16 months

Sixteen Months? Really? Ryan is 16 months old? Didn't we just have a birthday party and now we're more than half way to 18 months? I thought time was supposed to drag by but here we're speeding up...next thing I know, he'll be graduating from middle school!!!

Anyway - Ryan is learning so much these days. He's such a little copycat. Most of our "copycat time" is done while we're driving. It goes something like this:

Ryan: "mommmm-ma"
Me: "YES ... mommmm-ma"
Ryan: "moooommmmmm-ma"
Me: "GOOD! Mommmma"
Ryan: (silence)
Me: "Daaaaa-daaa"
Ryan: "daaa-daaaaaa"
Me: "GOOD Ryan! Yes! Daaaa-daaaa"
Ryan: (silence)
Me: "Doooogggg-ieeeee"
Ryan: "dooogggggeeeeeee"
Me: "YAY - you're right! Doggggieeee"

This goes on for a good 5 minutes or so. We cover: Ball, Bath, Banana, Milk, Go, Doggie, Daddy, Mommy, Bye, Hi, Mom, Dad, and probably a few more. We're working on: Car, please, Come on, Hi Daddy, and a host of others that I can't remember right now.

One thing that I didn't notice until talking the other day with Angela is that sometimes it takes someone who isn't around Ryan all the time to notice that he's saying a new word. And it's so true! Just today we were at the mall having lunch, and the woman that took our order asked for my name. When I went to pick up my food, she asked about Ryan and how old he was. She then asked me if I heard him say "my name" after she said it. I didn't but it solidified the conversation that Ang and I were having about other people hearing Ryan say new things. Of course, I couldn't get him to say it again - he did say "na-na" (as in Banana)....but maybe that's a good thing. I'd much rather hear "Mommy" than "my name"! No one in this house calls me D - we all call each other a pet name!!!