16 Month Lincoln!!

I seriously can't believe how fast time is flying! It feels like just yesterday I was holding my tiny (but big) baby in my arms and now as I hold him he feels like he is half my size!! He is such a sweet little guy and I love spending all of my time with him. It is hard to keep up with all the new things that he does because it seems like everyday he is learning new things and trying new things. His vocabulary and way of communicating develops and increases everyday...just a couple days ago we were going to go on a walk and Dave asked him if he wanted to go outside and Linc quickly replied, "ouside". We looked at each other in shock and Dave asked him again and the same response, "ouside"! We were both so proud of him and kept asking him like the rest of the walk.

Something else he just started doing this past week is JUMPING!! Crazy little boy just goes around the house all day jumping, he squats down and then pops up super fast. You can even count 1,2,3 jump and he will squat down on 2, 3 and pop up on jump! He of course doesn't always actually jump, but he often gets up a little and sometimes just one foot. Although the other night Dave was holding his hands and they were both jumping and then after several times jumping together Dave let go of his hands and I counted for him and he jumped, a really big jump...got some pretty good air, and then fell on his bottom and back. I think he was so shocked and scared that he started to cry a little, but we picked him up and clapped for him and told him he did a good big jump! He keeps jumping everyday and I love watching it.

He tip-toes around and I think my favorite part of that is seeing his little calf muscles...ADORABLE!! Some other things that he has been doing for a while, but I always forget to blog about:

           -when he has a poopy diaper and I say, "let's go change your diaper" he quickly runs to the gate by the stairs and waits there until I get there. Then he hurries up the stairs because he is so excited to get his diaper changed.

         
           -Lincoln loves to brush his teeth, take a bath, comb his hair, put lotion on, sweep, mop, read, run, play hide and seek, palm any kind of ball, bounce the big basketball and exercise ball. Lincoln learns tons from being with us and watching what we do and how we do it. If you ask him if he wants to take a bath he says "bah" and goes to the bathroom or when I grab one of his towel and ask him if he wants to take a bath he gets really happy and grabs his towel. When I tell him its time to brush his teeth or if he sees one of us brush our teeth he knows exactly what to do. I brush his teeth first and then of course he spends all the time we let him brushing his teeth. My favorite is that he now brushes his tongue too! I would normally do that part for him and tell him "okay let's brush your tongue" and he sticks it out and lets me brush it, but now he sticks it out on his own and brushes it by himself...he is a total PRO!!

          He loves being in the bathroom when Dave gets ready in the morning and knows the routine. He always asks for the brush and even when we are not in the bathroom and he hears Dave spray his hair he stops what he is doing, looks at me, grabs his hair and says "ah" as he looks toward the bathroom. He knows exactly what is going on! He wants to put lotion on when we do, but still doesn't really understand how...we are working on it. Lincoln is a great cleaner...I'm raising him right that's for sure! He sweeps around his high chair after he eats and sometimes first thing in the morning, he grabs the swiffer mop and mops the kitchen. The other day there was a mess on the dining room floor and Dave was wiping it up with a paper towel and Linc saw him, grabbed an extra towel and started wiping in the exact way Dave was. Such a sweetheart always helping us out. He continues to love to read and reads several times a day. He likes to hide, whether it is under a blanket that he puts on his own head or runs behind something or to another room behind the wall. He stands there quietly and then runs to you when he gets found.

          If anyone knows Linc then they sure know that his favorite toy is a ball. He loves to palm the ball, lift it up and then bring it together to his other hand with a slap. I really don't know where he picked it up from, but he has been doing that for several months now. He also loves throwing overhand and chucking things with a side throw (kind of like he is throwing river rocks). He actually has a really good arm for a 16 month old and let me tell you he throws hard!

It really is just amazing how much kids learn in such a short amount of time and even from one day to the next. Lincoln is starting to climb on more and more things. He continues to be a very daring eater and is usually in a silly mood. He has the sweetest laugh, especially when he is busting up! I love when he cuddles, he will just walk over to me and climb on my lap and put his head on my shoulder and wrap his arms around me and just lay there...I even love it when it is the middle of the night. I look at him everyday with amazement and am so proud to be his mommy.

***I am always forgetting things these days...could it be because I'm 29 weeks pregnant! Another thing that Lincoln does is take "big steps". When I say "Lincoln, take a big step" or "take big steps" he will stretch his leg out as far as it will go and take a really big step! I can't say it enough, but it is truly amazing the things that he learns and comprehends. Dave said the other day, "at least we know he isn't learning any of these things from t.v." and it is true, he doesn't learn things from television...he learns it from us and other people around him....and of course from his own experimenting and experience! He is one smart little guy...