A Bit about Beckett-16 Months!

Playing Peek-a-boo in his high chair!...well, with a lot of peeking and not so much hiding the eyes! Yay Beckett!

He loves Cheerios!

At the end of last month, Beckett turned 16 months! I can hardly believe it! I wanted to take just a minute to share a little about Beckett- his likes, dislikes, developmental milestones. This has been my virtual baby book, so I feel like it is time to do some catch up! He is a very precious little man with a big, friendly personality.

Beckett's first spontaneous meaningful word was "uh-oh" at almost 14 months. And I am pretty sure it is still his favorite word. Over the last month, his vocabulary has really improved. He started with signing, "more" at around 15 months. He now has about 5 to 10 spontaneous meaningful verbal words. Still waiting on that sweet word, "mama." He started speech therapy right after he turned one. At that point, he was not really waving bye-bye, not clapping, not reaching up for "up," or playing peek-a-boo. He has made great progress since his first birthday, and he now waves, claps, and reaches up. A few weeks ago, he played peek a boo for the first time in his high chair. I have this on video and will figure out how to post it soon. (Or have hubby figure it out...haha) These are huge strides for him, and we are so thankful. Beckett seems to have a more difficult time with receptive language (following a simple direction or understanding what people are saying to him). I am so proud of the progress he has made in this last month, and I accredit much of it to eating and sleeping! :)

Beckett is doing very well cruising around the furniture. He also has a little lion walker that he loves to push around. He is using it more and more lately. He has become a very fast crawler especially when there is a remote to be had! We are hopeful that he will learn to stand up independently and walk soon! Gross motor and fine motor is a bit of a challenge for him. Early Childhood Intervention came out and evaluated him last week and his skills are a bit all over the place. And it doesn't make much sense. For example, he can pull up and cruise around the couch with ease, but he cannot sit up, tilt his head back and drink. He needs to be laid back to drink because he cannot hold himself up in that position. It is also difficult for him to sit in a grocery cart throughout a shopping trip. When I push the cart, it makes him tip over so he needs me to hold on to him. I prefer to wear him in his Baby Bjorn at the store because it seems much safer since we haven't mastered cart sitting. We also want to work on fine motor skills such as picking up his food with his thumb and his index finger as opposed to grasping one cheerio with his whole hand. He likes to move around, dance, and be busy, but he also tires a bit easily and is very content to lay on the floor or sit in his new little chair and watch TV. He likes his "downtime" for sure. His favorite shows to watch our Baby Einstein, Praise Baby, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Special Agent Oso (with his big brother.) I am sure he watches too much TV for a one year old, but at times it really is the only thing that calms him down and lets him rest.

Beckett now has FIVE teeth. Whoo hoo! Around 15 months, he got two more teeth on the bottom. Quickly followed by one more on the top. Then this last week, his second top front tooth broke through. Yay! He worked very hard on those teeth. For months and months, it truly looked like those teeth were going to break through. People at the store would see him and say things like, "Oh, he is about to get those top teeth! Look at that!" And I would smile, and say that he had been working on those teeth for months in a very friendly way. The response was usually that yes it feels like months when babies are teething, but it goes pretty quickly. And I am thinking while I smile and nod, "no. i literally mean months." haha! But that's okay.

His likes: favorite toys are wooden puzzle pieces that he carries around, dvds that he throws out of the drawer, toys that light up and sing, his turtle that shines stars in his room, and his playhouse. Oh, and anything of his big brother's that he can get his hands on (trains, cars, etc). He likes to eat puffs and would eat them all day long. He still likes his Elecare formula and drinks 4 bottles a day of it. He enjoys riding in his stroller and going to the park...so much so that when we walk by the stroller and into the house after an errand, he screams at me to go for a walk! He also really likes his bed...after the first 6 months of rarely sleeping in his bed, this feels like a miracle. And he LOVES his blue blanket and cuddling!

He dislikes: getting his clothes changed, having his face washed, or getting his diaper changed. He also is not a fan of green beans or homemade baby food. He doesn't like it when things get very loud or crazy. Sudden noises or movements upset him. He definitely does not like to be woken up from his naps to get Brant from school. And as soon as we walk in a door to a doctor's office from a waiting room, he starts to cry and fuss. Bless his little heart.

His growth is still a struggle for him. He has managed to gain about 8 oz and 1 cm over the last 4 months. He doesn't outgrow clothes at the same rate as they get ruined by bleach! He wears mainly 6-9 month clothes, with some variances in each direction, and a size 2 diaper. His head has continued on his growth curve though! And he has the cutest, chubbiest cheeks of any failure-to-thrive baby!

He is a sweet and precious little boy and it is such a blessing to be his mommy. I am so thankful for my boys. They melt my heart every day. He has such a fun personality. You never quite know what you are going to get with him each day. He definitely keeps me on my toes! Some days he is pretty low key and "easy" and other days he wants to be held all day. He keeps things interesting. I absolutely love that little boy and thank God for him every day.

Well, there it is! Months 12-16 in nutshell!