Hi all

Thought it was about time for an update on Micah.

So he’s 16 months old. Has all 8 of his front teeth, and 4 back molars have been emerging over the last two weeks. Giving him (and us) lots of grief! High temperatures, yucky poos, unsettled sleep, yucko! Thankfully he seems to be through the worst of it and back to his usual self.

So what’s he up to now? well…
He is a very competent crawler and ‘knee-walker’ but is resisting transitioning to proper walking. It’s just laziness or perhaps a bit of fear – he’ll easily walk 1 metre or so between Rohan and I, and will happily walk around holding our hand. But as soon as we let go he freaks out!

He is a talker however, learning words and understanding instructions faster than we can keep up with! Favourite words are mum, dad, car, ball, bird, moon, ‘na-na’ (banana), milk, Nonna, bath, flower, dog, roar (the sound a lion makes!), bye-bye, cracker, ‘man-rin’ (mandarin) ‘num’ (which means yum or I’m hungry). New words for this week are ant, bread, duck and ‘wheese’ (for Aunty Louise – cute!). He also makes this “ahhh” sound when he wants a drink. He says lots of other things too but they’re still a bit far off from English for most people to understand!

His favourite activities at the moment are reading books (has been an obsession since about 4 months old), bouncing up and down or clapping to music, watching the same Hooley Dooleys video every day (more if I would let him!), rolling balls, transferring blocks in and out of his wagon and playing in the garden. He loves feeling the grass and flower petals.

Personality? In general he’s a very sweet, affectionate, thoughtful and playful boy, well-behaved and loves adult interaction and attention. He has just started to play a little bit with other children, but seems to prefer just one friend or else a bunch of older kids who he’ll follow around with great curiosity. When he can’t do something, like open a door or move a heavy object, he gets frustrated and angry. When he’s tired, hungry or in pain, he gets stroppy – throwing things off his highchair, banging his head, kicking and so on. At times he can be whingey and clingy, other times he’ll happily sit by himself watching Hooley Dooleys for 1/2 hour or play in his room clicking the ‘on/off’ button on his heater. He giggles a lot particularly with funny voices, silly dances or tickles. He also likes to snuggle into your shoulder when you’re putting him to bed, and munches on his comfort blanket.

He is a fantastic sleeper. He’s just transitioned to one nap a day – generally sleeps 2 or more hours from 12 or 1pm. He sleeps 7 pm – 7.30am most nights.

He is a reasonable eater too, the only thing we really struggle with is meat. Generally I have to mix it into other things in minute amounts to get it down his throat. He’s an expert at taking a mouthful of some sort of casserole, swallowing all the veges and sauce and spitting out dry bits of meat!

He is also very good at eating sultanas one at a time, and would you believe, when we go out to a cafe, he’ll sit there with a babycino and eat the froth very happily one spoonful at a time – hardly spilling a drop!

He makes Rohan and I laugh a lot, he blesses us when he comes up out of the blue to give us a cuddle, and most days we sit back in admiration at the emergence of a little human being – a miracle of creation!