news from chicago: 16 Months

This post could also be titled, "No." Yeah, we've been hearing a lot of 'no' around here lately. It's someone's favorite word. James even says no when he means yes. Sometimes, he just walks around saying no, no, no, no. It's pretty funny. His voice gets really deep and he draws out the o sound when he says it "nnnooo" - pretty cute though. We've also heard "water" and "hot" too which have been cool. But we don't get them as often as "no" :) Go figure.

When James is hungry, he will walk to the fridge or the high chair or he'll do the eat sign. Because if we ask him, "James, are you hungry? Do you want to eat?" Guess what we hear? "no." No matter what. We also have the bottom drawer in our fridge full of yogurt and other James food and we let him pick out which one he wants to eat. Also, if he's eating a banana, we'll let him choose which one he eats. We also bought the next phase of spoons and forks from the same Beaba company. His hands fit really well around the silverware and he gets better and better with each time. Sometimes he likes to take the food off the fork and then put it into his mouth.

Now when playtime gets interrupted for a dirty diaper change, or if it's time to leave the park or the playground to go home to eat or for nap time, we're starting to get a little tantrumy. But, with a little distraction or getting James to laugh, we can get through them pretty painlessly. One meltdown happened in the park and James was a-screaming. Screaming and crying so loud that I'm pretty positive everyone in the park knew we were there. He did NOT want to stop coloring with chalk and thank goodness I had his little Peter Rabbit from Serge's Mom and Dad - James just cuddled with him and did little sobs all the way home. I on the other hand, felt like a huge bad guy. But, it was time to go home.

For a while now, James has also been doing something really funny. Sometimes I'll get croissants or a carrot muffin from a bakery for breakfast and I'll share little pieces with James. After we're finished, we usually have the bag and he'll say, "Blah?" and then take the bag and throw it in the trash. All by himself. The first time he did this I was in complete shock. We've never showed him how to do this or that this is what you do when you're finished with something - he just did it. So now he does this with other things too - He marches right into the kitchen and throws whatever it is in the trash. What a good boy huh?

At night before bed and after the bath, we've been doing reading time. We started this after we switched from the bottle because the bottle used to be the activity to get James to wind down and be ready for bed and we needed something to replace that. So, we've been reading a few pages from books each night until James falls asleep. We've read The Beatrix Potter Collection, The BFG, James and The Giant Peach and now we're reading through a collection of Hans Christian Anderson stories like The Ugly Duckling, The Little Mermaid and The Emperor's New Clothes. It's been really fun to read through these again. A lot of them, we've forgotten or never heard before.

James also is pointing and knows where his nose, his eyes, ears, tummy, hair, legs, feet, mouth and teeth are and can blow kisses! James also carries around his keys and opens up cabinets and other various items for Mom and Dad - what a good helper :) James has also discovered the toilet and also how very much fun it is to flush. Help me.

I think the biggest news is that on September 7th, James starts school! James and Mom have their first Child/Parent class at Montessori!!!! We are in disbelief but also very excited. We may have purchased a little lunchbox to have snack at school too before we head back home. James is growing up so fast.

Here are a few of our favorite photos!

Playing in the park with Mom