The firsts of many at 16 months....

I have really been enjoying the camera that James got me and doing the kid's portraits. Setting up backgrounds and picking special outfits, etc. But the best is when a photo session presents itself, which it did yesterday. My Gabriel turned 16 months old yesterday and I was not planning to do any photos but ended up running into the house for the camera and taking these...

At the barn that morning I had emptied the horse's water trough and refilled it so there was mud available. Most times the boy is playing in the water but this time he decided the mud would be more fun :-) So this was his first (of probably many) mud baths!

We also introduced him to playdoh for the first time. He had fun with the cookie cutters and decided that the playdoh wasn't good for snacking.

Of course playing in any water is a fun game...

He also learned how to go down the slide all by himself!

At 16 months Gabriel climbs everything, his newest being the dining room chairs and table (we try to keep him off), runs, loves water and being outside, and tries to copy everything his sister does. It's mostly fun to watch :-)

He now has all of his teeth! His bottom eyeteeth came through last week and he is so much happier these days. We can breathe easier until his 2 year old molars start coming through.

He can say about 20 words - some of them are only understood by me but I still count them! He can also point to eyes, ears, head, hair, nose, chin, and his favorites - toes and tummy, when asked. Animal noises are his other favorite things to say. In the making of this video I forgot to ask him about a monkey and sheep but he does those as well.