The Way You Do the Things you Do (at 18 months)

Happy 18 months Holden!

Tomorrow makes it official: you are One-and-a-half. Here are some of the highlights of your current life.

Your Love Of...
Well, Dogs are easily your favorite animal - you can say 'woof woof'...you also like to say 'doodle-doodle-do' when we ask you what a rooster says. You are also good at picking out giraffes.

You L-O-V-E books. We go to the library at least once a week for Book Baby, and you love to be read to. Especially, on the potty

• From the Library: Sheep Out to Eat, The Turnip Tale, I Like Trains
• From Your Collection: A is for Ark, Your Counting Book
  
• From My Collection:Stephen Colbert's "I Am America and So Can You," Kate Spade's "Manners" & "Style" and Andy Warhols "Flowers, Flowers, Flowers." (You are such a young little hipster)

You love spending time with your cousins -- and often favor your Aunt Cassandra, Mama Suite AND Grandma to me. I try to not let it upset me.
You love ALL music. It's funny when I change it to KRCL and Reggae is playing... you dig the rasta.

Picking the petals off of roses... oddly enough you also like picking tomatoes that aren't ripe and our peppers from the salsa garden that are few and far between. The lettuce has also been a little blitzed under your tutelage.

You love pulling out the beets and carrying them in a bunch to the kitchen. I find this to be seven varieties of adorableness.

Sleeping


We just recently moved to one nap a day (yes, Mommy is part of this process.). It's one less bed-time snuggle we get during the day, but we seem to make up cuddle time with book reading.

You've been sleeping in your own bed for a while now (a twin mattress on the floor of the nursery... so much for all the co-sleeping non-believers who said "You'll never get that kid out of your bed!") Though I'll often join you in your room for an extra hour or two of shut eye in the mornings since you enjoy a cup of milk to top-off the morning.

Now you're also doing this thing where you wake up and don't even come into our room to get into bed with us. You just walk into the kitchen and stand by the fridge until we join you either making an odd whinning-fake-crying noise or yessling "Maaaam. Maaam." (Daddy says we should just start putting milk-on-ice in your room.)

That Whole EC/Potty Thing
You are doing awesome with your Potty Learning. I can't believe we've been at it for a year now. Just giving you 'pottytunities.' Your mornings are pretty much clockwork. There's still plenty of 'misses' but it's been so low key, and it just seems a part of the communication process we have.
You are really good at telling us when you're wet, AND you've even made it to the potty by yourself when you're having diaper free time. I don't think it will be long before we make the full transition out of diapers and training pants. This "experiment" has been a nice gentle-parenting technique for us to try. I feel like it gives us a love of face-to-face time; not to mention their are days it has been one comedy or errors after another.

Signing Time with... Just Us
You can 'sign' the following words: please, finished, milk, more, shoes (looks like milk) and occasionally you'll throw out a 'potty' and 'bird' or 'cat.' We haven't been real committed to the signing thing, but the please and finished signals have been exceptionally helpful.

Things You're Working Out

You try to do the actions to Itsy-Bitsy (Eensy-Weensy?) Spider.

You throw things... a lot of things (especially food -- I am trying to figure out what to do with about this). You think EVERYTHING IS A BASEBALL....I blame your father.

You try to sing Darth Vader's March from Star Wars with your cousins: Duh-duh-duh duh-da-dun, duh-da-dun.

You like sprinklers but the randomness of slash-pads (like at Gateway) kind of doesn't thrill you at all.

Our Little Foodie
Food-wise you're still a pretty good eater though outside of dairy and cheese you're not really into eating animal: meat, chicken, fish, eggs -- you really don't like it (I am reading this as a reverence for creation and the environmental concerns associated with mass consumption of animals... but that could be my own bias.)

Your favorite food right now is watermelon. You have developed an aversion for all things citrus - which is odd since you used to eat a bucket of tangelos/cutie oranges a week.

You like to bite cherry tomatoes and chocolate chips and then spit them out as soon as they're in your mouth.

You like to help me cook. As soon as I start baking or cooking anything you'll go into the dining room and try and push a chair into the kitchen to help me. I know it's just going to keep getting easier for you to help me. I really enjoy this time together. I hope you continue to love to cook with me - it is something that will help you and your family throughout your life.

Just Some Other Stuff
I think you're pretty good at following directions.

You think if we put on shoes it means you get to go outside (which is usually true).

It's easiest to dress you in front of our 9 x 4 foot mirror. You like to check yourself out from all angles after.

You're a climber.

You make the sound when the garage door comes up - you love to wave to people in trucks.

Your blonder than blond, and have eyes that are bluer than blue, and we love you Mr Holden. Thanks for joining our team.