Carson Anthony: 16 Months!

I can't even believe Carson is 16 months!  I feel like his first birthday was literally yesterday!  Let's be honest, I feel like it was just yesterday that I was at the hospital with him!  

What Carson Loves Right Now: 

-Carson loves to talk up a storm!  He babbles all the time and is adding words to his speech as well!  (SO exciting!)
-Carson loves reading books.  He loves for Mommy and Daddy to read stories to him (he will sit still during the whole story and always helps turn the pages).  He also loves to "read" to himself.  He'll get a book and start babbling away while turning pages.  Really adorable and it makes my teacher heart happy.  :)
-Carson loves anything about basketball.  I can't wait until basketball season to see if he likes watching it on TV!  Whenever we walk around the block he is OBSESSED with pointing out each and every basketball hoop.  He points and yells "ball! ball! ball!"  He also still loves balls including basketballs, beach balls, footballs, spiky sensory balls, etc.  He's not picky at all.
-This month Carson has fallen in love with his crayons!  He will go to my desk and get them out of the drawer and bring them to me!  He loves coloring with them, but also likes just playing with them like little figurines.  He's not as into the normal "big kig" crayons yet, but who would be when you have the adorable toddler crayons that look like animals?!

-Carson loves his belly button!  He is obsessed with pointing it out to people and he also will play with it randomly while playing or getting ready to fall asleep.  Sometimes I have to put him in a onesie just so he'll stop messing with it!  Silly boy.
-Carson's favorite foods are bananas, applesauce (specifically the go-go pouches), and cheese.  If any of those are on his plate, he'll be sure to gobble them up before touching anything else!

Carson also loves glasses!  He will pull our sunglasses off the table (or his) and put them on!  But if WE try to put his sunglasses on to go outside, he rips them off right away.  Mr. Independent!  :)

What I Love Right Now: I'm still loving Carson's personality!  He is starting to talk more and often has full "conversations" with himself.  I really wish I had a baby translator!  I'm loving that Carson is so amazed by such little things.  He gets SO excited by the smallest things and it is so fun to watch him take everything in.  I also have been so amazed by his memory.  He is extremely routine oriented and knows his bedtime routine SO well.  He will even go and get his toothbrush out if we try to do something else first.  We read a few of the same stories every night and he loves pointing out things in the books (especially balls).  He remembers which pages are his favorites and sits up right away when we turn to that page.  He also loves getting a reaction out of people lately.  This can go either way and sometimes he cries to get a reaction and sometimes he's silly to get a reaction . 

I also love that Carson is such a helper!  He loves helping me (even when I don't need help).  He also loves putting things "away".  

Some of our Biggest Struggles: This has been a pretty good month (knock on wood)!  Our biggest struggle is probably Carson's picky eating.  He has decided that he does NOT like vegetables anymore.  Thankfully he will gobble up veggie burgers and veggie "chicken" patties/nuggets.  One day he'll chow down on a food and the next day he won't touch it with a 10 foot pole!  He's very particular and I'm hoping it's just a stage.  I feel like I make the same things for him all the time!  I try to offer him new foods but usually he isn't very open to the idea!  

Stealing Mommy's cereal!

Exciting Milestones & Physical Changes: Carson has added 2 new words: "up" and "shoes"!  It's really cute and he says shoes ANY time he sees shoes.  That's a lot when we're out in public.  ;)  When he first started saying it it sounded like "joooz" but now he has the /sh/ sound down.  It baffles me that he can pronounce a somewhat tricky consonant blend, but doesn't even say a ton of his single consonant sounds!  His speech is improving and developing day by day and it's so exciting!  Here are his current words/phrases: "all gone"/"all done", "gone" (always with upturned hands and a shrug), "done", "up", "Mama" (not very often yet), "Dada", "dog", "bird", "book", "ball", "vroom vroom", "duck", "water" (wawa), and "shoes".  I'm so excited to see what he learns next!

Carson has been practicing pointing out his body parts.  As of now he knows head, hair, ears, eyes, nose, mouth, tongue, tummy, belly button, knees, and toes!

Carson also still does a lot of sign language.  The signs he uses on a daily basis are "eat", "milk", and "more".  I wonder what his top priority is?!  :)

Carson loves to wave, blow kisses, give high fives, knock and nod his head.

Things We're Looking Forward To: I'm excited for Carson to add some more words to his vocabulary.  It's been fun to watch him be able to express what he wants.  He gets so happy when he says "up" and he gets picked up!

I'm also looking forward to Carson getting a few more teeth.  He's had his hands in his mouth a lot lately, but I don't feel any that seem like they're going to come through soon.  Here's to hoping!  He still only has 2 lonely teeth on the bottom (but 6 on top)!

I can't wait to do some fun fall activities with Carson this year like the pumpkin patch and Halloween!  I need to find him an adorable costume so if you have any suggestions of places to look, fill me in!