16 Months!

~On your mark, get set, go! Brennan is running!
~He enjoys "helping" Mommy and Daddy get him dressed/undressed. He has been pulling his shirt over his head after we take his arms out of the sleeves for awhile. Recently, he has been trying to put his pants, shirts, socks, and shoes on. He also likes undoing the velcro on his shoes and removing his socks.
~Brennan is officially weaned. I always planned to nurse until he was 1 year. Due to his previous reaction to yogurt and the pediatrician's recommendation to postpone introducing more dairy, the weaning process was also postponed. After successfully introducing cow's milk, he was only nursing before bedtime. Mother's day was his last day of nursing. He's done a fantastic job! After reading bedtime books with Daddy, he has a little bit of snuggle time and lullabies with Mommy before going into his bed.
~When put into bed, Brennan will turn on his music soother (attached to his crib), grab his blankie and blanket, tuck them under his belly, and quickly head into dreamland.
~Typical sleeping habits: Goes to bed at 6:45pm, Wakes up at 6:30am. Naps for ~45 minutes in the morning and ~2 hours in the afternoon. He naps longer at the babysitter's house than at home. After waking, he will happily talk in his bed until he throws his blankie and blanket overboard. Then, it's game over.
~In addition to snakes, he also consistently recites noises for cows, ducks, and dogs! He recently started to make noises for elephants.
~Childproofing means nothing to our little Houdini. Brennan can easily remove two types of door locks and safety-close lids (e.g., squeeze and turn lids; push and turn lids).
~Brennan enjoys reading books after dinner. He'll regularly bring book after book to Mommy or Daddy and climb onto our lap. Once a book is done, he'll immediately pop up and retrieve another. He especially likes look-and-find books and his "Brennan's book", which has pictures of friends and family.
~He loves to eat! He frequently asks for "crackers" and "O's" His favorite meal is spaghetti and he loves all fruits. He also enjoys peas, corn, green beans, green pepper, cucumber, and carrots. He is typically served his veggies first, since he prefers fruit. We're cutting his food less (e.g., 1/4 sandwich rather than bite size pieces) and he enjoys "dunking" his food, including dunking nuggets into mustard and grilled cheese into tomato soup. When asked if he wants breakfast/lunch/dinner/snack, Brennan will stop playing, come to you, and ask "Up?!" repeatedly or go to his chair in the dining room.
~Brennan has several Sesame Street books and toys that he really enjoys. He can identify many of the characters. He also names several: "Elma/Elmo" (Elmo), "Cook-Cook" (Cookie Monster), and "Osc" (Oscar).
~He has a great attention span and will play with a toy for an extended amount of time. Although, when he's tired, his attention span diminishes and he jumps from toy to toy.
~He's beginning to identify danger. When Mommy or Daddy is at the stove, he repeatedly announces "Hot!" and also refers to Mommy's travel coffee cup as "Hot!"
~Brennan continues to prefer using his left hand, including feeding himself and turning pages in books. While there is still plenty of time for him to determine a dominate hand, we're wondering if we need to brush up on our left-handed skills!
~He's much better at navigating around obstacles when walking. Instead of not watching where he's going and attempting to walk over objects, he'll (usually) maneuver himself around or find a different route.
~Some cute new sayings: "Ashes, Ashes, Down!" (from Ring Around the Rosy)and "Ah-Oh" ("Uh-oh")
~His language skills continue to amaze us. He attempts to repeat many words that he hears and his receptive language grows everyday!
~Brennan enjoys playing with blocks. He is starting to stack them and continues to enjoy demolishing towers built by others.

ENT Appointment

After waiting two weeks for insurance clearance, and two more weeks for an open appointment time, Brennan finally had his appointment with the ENT today! We started off with hearing tests and a tympanometer reading. The woman testing his hearing was impressed with Brennan's language, including asking for "more" and identifying "blocks." Then, we met with the doctor, who took another look in Brennan's ears. He explained that Brennan's hearing is great, the fluid in his ears has cleared, and he doesn't currently have an ear infection! He also said that there was a small amount of negative pressure in one of his ears. Due to the testing results today and being infection-free for ~1.5-2 months, he didn't recommend any treatment. We return in 2 months to make sure everything still looks good!