February Update

Xander looks suspiciously at his Dad, while holding his push-toy.

The little man is really beginning to walk around on his own, though he still reverts to crawling if he wants to get anywhere quickly. At nearly 16 months old, most of his cohort is already walking. We see his reticence as a sign of his laid-back, easygoing personality, and the fact that he has perfected crawling to a fine art. It is hard to keep up with him when he sprints on all fours across the floor, racing to the open refrigerator door to grab the caper jar before we get a chance to close the door.

He spends a lot of time figuring out how things work. He loves opening doors, fitting lids on containers, sorting his socks, pressing buttons on the electronic keyboard, locking and unlocking the car with Daddy's keys, and making calls to the Berkeley Police Department on Mommy's cell phone. He loves stacking blocks and has become quite the expert. He points to his head, ears, nose or mouth when we ask him where they are. He chatters away most of the day in his own baby language. Every so often, he will come out with a word or sentence that is clear as day: bottle, Hi Berta, zapatos.

He loves going to daycare, and along with the other little 15-month old girl Elsa, dotes on 4-month old Milo, patting the baby when he cries, or offering a pacifier or a bottle. Xander also knows how to be gentle, both with Milo and with our cats.

Xander's favorite activities are swinging at the park, playing in the sand, playing with toys in the tub, eating bananas (num num!), wrestling with Daddy, and hanging onto Mommy's pant legs.