, eyes, ears, nose, "smelly belly", teeth, mouth, tongue, toes, hair
• Trying more animal noises/recognizing animals
• He can go get me a diaper when I ask him
• Getting better about stopping when I ask him to come to me, instead of a full-on run away
• Loves to clean and do laundry (just trying to train him for his future wife, right?)
• He loves to do something funny and then cover his mouth and laugh at himself
• Attempts hide and go seek, which usually means covering himself up with a blanket and then saying "uuunnn, ooooo, eeeee.... yaaaaaay!"
• Likes to get some stage time. He loves singing into Emme's microphone, then throwing it on the floor and applauding himself and smiling huge. He might even dance a bit, or be know to request a Jazzercise DVD- ya I know, he's gonna love me for that....
• Throwing things ranks pretty high on his list
• Two words: people person.  We were are the shoe store getting sandals for Emme and he seriously crawled up into this random Grandpa's lap. Luckily the man was nice and not scary and sat there and held him until his wife was done shopping. When he told JB he needed to go now, JB started crying.  He needs his social calendar booked.  I can already tell he is sort of a "life of the party" type guy.  People make him happy, and he has never met a stranger.
• Loves to sit in my lap and read book after book, which is always funny to me because he is so busy that the snuggly part of him still surprises me- but I love it.
• Tackles anyone that is laying on the floor, and this is usually also how he gets his sister up from her room time. Luckily she's cool with it.