Months 16-17

Wow I kept thinking I needed to blog month 16 but time just kept getting away from me. I can't believe he will be 17 months in 4 days. The last 2 months have been amazing. He sleeps until around 6 am every day. Sometimes he will still wake up once. In the beginning of the month when he would wake up for his 3:30 am feeding I just had to refuse and then he started sleeping through the night! He is so smart! The other day I had one shoe and said Ethan where's my other shoe? (He had brought one out into the living room). He went into my bedroom, into my closet, and grabbed the correct matching shoe! He can do this as well with his own shoes. He knows which pairs he wears in his shoe drawer, and how to find and match them. He can also bring me his wipes and a diaper off the dresser if I ask him for them. He learned the word "Back" so when I say put something back, he will yell "Back!" as he puts it back. He loves to run around in adult shoes now. Especially combat boots and heels! He follows instructions like "close it or close the door". Lately however he has started when he doesn't get his way to run to something--like a chair or toy and smack it once. So that gets him in time out a lot lately. I'll tell him to be gentle so he'll show me the sign for gentle. He also FINALLY says mama now and it means ME!!! :) That makes me so happy. He also gives hugs and kisses. He loves to vacuum. He loves sliding down his slide. Just before I sat down to write this I was changing his dirty diaper and I said Yucky! and so now he started saying "Ucky!" He can throw things away if you tell him to. What else? He loves Scout still. and Blue's Clues and is starting to get into Curious George a little bit. He also is finally starting to fit into clothes his size. He weighed 22.0 lbs at 16 months and over the last month he had a crazy growth spurt so he only fits in the longer 12 month jeans. He also shakes his head no now, and when an accident happens he says "uh!" like (uh oh!). He often shakes his head when you try to feed him because he likes to feed himself now, so in the mornings he feeds himself oatmeal and whatever else he may eat (like an orange or gluten free french toast stick). He loves pasta salad and basically anything bread-like (crackers, bread, etc.)---this is not ideal in my book, but what can you do.  He also says "cracka!" He still primarily eats his baby food puree, but likes sauteed onions and peppers. Still hates meat, I do my best to avoid giving him any dairy because I don't believe human babies should drink cow's milk. He doesn't really drink almond milk, sometimes if I remember I'll make his oatmeal with it, or he likes the almond coconut milk blend a little better. His hair's getting a little long in the back so Wes wants me to cut it or he says he's going to! Which is not happening. So I'm reluctantly going to have to oblige that soon. He also says doggie and looooves this little stuffed doggie we got for him. He just walked behind me hugging it and saying "daggie". He has a pretty good arm on him. He likes to throw the ball to Duke outside. He also says "buh bye" and waves. And anytime he seems my grandma he tries to bring her cane to her. He also learned please. So when he's hungry he will sign "more" and say "peas!". And I think that's about it. He got his first Hep (B?) shot last month as well. He also rode a horse for the first time (with me--my first time too!). And he sat on a pony by himself at McKee Ranch for Halloween. He also went trick or treating for the first time and he LOOOOOVED it. He'd go up to the scary houses too by himself and wasn't afraid. He did great. The other night was SO funny. Love this little baby so much!