So many words

Mats has always been a talker, but he really wasn't into words until maybe three weeks ago. He pulled out "boo" for balloon back at his first birthday (because he was obsessed with the balloons we had up around the house), and would do mommy and daddy, but other than that it was mostly just emphatic babbling. While we were in Steamboat Springs on vacation a few weeks ago, though, something just clicked with him, and he's been adding words with regularity. He discovered "hot" and "up" that week, and hot is still one of his favorite go to words.

Parenting magazine just rained on my parade - they have an article online that says that by 16 months, girls have an average of 50 words and boys an average of 30. If that's true, Mats is apparently way behind average on verbal skills, but I'm okay with that. Hmm, although WebMD says that at 18 months, kids may say 10 words. Clearly there's a spectrum. Either way, I'm still super proud of the words my sweet 17 month old does have:

1. Dada (always with gusto)
2. Mama
3. Balloon
4. Ball
5. (sign for) All done
6. (sign for) More
7. Hot
8. Up
9. Shoe
10. Cheese
11. (sign for) Help (which is only distinguished from "More" by context)
12. Please (also does the sign)
13. No No (with a shaking head)
14. Nose

The cutest thing Matson's learned to do recently, in addition to pointing to his nose and crinkling it up while saying, "Nose" (seriously, adorable) is kissing! I'll ask him for a kiss, and if he's in the mood, he'll run over, pucker up his lips, and kiss me straight on the lips. So endearing. If he's not in the mood he'll just ignore me.
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We got to enjoy a vacation in Florida with the little tyke last week! Scott's middle sister got married on the beach in Pensacola, so we flew down for the festivities and tacked on a few extra beach days. We had an amazing time playing in the waves, laying on the sand, making sand castles for Matzilla to smash with a fierce growl, and hanging out with family. Highlights of the week included several night swims, jumping into the ocean with our clothes on post-wedding (the bride and groom led the charge!), collecting seashells, taking a long moonlit walk on the beach with my sweet husband, catching mini sand crabs, watching Mats dance at his aunt and uncle's wedding and subsequently having everyone at the wedding dancing "The Matson".

And now, I can't believe that it's suddenly September, all of our summer vacations are over, school's back in session, and the days are getting shorter. Does this mean that summer is over?