The Little Engine That Can!

I decided this morning that Tegan is just that: Our Little Engine that Can! He is the poster child for "you can do whatever you set your mind to, and don't let anyone get in your way!" Examples are below...

The door handles on all the doors in the basement are levers, not knobs... what does that mean? OH, it means that Tegan can open them all by himself. Here, you can see for yourself :)
The moral of this tale is that if you are ever at our house and need to use the bathroom in the basement, it might be wise to lock the door unless you want to see T's head peak through and giggle while you're taking care of business. HA!

Meal time continues to always be a fun time for us... until Tegan is done. That's when the food and sippy-cups begin to "accidentally" fall on the floor. As far as eating utensils goes, well, Tegan only likes to feed himself like Mommy and Daddy do, with REAL silverware. As long as he doesn't hurt himself I guess I don't mind. How could I get upset at a smile like this?

This week has brought a lot of new experiences for Tegan (and I). On Monday we all (Brendan, T and I) took a trip up to REI in Bloomington to look for a chair for Tegan. He is very much into sitting in big boy chairs but all the ones I can find are SUPER expensive, so I just couldn't bring myself to spend $40 on a chair for a 16 month old, even if it will last until he's in kindergarten or 1st grade. Well, I found a kids' camping chair and it was the last one in the store. Thankfully it was blue (a gender neutral color) so it worked for the big man. Tegan was thrilled when I showed it to him, but when we got home all he wanted to do was carry it around and move it from place to place on the driveway. I told a friend yesterday, I'd love to put a pedometer on him and see how many steps and miles that little guy walks in a day! I don't think there was a spot on our driveway that didn't get to experience Tegan's new camping chair!

Did I mention that Tegan is very friendly? He took a break to wave at someone walking by. How polite?!

Then, a break to watch Daddy washing his bike...

And back to moving/dragging... Ok...time to put the chair away, I guess.
Oh, don't worry! Tegan did actually sit in the chair, even if it was only for a few moments.

Before I continue I want to make a note of all the words I've heard Tegan say more than a few times: doggie, Daddy, Mama, papa (grandpa), kitty, Roli, night-night, no, cheese (for taking pictures), please (though this one is very infrequent. I have decided not to teach Tegan any more baby sign because the few things he can sign he does not attempt to say much even though he can)... I think that's it. He's tried to say banana ('nana) but only a few times and after I repeat it, so I won't count it yet.

Another "new" thing that I need to get a picture of, but Tegan will now show you (and play with) his belly button when you ask him where it is. It's truly the funniest thing I've seen in a long time.

Ohhhh, I haven't mentioned naps yet. Well, this child is preparing for a major growth spurt, I think. He's back to regularly taking morning and afternoon naps as of this week, and these are no naps to sneeze at. His morning naps are between 1 1/2 and 2 hours and his afternoon naps are 2-2 1/2 hours! I feel like I shouldn't let him sleep that long, but he's still sleeping through the night and not getting up too early, so I figure he needs them. He'll even tell us when he needs a "nigh-nigh" occasionally... or if we ask him if it's time for a "night-night" he'll nod his head "yes" and go right down with no fussing! I'm sure this is only a phase and we'll, in turn, experience a stage where he thinks he doesn't need a nap, but I'll enjoy this while I can. I just wish there was more I could do during his naps as the length is so unpredictable that I don't want to get paint out only to have him wake up. My guess is this will only be a 1 or 1 1/2 week phase.

Speaking of painting, Tegan enjoys doing just that, though without the paint. I heard him rustling around in our mud room one morning before I had put the painting stuff out of reach and this is what I found. (sorry it's so blurry, the lighting was bad and he's not very good at standing still).

Your eyes are not deceiving you. That is a 15 month old child rolling the mud room door (sans roller cover and paint). HA!

On that cute note I will let you go.

Love to all!!!

~j