Holy moly, little man. Eighteen months? You seem so big to me. Well, that's probably because you are, but still. Gone are the days when I can control you in my arms. You wriggle and scream to get out and then you are off and running. I love the lopsided sound of your footsteps running. You are quick and into everything. Everything. You are opening up the child-locked cupboards and spraying any bottle you can get your hands on in that two-inch space. My dad says that 18-months is only a milestone to mormons. Either way, you walked right into nursery and didn't look back. I was prepared for the worst and you shocked me completely. I think dad is more grateful than I am about that, since he's had you during church your whole life.
You are such a great sleeper. Night sleeping is a breeze. You'll do 12 and 13 hours. There have been a few nights lately that you woke up crying. I held you for five or ten minutes and you were ready to go back. Teeth maybe? You have officially switched to one nap during the day which has been good for you. More often you wake up talking to yourself rather than crying. That's new. A two-hour stretch is awesome for you. Since you have broken all the rules, we take what we can get. If you wake up while Gavin is still sleeping, that's our time together. We read and play and you generally love the attention. I think it's important to have that alone time with each of you.
You want to play with the big kids. You run and chase and generally just mess things up. Like pulling train tracks off tables and smashing into kids who are running way faster than you. It usually ends in crying, but you are trying to find your place. Is it with them where it's fun and interesting or back with mom when it's safe? Let's not pretend that you never cry, because you get pretty dang offended when you don't get what you want. Like face turning purple and not breathing kindof cry.
You say uh-oh, binky, blankie, and some version of Gavin that is consistent but sounds nothing like it. You yell "Mommy!" just to get my attention and then follow it with a bunch of jibberish. You pump your arm up and down every time you see a truck, hoping for a honk. You say hi to the kids walking to school in the morning and wave at everyone. You are now aware of planes and helicopters in the sky. You hand-feed Wilson his food one pebble at a time and then wash your hands in his dog dish. You yell, "No, no!" whenever you hear a dog bark. You learned that from me, by the way.
You can follow directions and surprise me with what you understand. Recently I asked you to go and get your monkey pillow and you ran back with the right item in a matter of moments. All on your own you brought me a shirt to put on you. Then you went back for some shorts. Then you brought me the shoes. Your outfit was made up of your summer swimming shirt, but I just ran with it and chalked it up to you saving me time and you being cute.
You are interested in bugs, dirt, toilets - pretty much anything I don't want you to touch. It's really the toilet one that grosses me out... But you love to wash your hands and be clean. You recently have figured out bending over so we can wipe your buns like we do your big brother's. Not time yet, but I think it's funny to watch you copy everything he does. That can also be a bad thing... You have also finally decided that you love books. You weren't interested at all until a month or two ago. Now we can't get you to stop. You bring one after the other and plop yourself on any lap that will have you.
Today you climbed up the rock wall part of the mini-park by our house. I was right behind you, but you did it alone. It scared me. I remember that day when suddenly Gavin could do things that I didn't think he could (or should!) and that it was a sign of his independence. You are becoming more and more that way. Fearless and curious. Although you are a mama's boy, you will need me less and less. It just means one thing - my baby is growing up.
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