16 Months!

It is hard to believe that our little babies are already 16 months old. They are doing so great - more of their personalities are showing through every day. Katie is definitely a silly one and has really started liking her ride-on toys, climbing in and out of everything, doing laps in the kitchen and on any straight, long path, still loves balls, has recently begun to think it is funny to hit people which we are trying to nip in the bud, bullies her brother incessantly because she is just so darn insistent that she gets what she wants - she could definitely be following in my tomboy footsteps! Tyler still has the sweetest smile and funniest chuckle but he also has a rare, but wicked temper on occasion (both of them have mastered temper tantrums already). Tyler amazes me with his ability to figure things out - whether it is how to get in or out of something that he shouldn't be, take his diaper and clothes off, put the shapes in the right space, ball in the basket, or puzzle piece in its place, he seems to have a pretty mechanical mind. He is pretty particular in comparison to Katie - he will not drink out of his cup until he turns the spout the right way whereas Katie is oblivious, gets annoyed when his hands get dirty (even though he could care less if it is in his hair) while Katie likes to play in anything messy or gooey, and enjoys stacking blocks or sorting things before Katie inevitably comes along and makes his freshly made tower "go boom." They are playing together relatively well, although they still want the exact same toy at the exact same time more often than not. They are doing pretty good with their words and following directions - Katie has started saying "Mar" for Marley and has the same "B" words that Tyler does - ball, book, block, bye bye - Tyler has learned to "hide" behind his hands or to take his dad's hat and put it over his face and peer out through the mesh thinking we can't see him. The only thing is that he doesn't quite have the hang of timing and he will "hide" for a loooong time before revealing himself when we are supposed to give him praise. I think it was literally 15 minutes the other night of him looking through the hat, us saying "Where's Tyler", and him laughing hysterically but he wouldn't show his face :-)! Just some random pictures from Christmas at my Aunt's and our week home (I'm going to miss these little monsters when I go back to work next week)!

Their Grandma Barnhart got them this wagon and they love it. We put them in the other afternoon to go for a short walk (it's cold here) and had to remove two screaming, kicking kids from it and hide it because they did not want to get out (this was after much dragging around the kitchen).

They got to taste pickles!

Katie likes to brush her hair, too bad she still doesn't have much!

Tyler is so happy he got a ball popper that works again!

They would both live off or crackers (and maybe grilled cheese) if we would let them.

Of course even with all the new toys, empty diaper boxes are still one of the biggest hits!