16 months

Lucas is doing great. He is extremely busy these days. He is very curious, and he learns quickly. I like watching what will hold his attention and what will not. Almost anything is more interesting than his toys. He has learned quite a few words now. His favorite is still "Ity" which surely means "Stitchy" (the Yorkshire terrier). He says "Ack" for Jack (the lab). He only says "Ma Ma" occasionally, but he calls everything and everyone "Da Da," so Chris doesn't feel too bad about it. He also says "Bah, Bah!" meaning "Bye, Bye!". Sometimes, he says it just because he is ready to go.

He loves making animal noises, but I am not sure if he really knows that they belong to animals. He does a pretty good cow "oooo" and a funny "hee hee hee hee hee" for a horse. Once he starts doing the "ack, ack, ack, ack" for a duck, he thinks he is a duck, and he just keeps going. We have some ducks that swim around our lake, so I think he knows who he is talking to.

At my mom's this weekend, he started babbling at Uncle Mark, "ba ba da?" Mark looked at him blankly, so he said it again, "ba ba da?" He repeated himself about four or five times, and then he just gave up on Mark's ability to communicate. We were all laughing hysterically.

Fireworks were a bit scary. He did not cry, but he was obviously concerned. He liked the bright lights, but he did not appreciate the whistles and booms.

Chris taught him "down," and he squats. Then she says "up," and he stands back up. Then she says "dance," and he turns in circles. He knows he can save himself some bumps if he listens when we tell him "be careful" or "sit-down" as he approches stairs. Lucas is very good about giving hugs (short but sweet). He also likes to blow kisses almost as much as everyone likes receiving them.