16 1/2 Months

I completely missed the 16 Month mark as far as doing an update for the baby book, so here is one at 16 1/2 months. ;-)

Austin is growing and changing so fast. He really is a lot of fun these days. He loves playing games and interacts with us on a much higher level than before. As always, Austin loves to go to the playground, but now instead of simply enjoying the equipment, he is much more interested in the other children. He doesn't seem to care too much for the kids his own age, but is fascinated by the older children. He wants to do everything that they do. Yesterday he befriended a 5 year old little boy who showed him how to go down the big tube slide. Of course, I had to hold his hand up the stairs since there were several holes and drop off points (my pet peeve these days with playgrounds), but once at the top, he didn't hesitate to go down the slide by himself. He LOVED it, and they kept going back for more.

Austin vocabulary keeps increasing. He has begun learning about 2-3 new words a day. It still catches me off guard when he will point at and name an object that I didn't realize he knew. He loves pointing out the "tucks" (trucks) to me when we are on the interstate. As always (even in the womb), Austin is a VERY active little boy. Other than a brief nap in the afternoon, he does not slow down from the time he wakes up until time for bed. The following 2 photos are what most of them look like these days. After all, he has far too much to do/explore to be bothered with posing for the camera. ;-)
Austin has always loved to read. He probably has close to 100 books, and we read them all every couple of days. As a result, he has become rather familar with them. Sometimes, he will pick one up and "read" it to me. As he flips the pages, he will jabber with the same inflection that I use for that particular page, and if he gets to a page that contains a part that he can say (such as "cat" or "boom" in Cat in the Hat, or "Uh-Oh" in Goodnight Gorilla) he will insert that into his gibberish.
In addition to all of the fun/exciting aspects of this stage in Austin's development, there are also some challenging ones. When I was younger, I remember my mom telling me that she hoped that I had a child one day that was strong willed just like me. Well, she definitely got her wish. (and she has fun laughing at me when I call to share my frustrations with his stubbornness ;-) - I have already apologized to her for any public temper tantrums I might have thrown in my childhood ;-) Austin's mischievousness and strong willed personality make for quite a combination. (Don't get me wrong, that combination is also what makes him so amazing and fun)
Do you remember back in the 80s when people used to use a toothbrush to splatter paint stuff? Well, today Austin learned how to achieve the same effect using his mouth and milk. I went to the other room for a minute, and when I returned, my whole kitchen was covered in milk droplets and Austin was laughing. I decided that as punishment, I would make him clean it up. I doubt that it was very effective considering he looked like he was thoroughly enjoying himself. Austin loves to sing. He doesn't use words, but he hums made up tunes. Last week I woke up in the middle of the night to him singing (not sure if he was awake or singing in his sleep)
Austin has also begun dancing to music. Poor thing definitely inherited his parents' lack of rhythm in that area. I haven't had any luck getting it on video. He sticks out one arm and twitches it while jerking his hips back and forth and turning in a circle. Hilarious!