18 months

Ari turned 18 months old yesterday. I can't believe it. He celebrated by throwing his best toddler tantrum yet in the afternoon at his nana's and papa's house. :-P It was impressive. He was tired though.

Anyway, yes. A year and a half. Things I know and love about my son:

* he loves snuggles and kisses and wakes me up with them every morning.
* he loves music.
* he loves anything with wheels.
* he has really good fine motor skills for his age.
* he loves books.
* he knows what he wants almost always. No wishy washy kid here.
* he loves to be outdoors.
* he loves water (i.e. baths, swimming etc) - also loves to drink water. ;)
* he likes all kinds of different food - fruit, veggies, meat, chicken fajitas and tacos, chili, Asian food, cheese, yogurt, bread, even some unusual things like artichokes.
* he has adorably curly hair.
* he likes to sing and dance.
* he loves his daddy AND his mommy and seems to share his favoritism pretty equally now.
* he is pretty shy BUT also:
* his separation anxiety has improved so much the past couple of months.
* he still loves his mama's milk.

Things he knows and/or can do:

* mimics most things we say, his vocabulary grows almost daily right now, both signs and verbal. I haven't even tried to count his words... he knows around a dozen signs, probably a couple dozen words or more.
* strings words and/or signs together 2-3 at a time (help please mama, more please, etc)
* climbs on everything.
* knows most of his body parts (ears, nose, mouth, cheeks, hair, head, neck, arms, legs, feet, hands, toes, fingers, knees, back, butt....).
* is learning the colors (yellow and red so far).
* takes his socks off.
* can help put his pants on and take them off now while still standing.
* can do a lot of hand games to songs (patty cake, wheels on the bus, itsy bitsy spider, etc).
* can problem solve - i.e., he wants to get on the couch but can't quite do it, so he gets his foot stool and moves it in front of the couch.
* can follow simple directions (please close the door, can you get your baby doll? etc)


I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff because I'm really tired but that's the gist of it. ;) (He is still working on canine #2, I wish all four would come in already so we could maybe get a little more sleep!) I love my little boy, he is so sweet and funny and smart and cute!!