All About 18 Months*

Room service with Mama.

Toddlers are hilarious. They're these short little people who speak in barely decipherable language, and yet they have such a surprising handle on their world. He brings Adam a towel when he's in the shower. In Ikea he brought me a baking pan and told me it was hot. When he hears a leaf blower, he tells me "gagna" (gardeners).

Speaking of sounds, he's become really in tune with them lately. If a truck rolls by or a machine starts up, he'll start imitating the noise.

This month I've been noticing more emotional awareness on his part. He took a big swig of his water one morning and then tried to give Kona a sip. "Dogs don't drink from straws, Gus" I told him, and he looked...embarrassed? It was a look I hadn't seen before, and he seemed like he was about to cry. I felt so bad and immediately told him it was sweet of him to offer and gave him a hug. He also tries not to smile sometimes when he's doing something funny. Cracks me up.

His favorite book lately is this I Spy: An Alphabet in Art book I found recommended on Barbara Curtis' site. "'Py! 'Py!" he often requests. Each page is a classic painting, and you're supposed to find something in the painting that corresponds with the letter given. Obviously he doesn't know his letters yet, but we just look at the paintings together and find as many things as we can to talk about. It's really cool how he finds things even in some of the busier paintings and even the abstract ones. It's refreshing to look at some actual art, and I feel like I enjoy the pieces more as I "discover" them with him.

I'm going to give potty training a try when we get into our house (where I had the foresight to rip out all the carpeting). He's checked off everything on the ready for potty training list. He's been interested in the toilet and recently started pulling down his pants and sometimes removing his diaper. I've heard it's not great to potty train right before the next baby comes, but if we regress, we'll deal with it. Cloth diapering would be a lot easier if we can at least get solids in the toilet...

Gus through a vase

A highlight of this last month was Gus getting down on the dance floor at our church's 10th anniversary party. He absolutely loved being out there with everyone and shaking his groove thing. He got some clapping started; he danced in the middle of the circle; he went up girls and grabbed their hands and danced with them. He had a blast. Clearly he inherited his dad's love of the dance floor.

(Only a fraction of the cuteness. And a bummer that the lighting isn't better.)

*I realized that I've been labeling these posts with the age he is turning and talking about what he did in the previous month. Kinda makes things confusing, and I'm all about copying and pasting this into the baby book...