Almost 18 Months

I don't know that I will get to this blog as often as I like, but I have a few minutes now - so will jot something down quick before a bath and picking him up from pre-school.

His language skills are multiplying rapidly - especially since our trip to New York to see his Grandma Agi, Pop-Pop, GiGi, and Tee-Eva. He had a blast and was the absolute star of the trip! I am always amazed at how adaptable he is to new situations, and how quickly he warms up.

He had his first trip to the ocean while we were visiting his Gigi and Tee-Eva on Long Beach, and I screamed "No!" when he nearly picked up a jellyfish on the beach - effectively scaring the crap out of anyone within a hundred foot radius! Those instantaneous Mommy instincts are bizarre! He absolutely relished in the cool breeze, even holding his arms out "king of the world" style - we got some beautiful photos that I will eventually post here too.

So, language. The words he now says include: ball, car, done, egg, blueb (for blueberry), wall (for walrus), peng (for penguin), bear, that, this, fish, bunny, frog, dog, el (for elephant), Mo (for Elmo), gape (for grape), bread, Sssss (for Sesame Street), bath, Mom, Mommy, Clay and Dad. He also says these body parts and can identify them: eyes, nose, ears, head, belly, mouth, and. . . wait for it. . . peen (yup, you guessed it, PENIS). And now, he seems to be repeating, with much better accuracy, most everything we say.

In addition, for a while he had stopped talking in gibberish sentences in favor of single words. But lately, he has taken up sentences again, and sometimes I detect the beginnings of real sentences like "Dad gave me" or something like that. His vocal range in sentences is vast and varied now too, he talks at all volume levels, all pitches high and low and in between, and with real enthusiasm. Neat!

He loves the movie "Cars" and enthusiastically yells out "Car!" very often! He also loves "The Incredibles" - but his all time favorite is still "Sesame Street" - which he requests once (sometimes twice) daily by name: "Sssss".

He continues to be a snuggly and loving little guy, often lifting his arms up to be held, then resting his head on your shoulder and actively squeezing your shoulders. He wakes up every night, somewhere between 2am and 6am and weasles his way into bed with us, but always snuggles up to me, pushing his little back up against my belly, and pulling my arms around him. Sometimes he squeezes my forearms lightly over and over again til he is asleep, and sometimes while he is still sleeping.

His rather disgusting new trick is reminiscent of how a Momma bird feeds her baby. He has taken great delight in feeding Danny and I lately, taking the remains of his crackers and shoving them into our mouths one after another. The other day, I was not paying attention, and he shoved a number of crackers into my mouth, I was chewing, and he leaned in for what seemed like one of his loving kisses. I didn't turn to look until the last moment, when I realized his mouth was OPEN, and he was trying to "feed" me some ABC crackers from his mouth! BLECH!

He continues to try to do this, but I will not be caught offguard again!

Well, that's about all I can get in right now! Off to the shower!