16 months

16 months old

Sorry I'm late on this post but we've been having too much fun this summer!  Eliel turned 16 months old on Saturday.  We didn't visit the doctor but I love being able to use the blog to document what he's accomplished in the last month... and it's a lot!

Aren't I cute?
As you can see, Eliel is loosing a lot of his 'baby' look as well as his baby mannerisms.  He is much more toddler-like.  On the food front, we now eat chicken nuggets!  Eliel finally learned how to 'dip' food into different sauces and is now more likely to try foods.  He loves to dip any kind of breakfast food into syrup and and will dip most things into ketchup.  His other favorite dipping sauce is alfredo.  He does dip graham crackers into peanut butter though too.  He is also getting much better at using his own spoon.  I'm not quite ready to let him use it on his own yet, but if I did, I think he could get a lot of things into his mouth.  Namely, anything that sticks to the spoon easily like cottage cheese, pudding or oatmeal.

More please!
Eliel's signing has really taken off as well.  If you show him a new sign, it typically takes only three to four times before he's got it down.  Our latest is airplane.  Since we live so close to the airport, we sometimes see this sign 20-30 times a day! :P  We still don't have any words but we are VERY close to saying 'bug'.  We practice every time we're in the garage and see Daddy's car.

Although he doesn't talk, Eliel understands language very well for his age.  You can give him directions and generally, he follows them.  He also has begun to understand the sequence of things.  For example, first we do 'something', then 'this' happens.  How do we know this? The other night at dinner Adam put carrots in front of Eliel even though he wasn't done with his chicken.  Eliel loves carrots and will eat them over just about anything else (expect blackberries of course!)  We told Eliel that he could not have the carrots until he finished his chicken. So what did he do?  He shoved the rest of his chicken in his mouth and then signed 'more' to have the carrots! :)  What a silly little stinker!
Daddy makes me laugh!

 Eliel has learned how to sit down on a stair or small chair all by himself.  Although it might seem mundane to you or I, he views it as quite an accomplishment!  He will gingerly back himself up to the bottom stair and carefully sit down.  Then he will proclaim 'dee dee' which I interpret to be 'I did it'!  He loves to sit down, standup and repeat.  Luckily, there has only been one time that he didn't back up far enough and sat right on his tush.  Guess he didn't want to make that mistake again!


I know I say this all the time but Eliel continues to amaze us daily.  I would never imagine that a sixteen month old could do what he does and when I look back, he's grown up SO much since he turned a year old.  As Adam frequently puts it: 'You're like a little person, Eliel!' And we're so thankful to be part of his life everyday!

Life is good!


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