16th Month

This past month has been a whirlwind of activity. I still feel like our family hasn't quite recovered from the chaos of Ike, but we are slowly finding our groove again... just in time for the holidays!

I look at Rylen and am just in awe how time flies before our eyes. When he first started walking at 12 months I placed a box lid by the window in our study so that he could just peer out the window, his eyes just high enough to look over the edge. I usually had to stand him on it to begin with, but he would stay there for a while just watching all the activity outside. Today, Rylen stepped up on the lid with no help whatsoever and reached up to grab the blinds above, his head and shoulders easily passing the window's ledge. Oh how much he has grown and developed. His preemie outfits are the size of his torso and his once buzzed looking newborn hair is definitely screaming for a haircut. So much has changed. Rylen is easily over 20lbs now and is stretching to reach 29 inches in height. He has been running, spinning, walking on tiptoes, walking backwards, throwing and signing over 15 words for a while now. We have just recently mastered the circle block in the circle hole and will sometimes get the square block in its hole. The toy pole with the doughnut rings is old hat, though we are still figuring out which one is best to go on first. He is also carefully stacking blocks about 2-3 high and, of course, immediately knocking them down. He is definitely on track developmentally. It was crazy to read what he would "probably" be doing and to see that he has definitely done these things without my coaxing. As in previous blogs, I mentioned that we are brushing our teeth, as best a 16 month old can, and finally, drinking milk out of the sippy cup on our own. That was a much awaited feat. Rylen is also almost solely eating our food as long as it is not spicy and insists on using a fork over a spoon for easier stabbing. We will have to practice with the spoon more. Just last night we had a Mediterranean white bean soup that he happily gobbled up with our spoon help. We have a total of 12 teeth as the molars make their final pushes through. So, I guess our next challenge will be potty training, but probably not until we get closer to 18 months. So, we will probably start out the new year with this new challenge. I would like to try it out to see how he will do. Nothing pushy, but it would be nice if he was at least going that direction when the new baby got here in May. We'll see.

As for the rest of his schedule. We are still on two naps though those seem to be dwindling in time and we will probably have to go ahead and switch to one. I will definitely not do that until I see he is definitely not needing that second nap. Nap times are still fairly easy for him to lay down, but nighttime is getting a little harder. He is all about Daddy and when daddy comes home the last thing we want to do is go to bed. So, Nighttime is bonding with daddy as he takes on the bath and bedtime routine and that means mommy gets a much needed break... mostly to go into her office and get some work done. HA!

On a family note, my arthritis seems to be finally hitting a point of remission. I don't have the pains in my ankles and feet as well as my hands. We are still praying for healing in the hopes that I will continue to be pain free when the new baby arrives. My belly, on the other hand, has shown pretty quick and we are anticipating the day when we will find out what this little tyke will be. We probably won't find out until after Christmas. Robby and I are still eating vegan with the very minor slacking with cookies or pastries. They seem to be our weakness. Being that I am pregnant, I have also more adamantly focused on taking Calcium and B-vitamin supplements to ensure that I am getting those nutrients for the babies development. I know that I am probably ok getting all of these nutrients for myself, but the baby usually sucks them out of me for his own needs. I definitely don't want kidney stones again, so we are going to make sure I am getting all the calcium I need. We have decided to add milk products into Rylen's diet, i.e. whole milk and Cheese. which has been a hard transition in my own mind. I just keep reminding myself that, yes, I am eating better, but some of my personal restrictions are simply restrictions that I HAVE to do not what Rylen has to do. It is not an easy transition and we have to decide how much to get because he is the only one eating it.

Finally, we will be traveling to Indiana for Thanksgiving and then will be here for Christmas, so we will keep everyone posted on our travels.

We love you all and God Bless.

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