Happy Half Birthday, Son! And Merry Christmas!
This 18th month, we started by celebrating Thanksgiving on November 26th and ended the month by celebrating Christmas! Daddy and I had so much fun with you and your sister this holiday season! The Christmas tree really intrigued you! So many "balls" tempting you to grab them and throw them! There were a few casualties! You loved looking at Christmas lights and sitting on Santa's lap several different times. You loved all your presents, too (cars--including lots from Daddy's childhood, a football, a truck sweatshirt, a ride-on toy, picture album, new silverware, and an awesome car table that Daddy built)!
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| A quiet, simple Thanksgiving with just our family. |
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| Looking so big! |
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| Holiday Lights at the Folsom Zoo |
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| Posing in your Christmas jammies |
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| Daddy worked hard for weeks on your train table. Lots of late nights! |
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| We let you open presents from relatives throughout the Christmas season as they came in the mail. That way, you weren't too overwhelmed by presents on Christmas Day, plus it made the holiday season more fun as it went! |
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| Filling the luminaries with sand on Christmas Eve |
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| Love simple traditions with you guys! |
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| Christmas morning, you were so excited to walk out and see your new car table! |
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| Opening stockings |
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| Thanksgiving selfies! |
On November 28th, you got your first hair cut. You did so well sitting still. It was easy! Goodbye, mullet!
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| Haha look at that hair! |
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| Look at you being so amazing! |
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| Celebratory Dairy Queen ice cream cone |
This month, you have been climbing onto the dining chairs. We switched you from your high chair to a booster seat at the dining table. You love being more like a big kid! Sometimes you stand on the chairs, fold over at the waist and reach for something on the middle of the dining table. You even push the dining chair into the kitchen sometimes and climb onto it, stand up and look for trouble! You are keeping me on my toes!
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| Trouble! |
We had a scare one night when you got into a bottle of white-out and rubbed it in your eye. I had to call Poison Control. Crazy boy! Gah!
You cut your last few canine teeth so now you have a full mouth of teeth! Wow! Your smile is perfect! You were a little moody/drooling/biting your fingers this month. We are so glad those final teeth broke through!
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| You are beginning to identify some of the pictures in this book. |
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| Best smile! |
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| You love car books the most. |
This month, you learned how to give hugs. It is so sweet! I love your kisses and hugs so much. Could you be any more awesome? Oh my gosh. I just adore watching you run into Whitney's open arms and giving her the biggest squeeze, arms wrapped around her middle. It is simply adorable! You bring us such joy. You are the perfect little boy!
You love to dance. Your dance moves include throwin' elbows, twisting at the waist and bending your knees a little bit and bobbing up and down. It makes us laugh! You love throwing balls, playing tackle football (you can say, "Fumble!", "Set!" (touching one hand to the floor) and "Football!"). You like to shoot hoops with the basketball. You are so athletic already! Playing with cars and making "vroom" sounds is another favorite activity. You also enjoy talking on toy phones and can say "Hi!" and " Hello!" You love to jump on beds and on the couch (even though you aren't supposed to).
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| Shootin' hoops! |
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| Here you are saying, "Poh boh!" (peek-a-boo!). You also say, "Boo!" and can say, "Ahhh!" and act scared! |
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| Tackle! |
You understand what we say and can follow commands and understand things like "Go get your shoes!" and "Time for a bath", "Let's go outside", "Put your head down" (on my shoulder), "Give me a kiss", "Put that back/throw it in the trash", "Don't touch that/That's not yours", etc. This month, you learned how to say, "Buh-bye!" and wave. You love waving at cars on the street. You can say, "Sissy" for "sister". You can say, "Cheese" (for the food and for the camera). I love it when you say, "Okay okay okay!" That's another new one! Most of the time you grunt and gesture. But I know exactly what you mean most of the time. And believe me, I'm not in a hurry for you to talk fluently (wish there was a mute button for Whitney sometimes!).
You love to sleep and can say, " Nigh nigh!" You adore your two blankets and two lovies which are called Dolly and Doggie! You take them everywhere! You are so easy to put down for naps and bed. Sometimes you go running into your room on your own accord and gesture that you want to be lifted into bed! Amazing! You are quite settled into your routine of bedtime 6:30 or 7:00 pm till 7:00ish in the morning! A few times this month, you woke up at 7:45 am!! That was an amazing gift to Mommy. Your nap is 1.5-2.5 hours long lately.
You now love playing Ring Around the Rosie. You laugh so hard when everyone else falls down. You just stand there and giggle, and sometimes you fall down as a delayed reaction. You also like to hold our hands to pray as a family before dinner. You are the sweetest little gem, I'm tellin' ya.
You are also very eager to help put away the clean dishes from the dishwasher. Surprisingly, you haven't broken anything! You love being helpful! You know how to open the child locks with the magnet to put stuff away (and help yourself to snacks from the pantry (your favorite food is dried cherries!).
You also know how to open the door to the garage. Yikes!
You have become pickier with eating. I think it is because you are teething. You like to try meat from our dinners. You don't like veggies although you have tasted and spit out carrot sticks a few times. You love smoothies, fruit pouches, dried fruit, sometimes cheese and lunch meat, sometimes dry cinnamon raisin bagels. You love yogurt and Cheerios, blueberries and strawberries. You love oatmeal bars and the fruit/nut/date bars that I make. Sometimes you also like muffins/pancakes/waffles. I feel like I have to catch you in the right mood in order for you to eat most things! You exclusively drink water, having not taken interest in milk (I don't give you juice yet).
That sums it up for this month, I think!
I can't believe you are 1.5 years old!
Time flies when you're having fun!!
