Sixteen Months

Happy New Year's Eve everyone! What a big year this has been. On Christmas Eve I turned 16 months old! I am becoming more and more boy and less and less baby.

Old enough, in fact, to have a very solidified opinion about things now. Such as bed time. And diaper changing time. And eating broccoli time. Let me tell you about my new skill... Mom:"Wilson, do you need a diaper change?" Me:(shaking head) "No." Mom:"Little Man, is it time for night night?" Me:(Are you seriously asking?) "No."

Mom has caught onto my trick and has stopped the asking unless she wants to get a little laugh at my resolute nos.

I am also getting more of a sense of this idea of humor. I do something, people laugh... I do it again. Humor: check.

This that you see above is a face my Aunt Allie taught me to do whenever someone says "Make a face!" It's kind of my new thing.

I also like to provide entertainment by hiding. Behind curtains is one of my favorite places...and I like closing myself into closets. I've learned there must be an adult to play this game... not quite tall enough to open the door back up once I've closed myself in!

I still really love dinos, Elmo and cheese. I've started to really like firetrucks (which I can tell you say "woo-ooh, woo-ooh") and Choo-choos. I can identify the sound of each (We live by the hospital and a train track) as they pass our house. We also have helicopters fly over our house about 3 times a day and I also can identify them as a "cop-cop-der." Unless you observe the context, you may confuse my words for "helicopter," "apple sauce," and "crocodile" as they all sound very similar. Mom laughed at me one day for asking for a crocodile from the fridge until she realized (after much persistence on my part) that I was asking for apple sauce. I'm trying here, Mom!

Speaking of eating... I'm almost a pro at eating with a fork! At one meal I ate three bites in a row with a fork by myself! There was much hooplah and cheering.

I am such a busy boy and spend the day running from room to room to room in our house. There is always something to do. But if Mama is not right behind me I will yell "Mama! Mama!" until she is in sight. Then all is well. I also like to do this if we three go to a store together and we split up. Mom says she can hear me from across Target. That's kind of the point.

Now, let me tell you about my second Christmas. We started out at my house on the 22nd... that was the day we celebrated "our family" Christmas. I woke up to find a choo-choo and an Elmo under our tree. We had a fun morning of playing, eating, reading the Christmas story, and just hanging out as a family.

On the 23rd we headed to Kentucky and made a stop in Florence on the way to see some of my great grandparents! (Mom forgot the camera. Woops!) But let me tell you that I was the center of attention at the dinner in this assisted living home. I loved seeing Granny and Grandaddy Al.

We made it to Kentucky that night and Christmas Eve we celebrated with more family. Early Christmas morning (around 3 am) I cried out and Mom realized I was running a fever. Dad made a trip to CVS to buy a thermometer and Tylenol. My fever was at 102 and never really went down. Despite the fever, I had a fun Christmas morning and acted like nothing was wrong.

But by night time I was looking a little more languid...

Dad and Mom took me to the doctor the next day and they didn't know what was wrong... and told us to just try and keep my fever down. A mean nurse there swabbed my throat to check for strep. I did not like it but Dad told me to tell her "thank you" when she was through. Well, then that stinker pricked my finger! I was so upset but my sweet little personality came through... as I cried I was saying "dank-oo! dank-oo!" (thank you, thank you).

We decided to make the trip to see my other great grandparents the 26th since I was acting okay (even though my fever never went below 100)... probably a bad decision on the parents' part. Around 5 that night my fever spiked to 104 and after a sponge bath to get it down I started to shake, probably chills, but Mom thought it could be a seizure so we rushed to two different emergency rooms (one was a 5 hr wait). I was getting really sick of these doctors at this point so when the nurse came to see me I immediately told her "bye bye!" She didn't leave... but this one didn't prick me, at least. I was given antibiotics and my fever went down and it was just as simple as that. A terribly stressful Christmas that Mom is sure I will never remember! Good thing.
After Kentucky we went to Birmingham to spend a few days with Grandan and Baba, Uncle Patrick and Aunt Leslie, and my four cousins. Thankfully I was feeling much better at this point and had a great time playing with my cousins Brooks' trains. I was kind of anti-social and just played at the train table the whole time.


We are glad to be in our own home now and are looking forward to a new year in Mississippi! I think it will be a good one.

Much Love to All,
W