16!

16 months!  It really feels like this second year is going by much more quickly than the first! Harrison continues to amaze his Mama and Dada, not only with his new skills, but also his new desire for independence. He most definitely lets you know when he's happy or upset, tired or bored.  He continues to be a very active, energetic boy who leaves us sweating at the end of each day.

Harrison has officially transitioned to the Toddler Room at day care.  He LOVES it.  They play outside in the snow almost daily, tons of arts and crafts, and more organized group time than in the Infant Room.  He's making a lot of new friends, becoming more social and his development is taking off again.  I believe being around kids that are slightly older than him has helped him continue to learn new things.  He now mimics behaviors of the older children and enjoys trying new things.  There seems to be a lot of "Hey, I want to do that too!"

New foods: Turkey hot dogs have become a new favorite. Harrison also really enjoys the maple brats we got from Grandpa and Grandma Bergstedt.  He will devour a whole brat in minutes and ask for more. Harrison continues to love peas and carrots.  But not mixed together, must be separate. He is also enjoying pita bread with soy nut butter. His eating habits are still that of a hungry boy. I imagine he will eat us out of house and home when he's a teenager.

New words:  This month has been huge for Harrison in the vocabulary department.  New words this month include: cracker, bubbles, jacket, book, milk, water, "1,2,3" and NO (wonderful...)  Not a new word, but Harrison now enjoys YELLING   "BAAALLLLLLL!"  every time we go to Target and walk past the red balls outside the entrance.

This is what most of our pictures look like these days...

I talked a little last month about using a counting method to teach Harrison positive and negative behaviors instead of simply saying no all the time.  This worked for awhile.  One of Harrison's favorite activities with Da-da is to be tossed in the air.  Daniel has gotten in the habit of counting to 3 and then tossing Harrison in the air.  Needless to say the counting method for behavior training has gone out the window.  Anytime we count now, Harrison runs over to us arms open ready to fly!

Chatting with babes

Activities:  Harrison loves to help Mama with laundry and will help move clothes from the washer to the dryer and close the door when we're done.  He also loves helping vacuum.  He loves to be chased with the vacuum  but will also help push it around the room.  Another new favorite activity is helping to empty the dishwasher.  Here's hoping he will continue to enjoy doing then when he's older!

After recently taking Harrison to the Children's Museum, we decided to get a family membership for the next year.  Harrison LOVED spending time there.  With so may different exhibits and activities, we will be spending a lot of time there this summer and especially next winter!  Harrison's favorite activiies included the ant hill made up of ramps and tunnels.  He spent the majority of our time there running up and down the ramps.  He also really enjoyed the water tables and the play kitchen and grocery store.  It was very busy there on the day we went because of all the kids on spring break, I'm hoping to find a more quiet weekday to bring him back so I can really let him go!

Captain Harrison

Harrison is also getting really good at going down stairs.  We were working on sliding down on the tummy for quite awhile, but Harrison seemed more interested in using his feet. He still needs a hand to hold, but has gotten the hang of walking down the stairs standing.

Harrison remains a cuddle bug.  And thank goodness.  Between the temper tantrums and the need to do everything himself, I'm very very thankful that he still wants to snuggle up with his Mama at the end of the day.  I cherish those moments.

We are thankful for another mainly-healthy month and continue to enjoy watching our little toddler grow into a "big boy".