He's becoming a person!

At 16 months, my little man is really becoming his own little person! The progress he is making is amazing to this mama.

A while ago we removed the tray from his highchair and pushed it up against the table. I am so glad I got my way and bought my European style highchair (DH and I got into a big argument over it way back when)! I love having all of us sit at the table. Ben is starting to be able to put things on his spoon and feed himself, but most of the time I still have to either load the spoon and give it to him or he will eat with his hands. Oh the mess he makes.

He is now running all over the place and getting into everything! We thought we had childproofed our house, but it turns out that we have a lot more work to do. I have been really lax in what I have allowed him to do, so he loves to empty the lower shelves of the pantry and some of the cabinets. I figure that it keeps him entertained while I do stuff in the kitchen, but DH is not so happy with it.

Ben is now also starting to imitate things we do. For example he will grap a rag and clean the floor. Something that I do multiple times a day around his highchair. He also helps put away laundry by grabbing handsful and stuffing it in dresser drawers. And then he takes it out again and puts in the hamper. Or uses it to "clean" the floor.

He is totally obsessed with the cat food and water and gets in trouble multiple times a day for dunking his hands in it.

He can point to his nose, teeth, hair, cheeks, ears, eyes, belly, and toes. He also likes to point out body parts on his stuffed animals.

He loves "ABC" books and will always bring them to us and then point to different things. Sometimes I think he is testing me. He'll point to the goat about ten times and then to the gorilla and then does the goat again multiple times.

The absolute best thing is that he has been so much happier lately and laughing and giggling non-stop. He is also becoming more comfortable around people. I used to always have to carry him where ever there were people that might look at him and he would start crying as soon as someone talked to him, but as recently as this past weekend he was running around in a crowd and going up to strangers to stare at them (more on that in another post).

I know I keep on saying this, but I am still just amazed at how much I love being a mom. Because that was not always the case.

I am in so in love with this little person and feel so blessed that I get to be his mommy. My heart has never been so full.