A couple days ago you turned eighteen. Eighteen months, that is. Or, as your dad says, "one-twelfth of the way to freedom..." We kid, though. We'll be sad when you turn 18 years old and move away, go to college. Right now at 18 months old, we just shake our heads in disbelief that you are this old, and then we giggle every time we see you because you are so damn cute.
A few things that we want to remember about you at this age:
You're a big boy now and want to walk up and down the stairs on your feet. Facing forward. Like we do. Except that you can't, as your little legs are still a bit too short. But give you a couple hands to hang on to and you can come down the stairs like a pro.
You've discovered light switches. The one switch you can reach (on the stairs) you turn on and off as often as humanly possible. We're going to blame Aunt Christy for this one - you didn't know what a light switch was til she was here visiting. :-)
You crack us up with your animal sounds. "Brooooo" for cow. "Ma ma" for sheep. "Ssssssss" for snake. "Pbbppttttttt" for horse. And I think you're kind of getting an "Auph" for dog. I think. We might be making that up.
You love airplanes. Every time you hear an airplane you point to the sky. If you can't see it because it's above the clouds you whine with frustration. And you find it highly entertaining to watch Mama do the "airplane" sign.
You started climbing a few weeks ago and haven't quit since. You climb up on chairs. You try to climb on the coffee table. You climb on your picnic table and sit on top to play with toys - better view up there. The other day I caught you doing this:
I also walked in to the dining room one day to find you sitting on the dining room table playing with the salt and pepper shakers. Which Mama let you know, in no uncertain terms, was big fat NO.
You love to dance now. You stand in one place and run your feet up and down, giggling the whole time. Except you get sad if Mama or Dad don't dance with you. Daddy was dancing and spinning with you one day, so now you love to dance, then spin til you're so dizzy you can't walk straight. We went to visit a friend the other day, and another friend had a nice round changing pad on the floor. Which you proceeded to dance all over. It was a perfect stage.
We have some foam letters for you that you play with in the bathtub and on the changing table. It makes an excellent distraction. It also makes you really learn those few letters, and try to say the sounds. So now you can say the sounds for the letters X, F, B, P, S, and of course D.
I am continually amazed by your book choosing abilities. You have your favorite books that you will pull off the shelf over and over again, while other books get ignored. You can pull the Itsy Bitsy Spider book off the shelf, bring it over, hand it to me, and sign "spider." How do you know?
You've finally gotten better at doing the motions for the "Wheels on the Bus" song. You do a kick-ass wipers going "swish swish swish" and are also fab at the money going "jingle jingle jingle." You still are not so good at saying how the baby says "wah wah wah" or the people say "shhh shhh shhh" but we're still working on those. Perhaps if you took your fingers out of your mouth every now and then...
You have recently discovered how to pour water from one vessel to another. So bath time is a fairly continuous job of pouring water from one cup to another, or using a teaspoon to try to fill up a bowl. It's cute.
This morning you and Daddy were playing in the living room, with your push-around car. You signed "help" and turned around and ran away, giggling. Then you looked back to see if Daddy would follow you. You signed "help" for Daddy to start a game of chase with you. Pretty cool stuff.
You love the kitchen set that Grandma and Grandpa got for you. You like to pull out the grapes and "wash" them in the sink, then "cook" them on the stove. You stir whatever concoction you've created in your mind in any bowl or pot you can get your hands on, with whatever spoon you can find. You always, very politely, offer the spoon to Mama or Daddy for a taste before tasting it yourself.
Your ability to follow directions is pretty staggering. "Dex, can you put your plate on the table, please?" Off you toddle, carrying a plate and carefully placing it on the edge of the table. "Dex, can you get your bib out of the drawer and put it on the table, please?" Flabbergasted when you actually go over to the correct drawer, open it, take out the bib, and toss it on the table.
You play with your ball popper every day. For some reason, much to your Daddy's dismay, your favorite balls are the red ball and the pink ball. Pink!
For some reason you are mesmerized by the air conditioner and the exhaust pipe for the hot water heater. You walk from one to the other, every time you go outside. Is the AC on? No. How about the pipe? No. How about now? AC on? No. How about the pipe. Still no. And then the AC turns on and after you jump in fear from the noise, you get all excited and have to run over to check out the fan. Last weekend we were playing on the swing set and the exhaust pipe turned on. Swing time was over. Must go see the pipe!
You have cranked up the volume on your whining recently. It's not the most pleasant experience. We are hoping the whine factor will decrease a bit when you start to talk.
You haven't quite gotten the hang of "thank you" yet. You sign it well. Just not quite at the right times. You give me a spoon, and sign "thank you." Hmmm. It was my turn to do that, thanks, Dex.
You love to water the flowers on the front porch. You are fascinated with the water faucet and the hose. You play in your kiddie pool even when it's empty. You love to play with your water table. Water, water, water. Your favorite place to be.
You're a joy to play with all day. You tire me out. You make me laugh. You frustrate me. You amaze me. I love watching you grow, watching you learn, watching you laugh. It's also nice when you go to bed, and your daddy and I can chat about our day, and about what cool thing you did, and about how cute you are.
Happy birthday, little man. We love you.
