I was talking to a friend about this very topic a couple days ago...and one thing I've learned is you can always tell the waiters who have kids, and those that don't by how quickly they bring your food...and check. Before Chloe was born Jon and I enjoyed our dining experiences...they were relaxing...enjoyable...and occurred frequently. We are the complete opposite now - we rarely choose to eat out and when we do it's not so that we can sit and relax - it's the achieve the main goal of filling that empty tummy and dashing before we cause complete chaos! Kids are unpredictable - and for some reason their desire to mash food into every crevice of the high chair, or smear 10 layers of their meal across the table, occurs when you are in public.

I'll take it though. Despite our restaurant experiences becoming messier, it also means she's 16 months old now, and she is learning and developing so fast. She adores books - and will choose a book over a toy any time of the day. Through our reading and constant repetition she is identifying and saying a lot of words. She is still partial to ducks - and is alway quick to point one out. But when it comes to the sounds of the animals, it's the sheep she favors.

At 16 months old, these are her words:
"God made me" is her FIRST 3 word sentence! We have a series of books that goes through everything God made - and the final sentence is "and God made me!". A couple of mornings ago, I was sitting on the carpet reading with Chloe before school, and as I read the last sentence, she looked up and said with much excitement "God made me!". Sweet child :)

In the coming weeks she'll be able to add airplane to her vocab. Throw in a hippo, elephant...lion and some special family members! Along with the house and all the contents required to travel with a small toddler, we are packing some extra sanity for the 30 hour plane ride...