Milo Q., we love you!

Milo has only a couple more days left being 16 months old -- and that particular age has always been one of my favorites. For all my boys, it was the month when they suddenly became much more verbal. That has mostly been true for Miles... although I would still largely call him a very vocal child, as opposed to verbal.

He definitely is able to make his desires known, through facial expressions, pointing, gestures, and increasingly, his own "words." For instance, when I ask him if he wants to have some food/go outside/etc, he always answers, "Owesh," which apparently means, "Yes, most definitely. And if you do not follow through right now, I will sit right down and have a tantrum in this very spot."

His most used "word," though, for the last several months has continued to be "Allllll-duh," which means, obviously, "all done." At first I thought this was very strange as a first word, but after watching all the ways he can use it, I see its value to him:

• When he's not liking having his diaper changed, and realizes his crying isn't effectively altering the situation, he quickly sobers up, and announces, "Allll-duh."
• When Strider is bugging him and trying to carry him around, Miles looks him square in the eye and declares, "Alll-duh."
• When Rayna is trying to feed him some food he doesn't like, she gets the "Alll-duh."
• Etc., Etc.

Meanwhile, in other areas of his life, he is continuing to become more and more independent. He likes to feed himself with a spoon... if the food comes from us it's pretty gross, apparently, but when administered himself, he'll gobble it up.

He also likes to explore far and wide... we have to keep our eye on him when we're outside -- he takes off quickly.

One consequence of this independence means more laundry for me -- more food-stained, or muddy clothes. But I can be thankful that at least the clothes are little and don't take up much space in the washer!

All in all, he's a very fun almost-17-month old, and we continue to be thankful for him!