16 Months

How old? 16 months (14 adjusted)

Our weights:  
Alexis: 19 lbs 13 oz (+1 lb from last month!)  
Jack: 18 lbs 4 oz (+ 8 oz from last month)  
Faith: 19 lbs 5 oz (+ 13 oz from last month)

Size clothes: We are slowly moving towards 18 month clothes (some fit but they are a little big). Jack will be in 12 month pants for awhile as they are just now fitting well (his legs are on the shorter side).

Eating schedule:  About the same as last month (bottles around 9:30, 2:00, and 7:15. Breakfast is around 7:00, lunch around 11:45, and dinner between 5:30 and 6:00. I now give them snack cups with Cheerios in the morning before breakfast and snack cups with Cheerios or crackers throughout the day, so it seems like they are almost always snacking on something when they play at home.

Naps: We shortened the morning nap so they now sleep from 10:00-11:00 (instead of two hours) and the afternoon nap is from 2:30-4:30. Naps are almost never an issue as everyone falls asleep easily and for the most part I have to wake everyone up.

Bedtime: Bedtime is still going very smoothly. We have had a lot more night waking recently, and we are trying to figure out the root of the issue. It could be teething, the cooler temps as the girls' room gets cooler at night since it's above the garage, or possibly Faith's eczema is waking her up as she seems to be itching a lot when we go in to check on her when she's crying during the night. It could also be hunger, so we are starting a bedtime snack (besides milk) ASAP to see if that helps. Faith seems to be waking the most at night, but some nights all three wake up which feels like a nightmare when there are only two of us and three babes that need comforting. 

Favorite foods:  Their favorite foods are the same, except that they aren't as consistent as they were in the past since. For example, some days they like meatloaf and other days it gets tossed on the floor. Everything I read says this is absolutely normal so we try to always offer a balanced meal and not fret if it ends up in the garbage.

Food dislikes: Same as before...I guess it's time to introduce more new foods as we are definitely stuck in a rut with what we offer them (and what we eat ourselves since we mostly eat what they eat).

Likes: Walking! Now that we have THREE WALKERS at our house, mostly what they do is....walk! It seems that they just like to practice standing up and moving around the room, which is funny to watch since they don't realize they need to move out of each others way and there are many collisions throughout the day. They walk while drinking their bottles, walk while carrying objects of varying sizes, and walk over obstacles. We haven't let them roam in public much yet, though, as it feels a little nuts trying to keep track of three toddlers even if they don't walk that fast.

walking around the house (F, A, J)

A and F walking around in the morning before breakfast

They also love to play together which is such an interesting thing to watch. Who knows how long this will last, but most of the time right now they move around the room together (which means they also fight over toys constantly).

F and J

A, F, J

Snacking and looking at books in the pool (A, J, F)

On our drive home from Monte Vista two weekends ago we stopped to eat breakfast and play outside (A, F, J)

Sometimes they look WAY older than 16 months. Obviously they are having an important conversation and I wasn't invited :).

Somehow all three are missing their right sock. Monkey see, monkey do...

Watching Baby Babble while I cook dinner. The girls both thought it would be best to sit on the toy cars.

Dislikes: All three pretty much fall apart if I do something that makes them unhappy or tell them no. I guess this is the life of a toddler: Lots of opinions and not a good way to express their opinions yet.

Our milestones: 

Milk Milestones: Last month I was really excited to report that we are no longer using Rock n Plays for bottle feedings, and this month I am happy to say that we are no longer using Boppies either! I don't even know when it happened, but I got tired of trying to keep three mobile babes laying on Boppies while trying to make them drink their bottles since all they really wanted to do was move around the room, so I gave up and let them drink their bottles as they pleased. Bottles do take a bit longer now so we have to allow more time before naps and bedtime, but everyone is happy to drink with breaks for playing and I am much less stressed about getting bottles fed. Everyone takes turns sitting on my lap (or another adult's lap) as they drink or they just feed themselves. It is super cute to see them so independent, even if they are still drinking out of bottles like babies. 

Drinking bottles in the kitchen. Faith is modeling her new Eddie Bauer First Ascent jacket which I found second-hand for $6! This is a $90 jacket new. (F, A)

Drinking bottles after a long trip to Costco

Lexi wants to ride while she drinks

Another milk related milestone is that we no longer warm bottles! Two and a half weeks ago we went camping so we didn't warm the milk in their bottles, and we haven't turned back since. We have tried this, unsuccessfully, in the past so I'm glad it was easy to do now. I'm hopeful that next month I will be able to report that we no longer use bottles!

Faith is walking like a pro now. Alexis and Jack still walk with their arms out for balance most of the time, but Faith can walk so fast and steady that she is practically running. Today she was crawling backwards, which was funny to watch, so I guess she wants to keep working on new motor skills. 

Faith has one more tooth, so she now has four on top and two on bottom.

Faith is saying: hi, dada, uh oh, kitty cat (or something close), up, happy (I know that's strange but they say it on Baby Babble), and probably a few more but it's hard to make out and remember what each babe is trying to say. 

Lexi is WALKING! I can't believe it as last month I didn't think she was that close, but as of September 25th she can walk and she has hardly crawled since! We were so worried about her toe walking while cruising furniture but we worked on keeping her flat on her feet when she stood and something must have clicked as she started walking soon thereafter. She is very proud of her new skill.

Lexi now has a total of four teeth: two on top and two on bottom. It looks like she will be getting quite a few more very soon though!

Lexi has continued working on her words, and out of all three she talks back the most when watching Baby Babble. She can say: hi, dada, uh oh, kitty cat (or something close), bye bye, grandma (grandma is in town so maybe it is creative listening on our part), and probably a few more. She can make the "mmm" sound and it sounds like she says "M" (when watching Baby Babble). 

Jack started WALKING on September 15th. He had been working on it for awhile, and now that he's walking he rarely crawls. He does seem to grip with his big toes a bit when he walks and I often see him sitting and rubbing his big toes like they hurt, but I'm told this will most likely go away on its own as he gets stronger. He is very proud of his walking and he loves to attempt to carry large objects while he walks.

Jack cut two molars this month, which has been a painful process. He now has ten teeth!

Jack continues to mimic words, and although he doesn't always get all of the syllables, he likes to try. He can say: mom, dada, uh oh, tee (for kitty), ta (for anything ending in a T such as his uncle Kent), yum (he says this when he's enjoying his meal which is cute and great for a mom's ears after cooking), and probably more.

All three can point to their noses and their belly buttons. They are also getting really good at following directions. For example, if I say "come sit in your seats for lunch" or "give me the bottle" they actually do it! Just today I was telling Jack to set his bottle upright as it was dripping on the carpet and Faith stopped drinking her bottle, walked over to his and set up upright, and continued drinking. I was shocked that she actually understood and wanted to help out! I need to start putting these skills to use in helping pick up the house!

"Where is your belly button?" (A, F, J)

"Where is your nose?" (A, F, J). Jack wasn't in the mood but he does it all of the time! Lexi is demonstrating that they don't always know EXACTLY where their noses are, but they try!

And one mommy milestone...I finally organized the family room shelves how I wanted it! There are toys in most of the bins except for some of the higher ones. And there are now photos where junk had been gathered since we moved in. I love looking at a tidy bookshelf at the end of the night!

Although I make sure to write about monthly progress and milestones, I don't feel like I share much about each babes personality so my next post will give a snapshot of our babes' vibrant personalities at 16 months of age. We often talk about how they are much more like kids now than babies, which I guess means they are truly toddlers! This was incredibly hard to imagine a year ago, and we are so thankful for the progress they have made.