Rafe's 16 Month Birthday
Monday 29 April 2013 at 03:52 am.
Used tags: alya, around_the_house, birthday, rafiq
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After another fast-paced month, Adik is now 16 months old. He seems to have grown so quickly - when I look back at pictures of him as a newborn I can hardly believe it is the same baby as he is becoming more and more of a person in his own right. We saw that with Yaya, and continue to see it with her, and now we are seeing it with Adik and this is definitely the greatest gift anyone can ever receive - the opportunity to watch our children grow and become their own little persons. 
Especially when they are as funny as our Adik is getting to be!
* Mouse over the pictures for captions
As far as I can tell Adik still has eight teeth, although i think I saw at least one more starting to cut through (bottom jaw, probably a molar of some sort). He is still working on climbing the sofa, we believe it won't be long before he can do that.
This past month, Adik has been obsessing about brushing his teeth. He brushes his teeth multiple times a day and cries if we don't let him brush when he wants to. It's not like he wants to brush after he eats, or some normal logical thing like that - it's basically whenever it strikes his fancy. He walks around the house with his toothbrush in his mouth and just loves doing that. He loves it so much that we cannot even say the words "tooth" and "brush" in the same sentence or he will demand his toothbrush. Below is an example of what he does while brushing:
Adik still loves books - he loves to pull them off the shelves and will while away the time doing that and flipping through the ones that catch his eye. He now makes an "alphabet" noise (usually it sounds like "Dee eee eee geee") when he sees letters or words (on books, t-shirts, road signs, etc.). It's really quite fun. His bedtime book this month has very much been Race you to Bed by Bob Shea. We have to read his favorite page many times over and he yells along with us, the funny boy. He also likes when I help him trace the letters with his fingers for "Oh no! Over the edge to bed!" It's definitely a good time.
Adik has been sleeping with Bradley the Bearcat in the crib at nights and I think he tends to sleep better and longer in the crib with Bradley's company. This month, it has been quite often that I don't bring him into our bed until 5 or 6 AM, meaning he basically spent the night in the crib. Yay! We are getting there! On a good night, he only gets up once or twice to nurse and we seem to be getting fewer and fewer bad nights. We are progressing in the right direction. I will probably miss him waking me up at nights to nurse when it stops (or will I? Ha!).
Food status: Adik's mainstay is whole milk yogurt and Pediasure. He snacks on mango and other foods, but it does seem when we are on the road (like when we went to the beach), he doesn't seem to want to eat solids as much, preferring to stick to the yogurt and Pediasure. Sometimes he eats a lot of stuff, and sometimes he doesn't. He loves goldfish crackers and cheerios and that seems to satisfy him. On the road, we have to convince him to eat his mango+milk course, and usually he can't be persuaded to even touch his pre-packed dinner (macaroni and cheese with beef this month). He also doesn't seem to want to eat off of our plates as much when we're on the road. He does however, like to eat Yaya's toast. He is back to normal when we are home so I guess for now we will chalk it up to just how things are different when one is away from home.
Speech status: pretty much the same as last month. He does say "No" very distinctly, and shakes his head firmly when he says it. Also, he says "bye" and waves goodbye. He is very vocal and babbles on and on, telling us stuff in baby talk with expression and intonation, and pretty much he just copies what Yaya is doing. If Yaya blows raspberries, Adik blows raspberries. If Yaya makes a funny face, Adik tries to do it too. He does like to do what his sister does. This is probably one of the reasons why he has shown so much interest in crayons and paper. He does his own version of artwork now - and sometimes it is actually on paper. He prefers the piano bench as his medium. On the plus side, the crayon does wash off, but it seems to make him redouble his efforts at graffiti-ing the piano bench again. He also has a new habit of crumpling up paper. No idea why, but there you go.
Adik is also ahead of the game compared to Yaya at sixteen months with regards to gadgets. I guess since he sees her use them, he does too. He has been assigned the iPod (a.k.a. Mama's black phone), Yaya has the iPad (a.k.a. the big thing), and Vin and I have our respective phones. At this point in time, whenever Adik sees a hand held gadget (even the digital camera) he wants you to play music on it so he can dance. His favorite music this month have been Old Dan Tucker and O Mary Don't You Weep from Springsteen's Seeger Sessions album, and the Jackson 5's I Want You Back and Rockin' Robin. He can also manipulate the iPod and get it to play these songs (on purpose!).
Let us get to how Adik spent the day. As usual, he goes down with Papa while Mama gets a little bit more sleep before work starts.
Adik is more aware of his surroundings now and is interested in shadows:
Here is Adik wanting to do art with Yaya:
Somebody seems to be plotting something:
Let's play with the elephant! This toy was a "found" toy - by the lilies of the valley in the back yard. Yaya and Vin rescued it and after a round in the washing machine, it was totally fine again. Pull the string on the back of the elephant and it jiggles (kind of like Frippo). If you put the elephant on the brown floor, it will jiggle itself backwards. A pretty fun toy.
After the referees step in and peace is restored, Adik continues playing. He loves to roll or spin the doughnuts:
Here's Adik giving his "I want to dance" sign:
After a long and tiring day (at least for Mama and Papa), it is bath and bedtime for little boys (and girls). Happy 16 month birthday, baby boy! We love you!!
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