17 months

today talan turned 17 months old...just one month away from being a year and a half. wow.
while talan has still never made me cry the way that hayden always has, he has been presenting more challenges.
as i wrote about last month, he is SO active. never sitting still for even a second. he couldn't even sit still on the train ride when we went to see thomas the train. it seems like it's more work than anything to go anywhere outside of the house because i'll just spend the whole day chasing him. and people don't get it. well yeah, that's why you take them to the park and they can run all around. no...not my children. they will run all the way OUT of the park and 3 cities over. no joke.
months ago we found some mr. men shirts for the boys. hayden appropriately got mr. grumpy while talan got mr. happy. while he still is usually mr. happy, he is now way more mr. messy than anything. he LOVES to take out every toy he can possibly get his hands on. he will empty the toy baskets 3 times a day or more if you put them back. he also loves to throw his food around the kitchen which drives me insane.
his favorite place to play is in the basement but we only let him spend limited time down here as there are FAR too many toys. he has literally cleared out most of the bins before. and when you start to clean up, he immediately comes over and takes out whatever you just put away.
while in the basement his favorite toy are his drumsticks. he has two pair...a black pair and a pair that look like some type of bug. he far prefers the bug sticks but also plays with the black ones. just today he was SCREAMING at hayden because hayden had the bug sticks first. yes, the fighting has begun. talan loves these sticks so much that this months pictures feature them as it was the only way i could get him to lay still for 2 seconds to get a not so great photo.
he really hasn't been saying any other words this month and i still really wonder if it's due to his ear problems. i'm hoping that once he gets tubes, maybe his speech will come.
he still calls most people "mama" but just the other day he did say "dada" as dave was getting out of the car and coming into the house. i think he actually said it several times. we clapped and made a big deal about it and repeated "dada" to make him realize that was the correct word. ever since, dave has been "mama." he often times sings it, i think when he sings it he is referring to dave. that's when it seems like he wants to point to a picture of dave at least.
for awhile we thought he was calling jessica "caca" and then we started thinking maybe "caca" was justin. we are back to believing that "caca" is jessica and justin sometimes sounds like "caca" but there is a small difference.
he does call for hayden which is really cute. just today i was carrying him upstairs to get changed and apparently he thought we were going to look for hayden who was at school so he started calling for him.
mostly, talan sounds like someone put duct tape over his mouth and he's trying to talk. you can hear the inflections but can't make out any letters. i think hayden did the same thing.
talan still LOVES to dance. it's almost as if he waits for a show to play music so he can start dancing and clapping. he was the life of the party at jessica's wedding. dancing from before the dancing actually started until the bitter end just before midnite.
today i was watching ellen and he got right up and started dancing and clapping along with her. i plan on getting it on video and sending it in. she's gonna want him on her show. who wouldn't?!
something new he has started doing is jumping. now, he's always been a jumper, but he now ACTUALLY jumps. as in taking both feet off the floor at the same time and doing that several times in a row. not sure that i've ever seen a baby as young as him be able to do that, although i guess i've never asked a lot of babies to try it. either way, i'm impressed.
he continues to have a temper when told "no" or if you pick him up and take him away from something he doesn't want to leave. he will growl or throw things or scream and kick and throw himself down. it's usually pretty funny...but probably because it only lasts a few seconds unlike hayden's fits.
he has a great arm and throws really well. too well most of the time. he's hit hayden several times now with hard objects and it hasn't been pretty. if you hand him milk and it's not what he wants (because we can't understand what he's saying) he'll throw that across the room as well. that's gotten pretty annoying. today i slapped his hand good for that one and he was quite offended.
another thing i've really noticed lately his how much he HATES it when you wake him up. yet another thing that he and hayden are complete opposites in. hayden has always woken right up and will become mr. conversationalist when you wake him up. sometimes walking drunkenly but always pleasant. talan on the other hand. he cries and cries and cries. does not like to be woken up at all.
sunday he was sleeping a little later than i wanted him to so i went in and got him up. he popped up from his crib and let me take him out ok, but when i put him down...wow. i sat on the couch with him and he immediately got down off of my lap. he stood next to me and threw his binky which went WAY under the couch. then he threw his blanket and then ran over to the front door, threw himself against and and started screaming. he stood there for about 3 minutes and would look at me and then "AGGGHHHHH" silence. repeat. it was annoying and funny all at the same time. he eventually calmed down and i asked him if he wanted to go downstairs and he immediately shook his head "yes." then he was happy as he could be for the rest of the evening. that's definitely something he got from me.
a new little wrinkle is that he opened the bathroom door all by himself. he was really persistent out there until he finally turned it just enough and pushed it open. wonderful.
he has been waking up earlier than normal...by 7, usually earlier...which is something we are not so happy about. he takes his one nap around 1 and usually wakes up around 3, but sometimes sleeps till 3:30 or even 4. he goes to be anywhere from 7 to 8 depending on how his nap went. he is still wearing size 3 diapers because that's what we have but will be moving to 4's as soon as those are gone. 18-24 month shirts and some pants but typically still 12-18 month pants as he's not so tall.
he enjoys reading books more and more each day. either on his own or with someone. he loves to babble at strangers. he loves to chase and be chased by hayden. he loves to go outside. he can usually point to his hair, nose, ear, mouth, eye, tongue and foot. he loves watching the little einsteins (well for a little bit at least) and patting along with rocket. he loves pushing trucks around. he loves trains and makes the "f" sound instead of saying "choo choo." he eats better if you put his food on a fork but he still hasn't done it himself. he loves an audience. he loves going into hayden's room but it is usually now closed because of the messes he makes. he loves the bath and tries to climb in it whenever he's in the bathroom. he loves the cat even though the cat doesn't love him. he says "beep beep" every time he goes to the fridge because that's what i say to make him move out of my way which he never does. he still looks at most pictures of animals and meows. he barks when he hears a dog outside. he beeps when he hears a car honk it's horn. when he hears the neighbor's car pulling out he runs to the window and waves. when he sees pictures of babies or kids he always points and says something that sounds like "me" but i'm guessing he's saying "baby." he yells and moves his arms up and down when you ask what a monkey says. he grabs anything he can possibly get his hands on. he loves to eat crayons. he shakes his head "yes" when he wants something, but if he doesn't know what you're saying he'll still shake "yes" and then get mad when you give him what he said yes to. he loves shoes and putting shoes on, probably because he thinks we're going somewhere. he loves "brushing his teeth". you can't go in the bathroom without him saying "ma" (not more or milk or baby or anything else he says "ma" to) and pointing to his toothbrush. he loves brushing his hair with my hair brush and then running around the house with them. he loves jumping on the bed.
he still hates to sit still. changing him has gotten easier but still not easy. i can usually put on his diaper, pants and take off his shirt and then he runs away before i can get a new shirt on him. he hates hearing "no". he hates being woken up. he hates watching someone walk outside if he's not going with them. he has started hating having his hair washed as he doesn't like the water in his face.
i'm looking forward to having some time with just him now that hayden is back in school. gotta get him caught up on his letters, numbers, colors, shapes, animals, ya know...all the basic stuff that i've neglected with my second child. actually, i think hayden just learned it all through movies and talan just isn't the movie type. can't even sit still for a half hour show.
we look forward to another month with him and all of his changes...as long as those changes aren't waking up any earlier than he already does.
we love you, talan! happy 17 months!