18 Months

You are finally old enough to officially go to nursery... as my calling is in nursery, you've been in there since about 9 months old. Daddy joins us in there too, why not? :)

Photo: From the cruise, you playing with Jaxon, your cousin who is 9, you love him more than you love mommy. :)

Vocabulary: You can say around 40 words, we tried counting and it really got up there. You repeat anything we ask you to, not that it sounds exactly like it, but it sure is cute. You can make most animal sounds, I need to video that. The monkey "oo oo oo, ah ah ah", the elephant you're pretty good at, the rooster, "cock-ah", etc.You communicate pretty well and can tell us what you want.

Manners: You have such sweet manners. You say please and thank you for everything. Seriously. It's been great, you don't really fuss much... sometimes you keep saying please and forget to tell me what it is you want so it takes awhile to figure out why you're saying please over and over.

Places Visited This Month: You went on your first cruise out of LA, CA down the Baja to Puerta Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas, and La Paz... your first visit to Mexico. We visited grandparents in Utah and California... all 3 sets. We went to Fort Collins, CO to go shopping and you made it over the Cheyenne to see your cousin, Darby get baptized.

Dylan at 18 Months:

• You are very jealous. I still cannot hold another baby without you running over and fussing for me to pick you up too.
• You sleep from about 7:30-7:30 or 8:00. We love it.
• You take one nap every day from about 12-2.
• You're a good traveler as long as you have your dvd player, which plays songs with cartoons dancing, sometimes you sing and dance along.
• You love hugs and kisses. You hug all of your friends.
• You're a momma's boy, you choose mommy over anybody.
• You're a goof. You love to watch yourself in the mirror making faces, fussing, growling, laughing, etc.
• You love making faces at people and when they make faces back you laugh.
• You love cars, balls, music, water (to play in), books (esp if they have flips or parts to remove) and your sippy cup.
• You like watching cartoons in the morning: sesame street, barney, dinosaur train, whatever is on. If you're in the other room playing and I turn off the tv, you run out and beg for me to turn it back on... you're like mommy... you like the background noise.
• You love wearing hats. If you find one, you put it on... and giggle.
• If I go anywhere near the front door, you run over as if you're scared I'm going to leave you. You start begging for your coat right away. You don't even like me to take out the garbage without bringing you (and it is COLD outside).
• You follow me around in the morning. You pick out the toy you want to play with and bring it in by my computer, then when I go to the kitchen you pick it up and follow me in there, then you follow me to the bathroom, etc. It's pretty cute.
• You still say "no" a lot and you do not say "yes" at all. If you want something you either repeat the word or look at me in silence waiting for it. 
• You did you first somersault yesterday in Sacrament meeting. haha.
• When you have friends over you do not like sharing your toys. You're very territorial.
• You love the colored pencils, sometimes you even draw with them... but, mostly you take them out of the box and put them back in, over and over.
• You love cuddling with mommy or daddy and with stuffed animals. 

We just love you to pieces. We are so grateful to have you in our lives. 

Love,

Mommy & Daddy

New Coat

You got this adorable new coat from Grandma Jill as an early Christmas present.

Here is proof that you don't always love when I run away to snap pictures of you. 

Yes, I agree, you should be the model for this coat. You are too cute!

16 Months Old

16 Months Old

25 Pounds

Uber Tall

Vocabulary: Thank you, no (said constantly), peek-a-boo ("pay-a-boo"), baby, more ("mo"), nose ("no"), eye, toes ("toe"), cheek, bye-bye, ow, etc. You don't really say your s's but you pick up on so many words so easily. You're a smarty pants. 

My dear sweet Dylan,

You are 16 months old today. I feel like I was just writing your 15 month letter yesterday. I'm already starting to miss your babyness. :) I love you so much. My heart just melts even thinking about you. 

You are becoming such a character. You find hilarity in almost any moment. You laugh when we bow our heads and pray. You just giggle. Then you'll try to mock it (fold your arms, bow your head) and look up at us and start laughing again. haha. 

You make faces at yourself in the mirror every day. You watch yourself smile, laugh, pucker lips, jump, dance, and even fake cry. 

You mimmic everything. You try to repeat a lot of words we say. If another kid cries, you will try to make the same sound and you'll distort your face to look like you're crying too. If we laugh, you laugh... this entertains large groups of people very easily. 

You love hugs. You give every kid a hug. You even kissed Lillie Killpack today (your 18 month old friend). Then she licked your cheek. haha.

You are independent, yet check to make sure I'm there. You like to walk off by yourself, but will check every 10 feet to make sure I'm behind you still. At home you like to sit on my lap while I work at the computer, you push all the keys on the keyboard and play with the mouse... it's hard to get work done with you here, but you are pretty cute acting like you have so much business to attend to. You like to play in the same room that I'm in, you do not like to go off by yourself.

We finally weaned you from the bottle. You're now using a sippy cup, happily. You were way attached to the bottle, so I'm glad the second time we tried to wean you it worked with only a few frustrated no's. 

No. You say "no" ALL.THE.TIME. You love that word. If you don't understand what I'm asking you, you think for a second because you don't want to say no if it's something you want. We sometimes ask you things just to hear your cute little "no." You'll even come to my face, point at me, and yell, "NO!" You may have learned that from me.

I make loud noises sometimes, just joking around or if I'm frustrated... you copy all of them. 

You understand what time out is now... but you don't really mind it. You find it a funny game to sneak away from the wall, have me "yell" at you to get back, and you run back to the wall. 

If Dadda or I are lying down, you like to come put your face right over ours and talk to us. 

You're a little chatterbox. You say hi to everyone. You say hi to every stuffed animal, action figure, picture of people on boxes or magazines, etc. When you say "hi" you smile and wait for a response and you'll say hi over and over until you get a response from someone. You also will lean forward and put your face in another kid's face to say hi.

You like to talk all day long. I'm pretty sure you think you make sense. It's fun to hear you try to learn a new word. Today it was "grapes" and you just kept make a "pake" type sound. It was so cute!

If we're at home, you can be a handful, but still pretty easy. If we're in public, you are sooo easy! You are so entertained by other people you barely think about your own needs. 

Immediately upon entering the car, you start to point at the radio and fuss until I turn it on. If I turn it down at any point, you fuss until it's turned up to the proper volume. You love music. You love any cartoon that is singing, cartoon-talking is boring.

You love to draw. You've discovered markers, pens, pencils, etc. and you always want to play with them and write all over things. You learned you can write on your hand and that entertained you for awhile.

I found you one day last week with blush all over your face. It was pretty funny. I didn't have time to take a picture because we had to run out the door.

You just got your last canine in yesterday. YAY! You now have all of your first 16 teeth... should be a break now from your teething tears. You poor thing.

You're sleeping like an angel again since you're not sick and you're done teething.

You're still allergic to milk and eggs, we're crossing our fingers this allergy goes away... for now, I'm continuously learning of new foods I can feed you as I used to feel so limited without milk. 

You had your first Halloween. You were a soccer player from Ireland. You really got the hang of getting candy from everyone. You got to have your first sucker, pixie stick, skittles, starburst, laffy taffy, sweetarts, etc. The only thing you didn't love was sweetarts and starburst. 

It's been so much fun watching you learn and grow. You get really focused on different projects and you're so curious to understand how things work. You know how to turn on and off almost everything in the apartment, including all of your toys. You are mad that you haven't yet figured out how to take the lid off of your sippy cup (hopefully that will take awhile). You love opening and closing doors. People always comment on how it looks like you're trying to figure something out or comment that you're a thinker. 

After I change your poopy diaper, I put it in a sack to take out to the dumpster (they stink up our apartment). You love to play with the sack and you always want to carry it to the dumpster and throw it in yourself.

You've started hitting yourself in the head and you say "Ow" every time you hit it.

You give us kisses with flat lips. The last couple of days you've been practicing puckering your lips for kisses. You'll watch yourself in the mirror to make sure you're doing it right, then you'll lean in for a proper kiss. :)

You love to laugh. You love when daddy comes home. You love to dance and you love when people notice you dancing. You love nursery at church. You love to play with other kids. You don't mind being babysat, we've never had a problem leaving you with someone.You prefer if I come and get you in the morning rather than daddy, probably because you're used to it and you like a schedule.

I've started a photography business, who knows how long I'll keep it up... but for now, you're my number one subject. I LOVE this picture of you.

I love you forever and a day! 

Love,

Mommy

Playgroup

Here you are are playgroup!

You are just the cutest thing. You go up to every kid there and put your face inches from theirs and smile and say, "Hi!" Rarely do they say hi back, but you don't mind. You're just so social. Once you're done with your "hi's", you find a ball or toy and play pretty well by yourself. Sometimes you'll follow another kid around for awhile, especially if they have a toy you want. You've learned when another little kid comes up to you that they're probably going to try to take your toy away, so you quickly hold it out of their reach. It's pretty funny.

Other kids have hit you, but the worst thing you've done is take a toy or hug them. A couple nights ago you kept hugging Wade (the Bailey's 3 year old) and you wouldn't let go, he practically had to throw you off of him. Where was my camera??? You just love other kids and you love hugging them. You're so sweet. I just wish we could find another kid who wanted all of your hugs. haha. Sometimes you end up tackling them to the ground to get your hug (one hit his head on the cement from your hug, another just fell on carpet, but still cried).

We go to playgroup every Wednesday at 10:30 and you just love to go and play. I love you.

 

Bath time is your favorite time!

15 Months Old

Hi dear baby boy,

I love you so much. You are just the most precious little thing that I am so blessed to see and hold every single day. It's been so sad this week because you have croup, and it just would not go away, even with the steroids that the doctor gave you to help your throat not be so swollen. We had to go get the steroids a second time and your hoarse voice is gone... but you still cough a little bit. I can tell it's better, but it's still hard to watch you be in so much pain and so tired and sick. I wish I could take it away, but all I can do is hold you and let you watch cartoon songs on youtube in my lap or lying on the bed all day.

Today you finally have some energy back, so I followed you wherever you wanted to go exploring outside today. I didn't even make you come inside until you wanted to. Every walk we take you gather rocks in your hands and carry them the whole time. When we get back to our little apartment, you bang the rocks on the metal railing and you love the sound it makes.

You just got your first tricycle. It's so cute and you love it! Your feet almost reach far enough to use it yourself.

We spend most of our days playing, reading, building legos, going for walks, playing at the playground, going to playgroup with friends, eating, and sleeping.

All about you at 15 months old:

• You are still 25 pounds and growing like a weed. You are so tall!
• Your a social butterfly - wherever we go you will walk up to groups of strangers and just look at them, sometimes you say hi to them.
• You love hugging other kids.
• You love kisses.
• When you're done eating in your highchair you throw any remaining food off. It's so frustrating and we can't get you to stop it! haha, but you find it funny and will throw things off pretty fast before we catch you.
• You love the spacebar (on the computer keyboard) and the mouse. You've learned that the spacebar will stop and start your videos.
• You love cell phones and get nervous when someone answers the calls you make.
• When we go somewhere new, you shoot off and start exploring everywhere you can go.
• We left you in nursery without us for 30 minutes and you didn't care we were gone (my calling is a nursery leader).
• In the mornings I have to be the one to get you. I try to sleep in, but if Daddy gets you then you cry and knock on my door until I come out. He can usually distract you for a little bit, but you need your momma cuddles first thing.
• You love falling into our soft bed.
• You make faces at yourself in the mirror. I even caught you looking at yourself while you fake cried to see what you look like. haha.
• You love to laugh. You fake laugh if all the adults around you are laughing.
• You love to dance. Your newest dance move is lifting your shoulders up and down.
• Your crib is right next to a dresser; when we leave you in there to sleep, you will open the top drawer and empty all of Daddy's garments out.
• You like looking under things like couches and cars, or if there's a hole you like to look in it and see what's there.
• You love water. Baths are the highlight of your day. If it rained, you like to play in the rain gutters (as water drips out of them). If I turn the water on in the sink you fuss to be lifted up so you can play in the water.
• You love cameras. I can hardly get you to perform though because you just want to watch yourself on video.

Night Night

At 15 months old: You just walked to your crib, said "night night," and tried to crawl in... or climb in. It was sooooo cute! I'm so glad you learned to say "night night" from a friend who just babysat you this weekend. You actually asked for a nap!! Finally!! Hopefully this means the end of fighting naptime. Not like you were that bad anyway...