16 months

Hazel and Jude turned 16 months a few days ago. Do I have any pictures? No. I'm losing my mind. I was going to post something a few days ago, but they've been testing my patience so much lately that I thought I'd try and wait a few days until I could think of a few nice things to say. :) While they still know how to push my buttons (or maybe it's just the crazy pregnancy hormones?), I am trying to enjoy these last few days with them before baby #3 makes her debut. So, what are they up to?

Jude LOVES:

• EATING! He is happiest when he is in his chair eating. He is a quite a sight when it comes to shoving handful after handful of food in his mouth. Anytime the microwave is turned on, he crawls over and whines in front of it (as if he hasn't eaten all day). Anytime anyone has food, he thinks he needs some too. He eats most anything.
• Bouncing - I think he would laugh all day if Noel held him up high and bounced him and tossed him around
• Things that move - he is completely obsessed (and I don't use that term lightly) with things that open and shut. He opens and closes doors, drawers, gates, parts on toys, etc., all day long. Most people who meet him say he'll be a mechanic or engineer.

Jude HATES:

• Meat - it's one thing he actually spits out and will not try another bite of.
• Being set down after dancing, bouncing, rough housing with daddy. He cries and cries and throws himself on the floor.
• When I close the dishwasher (it's another thing he is obsessed with...watch out when you close it, there will be many sad tears)
• Taking morning nap -this is a new one and a very frustrating one. He still needs the nap, but instead, he pulls up his sheets, stands in his crib and yells (which wakes up Hazel if I don't tend to it fast enough)
• Walking - he chooses to drop and crawl after a few steps (or anytime we say, "good job, Jude!").

Overall, he's a really easy going guy. He has 8 teeth with a 9th about to pop through. He either doesn't know the meaning of no or just chooses to completely ignore me when I say his name and "no-no" when he's getting into things he shouldn't and other than his nap refusal, that's my biggest frustration. He's not saying anything yet, but he will say "DAH-dah" when I ask him what a diaper is.

Hazel LOVES:

• Music/Dancing - she lights up anytime there's music on and she dances to everything (even the beat of the washing machine when it's running)
• Walking everywhere! She rarely crawls and is on the verge of running. Watch out!
• Collecting things in her hands and carrying them around for long periods of time (socks, small toys, crackers, anything). This is new since she's been walking and kind of funny. She'll hang onto things for over an hour sometimes.
• Taking books off the shelf and bringing them to me (but she doesn't sit and listen to more than a few pages of each book).

Hazel HATES:

• Eating - this is our number one frustration with her lately. She's always been kind of picky, but lately she eats about 5 bites per meal and then starts trying to stand up in her chair, whining, and getting really mad. I've tried a million and one things to feed her and am at my wits end.
• Teething - this may sound silly, but I think she's the world's worst teether. She is SO whiny, doesn't eat well (which could be part of the reason she's been eating horribly for a month), wakes up so much at night, and just not pleasant. This lasts for WEEKS. Not days. Weeks.
• Not being held by me (Heidi) whenever I'm trying to do anything in the kitchen. She doesn't do this to other people, but she hangs on my legs and whines ALL the time.

Hazel also has 8 teeth and I'm sure she's working on more due to her craziness lately (or maybe she just senses that life is about to change). She's such a ham and very funny. She is good at following directions and know what "no" means. She'll often touch something she's not supposed to and then look at me and shake her head no. It's quite funny. She's not saying anything either, but the other day, she picked up a diaper and said "DIE-dah". So, I think both of their first words could be diaper. :) That may be because every other second I probably say, "Okay, let's go change your diaper" to one of them. She makes tons of sounds and has the sounds available to her to say many words, but isn't putting them together. Yesterday she walked around all day saying, "dum-dum-dum". Today it's, "gum-gum-gum".

Both Hazel and Jude should officially graduate from physical therapy next month (assuming Jude ups his game with his walking). Hurray! However, they'll probably start a language enhancement something or other (pre-speech therapy) since they are behind in their speech even for their adjusted age.