Coghills in Florida : 16

I always get these really great ideas for blog posts at very inconvenient times.
Somewhere during the course of the day I forget all about it and a month passes and 0 blog posts get written.
I have lots of starts -
Our Key West trip
Our Ohio trips
Local parks
Activities I do with Leo
Foods Leo eats
The Zoo etc etc etc
I should probably jot things down here and there on one of the 15 notebooks I have. Or the chalk board. Or tell Siri to write it down.

Anyway. Leo won't be 17 months for another 10 days but I felt the need to do a little update this afternoon while he naps.
Leo's little baby brain has been exploding the past couple of weeks. He has begun talking non stop - mostly babbling giberish, but also repeating me all day long. He says - mama, dada, nanny, papa (which should be poppy), baby, ball (and tries to say basketball and football), book, Elmo, no, stop, please, wow, whoa, uh oh, this, hi, bye bye, cheese, cracker, and even said pizza the other day! I'm sure he says more, but those are ones I can get him to repeat most of the time. He's added I love you, cracker, and water to his signing vocab too.
He loves to sing and dance. He can now stomp his feet and attempts to say hooray during If You're Happy and You Know It. If I ask him to sing he says - row row row. It's so cute.
He's also become quite the dancer. Lee and I try to mimic him. Lee says the trick is to bend your knees and let your upper body totally relax and flop around. hahahaha

In the past couple of weeks he's also mastered his chunky puzzles, the shape sorter, has started matching up colors (oh he can say blue! and green and yellow sort of), and he likes to read his books allowed now - making adorable little noises as he turns the pages. He's started coloring with crayons with a lot more purpose, we've done a couple painting projects, and he LOVES his magnadoodle. I'm pretty excited for the art and craft phase to start... not that I want my baby to grow up necessarily, but that is one of my favorite things to do with kids for sure.

Leo also mimics everything I do around the house. He gets the broom out and sweeps the floor, puts clothes in the hamper or washing machine if it's open. Finds towels and wipes up invisible messes. Stirs with spoons in bowls and pans. And puts the silverware away from the dishwasher.
He's also really good at following instructions - like pick up that wrapper and throw it away. Put your shoes in the basket. Find your cup and bring it to the fridge if you want milk.

He's been doing animal sounds for quite a while now but he now can learn a new sound or action pretty much instantly. I'm actually having a hard time coming up with an animal that Leo can't do the sound for. Just this morning we were doing the puzzle and there's a rhino and I was joking around putting my finger on my nose and pretending to charge at him.... now that's what a rhinoceros does :)

Leo can point out all of his body parts now - recent additions being arms, legs, and fingers. We're now working on some funny ones like thyroid, heart, appendix, etc. haha. Leo's pediatrician gave us that idea when we were at his appointment and Leo was showing off a bit and when she wanted to measure his head he tapped on his head and then did a few of his other body parts - eyes, ears, mouth, etc. She said she used to have her kid do it as a "party trick" haha he was really tiny and she'd say "Show them your thyroid" ah. Doctor humor I guess.

Physically Leo is amazes me constantly. Not only is he just as big, if not bigger than all of his 2 yr old friends, but he can run and jump, and figure out complicated toys and activities. He is a wild man at the play ground these days climbing on everything and fearlessly going down the slides all by himself. We went to Chick-fil-a's playplace recently and I'm pretty sure it's his favorite place on earth. Climbing through those tubes his face was just like pure joy. We do something to release some energy about every morning - usually rotating through the parks nearby since we don't have much (or any) of a back yard. Leo also loves being around other kids. I love to see him interact with others - older and younger. He's learning how to be gentle with younger kids and how to follow big kids around. The other day at the splash pad he was sharing a ball with another little boy a bit older and when the boy passed the ball back Leo signed thank you. It seriously might be my proudest moment yet. haha

So aside from all the adorable and genius things my sweet little baby does he is still 100% a demanding and irrational toddler. He throws fits and bites when he's really upset (although less and less biting these days) and the other day he hit me out of anger. He throws food off of his tray and tries to pull everything off of the kitchen table and counters. He loves to dig through the recycling bin and thinks that unraveling the toilet paper roll is hilarious. He climbs on everything in sight and one of his new favorite things to do is go around and knock over everything he possibly can - basketball hoop, kitchen chairs, high chair, tub of toys, etc. He splashes too much in the bath tub and sometimes turns as stiff as a board when it's time to get strapped into his car seat. He is a master at unfolding laundry and emptying drawers. He believes books are meant to be scattered on the floor rather than on a shelf. And of course if he decides he doesn't want to do something it's definitely a challenge to make him believe that he does want to do it or distract him enough that he does whatever it is without realizing it.

I really, truly am having so much fun being Leo's mom. Of course I get frustrated here and there when Leo is standing on the kitchen table AGAIN and having a husband who is gone 90% of the day isn't fun. But really I have nothing to complain about. I have a very sweet, smart, healthy baby boy. I think the next few months are going to be some of my favorites. Watching Leo learn and develop his personality and interests is so exciting. And seriously, he's just so cute too. Do I say this every month? I think I do.

Anyway, as a little recap of the last couple months we've been really busy traveling and seeing friends and family. We were in Ohio for Memorial Day and then again for 4th of July, we spent at week in Lake Placid at our district teen camp, we went up to Punta Gorda to meet up with our friends from Grenada the Soberings, had Bible School at church, attended several events for Lee's residency program, and the every day activities like going to the beach and meeting up with friends at the park.
Also, I actually spent my first night away from Leo in June for my MOPS group's weekend reprieve. It worked out perfectly, he was weaned and it fell while Lee was on vacation so he was able to watch Leo the 27ish hours I was away. I think before this the most I had ever been away from Leo was about 4 or so hours, maybe not even that many. I had a great time hanging out with my friends sans kids at the South Seas Island Resort on Captiva Island (only about 30 minutes away from home). We spent hours just laying on the beach, sliding down waterslides, and eating 3 very relaxed meals. haha. I'm already looking forward to next year's reprieve!
Sidenote - are you apart of a MOPS group? It's been such a great way for me to meet friends and friends for Leo! I'm going to be a table leader this next year (they take the summer off and start again in September) and I'm really excited to meet some new people and get back to those delicious bi-weekly breakfasts. haha.

Alright, ready for way too many pictures because we're now recapping 2 months? Ok good!