Reni -- 16 months

What a whirlwind this fall has been! I can clearly remember details from the middle of October like they happened last week, yet that was mid-terms and we're already preparing for finals week!

While time seems to be slipping away, it feels like we've had Reni forever. His adjustment into our family has gone so smoothly. He's such a happy, contented little guy. Here's a few updates on our "fluffy blonde-headed" little boy's accomplishments and milestones...

1.) He is now walking (sans prosthesis) quite smoothly and under control across a room, though he can usually crawl as fast, if not faster. He's a speed demon on the stairs, up and down. You can't take your eye off of him! When he knows he's done a good job, he'll clap his hands and say "yay" or even "bravo!" Perhaps the funniest feat to witness is his dancing. It has grown from a general up and down "bop" to a shoulder shimmy, a side-to-side-sway, and a fist pump. We crack up and would film it for you but he's shy and usually stops as soon as he sees someone watching him. He loves music.

2.) Verbally he has a growing vocabulary: momma, da da, Ehee (Ellie), ha (eat), hi, night night, bye bye, up, down, no, yep, dog... but his hands-down-favorite is "uh-oh!" and he uses it appropriately (and sends mom running when she hears it). His babbling is more sophisticated and intentional. It's full of inflection. If he's not babbling, he's singing in his soft, sweet voice.

3.) He imitates so much of what we do. I was blow drying my hair and he picked up Nathan's electronic razor and ran it through his hair (it was not on) in a similar motion. He has wiped the floor with a rag while Nathan mopped, and he loves to grab tubes of whatever he can find and wipe them across his face and over his ears while I apply my make-up.

4.) He is getting much more leary of strangers, including 'familiar' ones like cabinet members or his PT, but is now (almost) as happy with mom as dad. He continues to want to do whatever Ellie does and has a pre-emptive squawk if she swoops too close to him, in fear that she might take what HE happens to be playing with.

5.) As reported previously, he's very independent in the self-feeding category. The photos above show a wonderful "shirt bib" that we found at IKEA over Thanksgiving. As you can see, self-feeding can be messy! We joke that he considers his hair a 'towel', frequently wiping his hands on his head. Prior to his last doctors appointment, I was picking dried bits of food out of his hair -- in spite of washing it only hours earlier.

6.) His sleeping at night has also improved significantly with "only" a midnight wake-up (for a bottle), 3AM diaper change, and a 5AM "don't-leave-me, sleep-with me-and-I'll-sleep-another 60-to-90-minutes" cry. The aero-bed in his room developed a leak this week so it may expedite the elimination of the 5AM wake-up. We'll see how much we want our sleep! This week I have gotten up with him (for good) around 5 or 5:30 and later on both evenings I fell asleep (for good) on Ellie's floor putting her to bed at 8:30. This isn't good because I have a long list of things to complete after putting the kids to bed to be ready to leave for Christmas in a week!