Happy Hysterics

Linker is 15 months old. Wait, what?!? 

He is quickly entering the developmental age of T-R-O-U-B-L-E! He has started walking. Which means his muscles have also grown strong enough to begin climbing. Which means this is exactly how you'll find him anytime anyone forgets to close the bathroom door. Either that, or ripping off teeny shreds of toilet paper, opening the toilet, and dutifully throwing his toilet paper scraps into the bowl.

He's getting so big and independent, I thought maybe he was ready to start spoon feeding himself...we'll wait a few more months before we try that again. 

This is the look Lincoln will give you if you send gusts of air at his face with your blow dryer. Though he'll endure the annoyance so long as you let him stay on his previously discussed climbing apparatus.

And THIS is the face(s) he'll make if you treat him to an afternoon in the front yard where he claps his hands, squeals in delight, and attempts to jump up and down every time a truck passes by. Or whenever a garage door opens/closes. As I said on Instagram, it sends him into happy hysterics.


The one below was on his first garbage day that was warm enough to admire the garbage truck from outside. Which, if you can't tell by his clutched hands and raised eyebrows, was easily the best day of his life.

Lincoln has started saying "This!" He'll point at things or hold things up and say, "This!" when he's looking for a reaction to something.

He also says, "Hi!" "Bye!" "Socks." "Shoes." "Baba." "Dada." and my most favorite: "Boo-yeah!" I didn't realize I said "Boo-yeah" all that much...until today as I was giving a young women lesson and somewhat out of place, ended my lesson with a boisterous, "BOO-YEAH!" It became suddenly clear to me that I might have a serious "Boo-yeah"ing problem. Are there support groups for that? I need help.

Carson and Lincoln had their well-child checks this week. The doctor saw that Carson's stats had skyrocketed in the last year, sending him into the 75th percentile on everything. The doctor then announced he was confident Carson would be at least six feet tall one day. Carson (and I) had a hard time believing he would ever grow taller than me!

And then we looked at Lincoln's stats. To which the doctor said, "Well. They definitely have different body types, don't they?" We have Lincoln. Our little scrawny, chicken leg, still-trying-to-catch-up preemie. He's 20-25th percentile across the board...except for that noggin that has had no trouble on the growth chart. He's gained like...half a pound in 3 months. He's barely over 20 pounds. He's tiny. He's adorable. We'll keep him this way for as long as he wants to postpone his attempts to exceed his mother's height. 

Lincoln is in everything, on everything, exploring, and learning like crazy. I think one-year-olds are so much fun! I love seeing them start to understand how the world works and I love all the little things they pick up on.

Lincoln cracks me up because he's so good at predicting what is going to come next. Every night after dinner, we do a bath. As soon as he's done with dinner, he makes his way to the bath. As he's exiting the bath, he says "Ba ba" which is next in line. Then he looks at his books after his bottle. Then he lunges for his bed after books. He knows how things go and thoroughly enjoys his routines.

But what I find hilarious is his recognition of our morning routine. Every morning while he's eating breakfast, Jeff will come downstairs and eat breakfast. Jeff begins his farewell to the family after breakfast by saying something like, "Well..." At the first hint of Jeff's departure, Lincoln picks up on it and matter-of-factly shouts, "BYE!" 

He's even started doing it when I'm having conversations with people. As the conversation starts to wind down, or if he hears me say anything about "going," Lincoln reflexively bids his farewell. 

Another one of my favorites was in Sacrament Meeting. The family behind us was playing with his hands and waving at him for a few minutes. Lincoln suddenly blurted out, "BYE!" then turned around  and slid into a seated position out of view of the people behind us. 

He's just such a funny little dude! He's still the happiest, chillest, most happy-go-lucky kid I've ever known. He's the perfect little fit for our family and we all love Lincoln to pieces. 

The thing I probably love most about him is he's still a mama's boy (even though he STILL won't say mama). He is grumpy in the mornings until he finds me and gives me a hug. He latches on to my leg if he hasn't seen me in a while. He shoots me smiles across the kitchen when I'm cooking. Any time he catches me laying down somewhere, he has to come next to me and press his face as close to mine as possible and then he is perfectly content. He just loves to be by me which I would typically find smothering, but he does it in such a cute, loving way that I find completely endearing. He's my little bud and I'm savoring what I'm sure is only a few more months of being his preferred parent before he makes the inevitable switch to Jeff as history has proven is sure to happen.