Making All things New: 18 Months Old

He says tissue (tih too), and water (wor)

He likes to take tissues from the box and wipe his nose

He says "car" as he drives little cars around the house.

He pats my back when I pick him up and he is super happy to see me.

He says "cookie" and he is very serious about it.

He spits when caught eating something he shouldn't, when he doesn't like something, or when he doesn't want to eat something I've offered.

He likes to run around and giggle.

He learned the word "play."

He still fights on the changing table.

He likes to ask for water and cookies.

Doggy is "Goggy."

He got toys from my family like stuffed animals and things that make noise and he loves them all. He snuggles the stuffed things and presses the buttons on the noisy ones.

He always asks "Teeth?" Because he loves his toothbrush. He doesn't like when we do it for him, though.

He blows zrbbts when he's bored, when he's eaten something he shouldn't, and when he eats something he doesn't like (or doesn't want to eat something.

We are watching Cars just he and I and he's really excited. He keeps saying, "Car? Car? Car!"

Asher dumped his Cheerios and then grabbed a broom to "clean them up." Since sweeping floors is one of his favorite pastimes, I don't think this was any accident...

He says "C-car. Bye bye (repeat)." Then: "D-door. Bye bye (repeat)." He does this A LOT!

He has a new, more high-pitched, more urgent scream.

He says "poom" for spoon and prefers to use utensils when he eats.

He says lots of words now. I'm losing track.

He dips things in his drinks. It's super gross. He ends up with all sorts of stuff floating in it when he is done with his meal.

He drinks out of a cup quite proficiently.

He says "cheese" when I take a pic

He climbs onto the kitchen table to grab food and/or other stuff he wants.

He really needs his blanket when he first wakes up and when he's upset. That hasn't gone away with the onset of a healthier family.

He really stuffs his mouth like a little chipmunk when he eats. We have to be vigilant when he does that because it causes him to gag or almost choke at times. It's hard not to allow him to do it too. You almost have to give him his food only one bite at a time.

He's starting to join his sister when she colors and crafts. Capping and uncapping the markers is a task that keeps him particularly busy.

My two kids love taking baths. Baby Bear splashes like crazy and Bunny enjoys that better than anything so they ask for more baths than they really need. If I didn't know better I'd think Bear was getting dirty on purpose at dinner time so he'd need a bath.

We made a few potty attempts--they were really just exploration experiences--and discovered that boys need a little more room on a sit down potty!

Getting ready for bedtime snuggles and nurses.

Morning nurses with Mommy.

They're learning to play together nicely.

Sweet little boy after he wakes up from a nap.

He is so good with hand to eye coordination and figuring out where things go.

On the long trip to visit my family Bunny let him watch her Netflix movie with her.

With his Nonno!

With his Auntie Caroline.

A visit with Grandma at her job before settling in at Uncle David and Aunt Lori's house.

A drum lesson with Uncle David. During dinner.

Helping Uncle David open his Christmas present.

Playing with the awesome fort making kit with his Aunt and Uncle.

While in Plymouth on one of the coldest days of the year for my Grandfather's memorial service, we decided to stop by Plymouth Rock because we got there early. There isn't really anything to see in the historic town this time of year. The Mayflower II isn't even moored during these months. But the rock is there!

He's a little wary of my cousin.

He put up with different people holding him as long as they gave him cookies. Needless to say he ate a lot of cookies that day. I lost count at about 11.

Sweet dancing with his sister. I know, there isn't really dancing at memorial services but my family is special.

My grandfather was the patriarch of all this. Here we are standing by the boat that the Plymouth Yacht club named after him.

Visiting a stone Scotty Dog in my grandparents' yard with Daddy.

Indian food back at Uncle David's house after the whole trip to Plymouth had been accomplished.

Auntie Lori has the best Barbie collection and Baby Bear just loved the Barbie toilet best of all. He carried it around every time we were there.

We had to wake him up from a deep sleep to open presents with my family. He was not with it until it was time to make the long drive home.

He got some doggies.

And cars. He loves doggies and cars.

He also loves things with buttons that make noise and light up, like this stuffed sun or flower that Grandma gave him.

Coloring and saying "cheese" while I took pictures of him in the Cracker Barrel on our way back home.

Morning snuggles with my littles before work the next day.

Christmas Eve--Baby Bear had a stomach bug most of the day. He was in quite good spirits but threw up a lot. We got to use our new essential oils on him and he was done before 24 hours. We started using a blend called Respiratory Relief a week or two earlier and it made such a difference that we were sold.

He was feeling well enough to visit the Live Nativity down the road when Daddy came home from work!

Boy did he love the animals!

We had a tongue rolling facetime call with Auntie Caroline--though I think this photo is out of order maybe...? He was trying to stick out his tongue with her.

Christmas morning we couldn't wrap their big gifts so we let them come out and just see them. They both knew exactly which was theirs. He went to his "tar" and she to her dollhouse.

They played with the Fisher Price nativity set a bit too. We only pull that out at Christmas.

His stocking.

I knit him a lion and I was making it tickle him and he thought it was funny.

His sister gave him her present early: a monster sippy cup that he loved.

He was also enchanted by the idea of endlessly accessible snacks in his stocking.

And he discovered he can fit in the lower floor of the dollhouse.

Christmas breakfast as a family: We always do grapefruit and scrambled eggs.

Here he is dipping his toast in his OJ. Yuck!

Helping his sister open her present. He got really good at the present thing and started trying to just open them all willy nilly.

Opening his toolset.

I got this pirate puppet to help me teach Spanish and he loved it!

He really loved it.

All the boxes were really neat toys too.

Getting a 12 car set of cars from Cars II was awesome. I had found it before he was even conceived at a super duper reduced price and saved it in our present closet for the right occasion to present itself.

The aftermath of presents.

It was such a nice day on Christmas that we actually played outside while Daddy grilled our steaks for lunch.

Dave's dad and his wife came over and they opened even more presents.

Then we visited with the neighbors.

And we had a couple more shenanigins before bed.

He got his first black eye--though it never turned black. It had an awful rug burn for a couple of days.

He liked the piano from Grandma Bridgette and Grandpa.

Coloring Daddy's birthday card...um, the table...

Apparently he is learning to undress himself.

We played a hunting video game on Daddy's birthday. We've had it for years and we never play it but Bunny and Daddy really enjoyed it. Baby Bear found the rifle attachment for the remote and thought it was a grand toy.

He also learned that he can shimmy his diaper off. Sort of.

We went frisbee golfing for Daddy's birthday outing. It was a lovely day for such an activity.

We we stopped at Dunkin the Sunday after Daddy's birthday. Baby Bear seems to know that when we go up to a drive-through window because as soon as we drove away his little hand came up begging for some of whatever we had.

Trying to feed Daddy a crayon (?) during church.

Then I caught him making this face--which he made often at the time.

Dinner with Daddy's mom and sister and family. Mommy got sick during dinner and had to curl up on the couch the whole evening.

Aunt Julie's house is so much fun!

He really liked the boxes we brought home and this one in particular was great fun for awhile.

Playing with is "tar."

He liked Bunny's Connect Four game.

I finally organized his room!!!! We didn't have the boxes or shelf space prior to this so i rearranged some closets to get better use of the storage space we already have.