Good Times Taylor: 15 or 16 months

I started this post about a month ago, when you were still 15 months old.

now you are 16 months and some change.

that might not seem like a significant portion of time to you- just one month...

but, good golly, it sure is!

just in the past month, your vocabulary has sprouted some wings!

you attempt to say just about everything that we say and it surprises us each time.

there are words that you say that most everyone can understand:

mama, dada, Pa, Papa, ball, deer, cracker, cookie, milk, cheese, please, berry, baby, book, tv, dog, down, pig, eat (with a strong head nod), bye-bye and a few others that i can not momentarily recall.

other words still require some translation:

"nunny"-honey, "ditty"-mickey, "da-duh"- all done, "trat-o"- tractor, "dint"-drink, "nak"-snack

Trigger, "bee"- either bed or bear

and every single animal noise-not their name (except "chich-en")

i can not emphasize your love for cows enough.

you are seriously OBSESSED with them, "moo-ing" all day long.

if you don't see a cow, you look at us with your hands raised in question "moo?"

so recently, we've been on a dairy-farm documentary kick. thank you youtube.

you want to be a big kid soooo badly

when a new kid walks into a room, you raise your hands, holler and welcome them with so much joy! typically, the kid does not reciprocate your excitement, but luckily you're easily distracted and move on.

you nod your head in affirmation rather than saying yes. this is the best.

"Judson, are you hungry?" head nod.

"Judson, are you ready to go home?" head nod.

"Judson, do you love me more than your dad?" head nod. i'm kidding, calm down.

you can walk backwards and do so with a sneaky little grin. surely this is a developmental milestone

you can climb. hooray!

or not

you continue to woo me with your incredible sleep habits.

i commend you for that and encourage you to continue if you want to keep your title of My Favorite Son (this title is soon to be back up for grabs)

your sleep is necessary and life-giving.

when you are awake, there are not two consecutive seconds in which you sit in the same spot or keep your mouth closed. this is ok by me, because you provide hours of entertainment and you are so very happy and quite hilarious!

sometimes you can be rather dramatic and run towards me, arms stretched up and your eyes squeezed so tight. as if saying, "i just can't stand it anymore, i can't even look, just hold me".

your coordination never ceases to amaze me.
you have an incredibly strong sense of purpose, a very inquisitive mind and a ridiculously capable body.
independently, all of these things are wonderful.
but when joined as one force in a toddler body without inhibition....you are a very dangerous, 25 lb human being, my son.

if you see something that intrigues you, you will find a way to climb over/squeeze through/crawl under/side-step around/open the door in order to wiggle to it.

someday, this energy and coordination will be put to use.
someday it will be beneficial.
as for now, we will continue our survival tactics.

you are learning to obey and do not like it when i get on to you.

luckily, you seem to be a very quick learner and catch on rather quickly.

you follow commands (even if it takes me 10 times) and know when we mean business.

although you are feisty, you know how to look me in the eye and listen (for the most part...mostly, sometimes, most of the time)