1.5 years

My sweet Colterman,

I can't believe it, but you are 18 months old now! I thought the first six months of your life went quick, but this felt even quicker. Maybe because you are SO busy that days pass in the blink of an eye. I have a feeling it will take me awhile to write this post, because every now and then you'll do things and i'll think "I've got to include that on my post!" There are so many fun little things, and a few not fun things about this age that I want to remember. Here are some of them.

You still absolutely LOVE being outside. You talk a lot inside, but you get outdoors and you are like a different child. Constantly chattering, constantly exploring, picking up things, throwing things, falling down, getting up, jumping in the bark, throwing balls down the hill, collecting them in the trunk of your tricycle, filling up your water can only to dump it on your belly, hiding behind the mailboxes, waving to people driving by, getting so excited about the mail man (my favorite word you say), running away from me, climbing up hills and looking at me with a proud grin, running down hills saying "woah woah woah woah", posing by a tree saying "cheese", hiding behind trees, pulling leaves off trees, finding random snail shells and carrying them around, looking at the kitty in the Percy's window, trying to steal the fake frogs out of our neighbor's yard.. and this can all be in one morning. You belong outside. You almost always cry when we have to come inside unless I can distract you with a cracker, ringing the door bell, or letting you shut the garage door.

                                 

I used to keep track of the words you were saying ,but around 17 1/2 months, you just went crazy with your language skills. I had a list of 32 words before I gave up, because now you say at least 2-3 new words a day. It's just insane to watch you learn. I will be talking to someone and you'll randomly repeat a word from my conversation. The only two things you say that combines two words are "push it" and "watch choo choo" because those are pretty much some of your favorite things. Push it usually refers to any sort of button- elevator buttons, water fountain, laundry machine buttons, handicap door buttons- you love buttons. Watch choo choo refers to watching train videos on youtube. We try to limit videos to 1 time a week, because honestly you could easily become addicted. The funny thing is that you almost always cancel the video half way through by pushing buttons, but then you desperately want to watch more. Sometimes you say "watch truck" which refers to Caspar Babypant's "Butterfly driving a truck." During the part where he says "flutter, flutter flutter", you wave one hand back and forth. So cute. One of my favorite language things I don't want to forget is that you say "uppa" when you want up and down. I also love that you can tell me exactly what you want. When it's time for your nap, you'll say "push it" letting me know you want to turn off the light, then you'll say "lambie" then you'll say "chair" and then you'll usually say "rock." I also started cracking up the other day when you randomly started saying "march march march" while marching, and I realized that you were thinking of the Laurie Berkner song, we are the dinosaurs. Any time you see the dinosaur going to bed book, you say "march march march."

Not your best moments because you really wanted the camera, but here's a few words.







I love this age because you love playing games. One of your favorites is running from the door into the living room after we've counted to three. It is so cute because I know you want to play the game by you pretend counting. It basically sounds like "on, nu" as you back your little toosh up to the door. You also love to hide behind the curtains and run out. You love it when the curtain brushes over your face, which is one of my favorite sensations when I was younger. You love to play ring around the rosie, and you also like when I play "this little piggy" with your toes. You enjoy running under my legs, although you are getting so tall that it is hard for you to fit. You've recently gotten way into climbing and will totally climb all the way up on a cardboard box and stand up. You also like hiding in boxes with your stuffed animals.





One of your favorite times of day is bath time. All day long you go into the bathroom and try to convince me to let you use your color tablets. You always get so bummed when I say they are for bath time. Dad has also been busting out the little animal sponges that pop out from capsules after being placed in hot water.

Your favorite friends are still James and Saisha. You can't wait to see them running down the hall towards you. You've started running now and it's so sweet to watch you try to keep up with them while throwing your hands in the air yelling. When you say Saisha, it melts my heart. I'll try to get it on tape. You can also say aunt , but it's the version that rhymes with "haunt." You can also say Nana, Gigi, Kels, Aus, Harper, Mark, and  uncle. Still workin on grandpa.

Choo choos are your favorite things right now. We play choo choos several times a day and we bought you a train tunnel for your 18 mo. bday. You also love to stack blocks and will always say "uh oh" when the tower eventually falls down. You don't really like many indoor toys other than throwing balls, trains, dumping anything (you use this low voice when you say "dump"), and blocks. You'd rather get into the pantry and drag out the corn meal, rice, and almonds, thinking it's an amazing snack. You love to sit on the counter when i'm putting on my make up and sooner or later, all my make up ends up in the sink and you turn on the water, or you wipe one of my brushes on the counter, or you figure out how to unscrew my lip gloss and dig your finger in it. One random thing I want to remember is that you know which clothes and shoes belong to dad and I. It's not uncommon for you to go to the shoe basket and start saying "dada dada" as you carry one of his shoes around. You have a soft heart for animals and love to be snuggled up on the couch with all your animals around you. You love it when we drive through "tunnels" (which are really highway overpasses), and you will always ask for more. You are very observant when i'm driving. It's amazing how far away you can spot an airplane. You'll start making this dark growl like a car engine and I know you've seen an airplane. You also remember that there are diggers on the corner by our house and will start talking about them when we're still far away. You know the exit to go to James and Saisha's house, and will cry when I turn towards Edmonds, until I tell you we're going to the water, and then you normally get quiet and say "choo choo" because you know there are trains down in Edmonds. You always spot balloons at the furniture stores when we get on the freeway, and immediately sign more. You know we are at church when we drive into the parking lot, and will start waving your hand for the music. You know how to get from kids ministry to the auditorium for the music. You love to spot school buses and mail men on the road.



You still love books. It's a challenge to cut you off before nap and bed time because you always find just one more to read. Some of your favorites are chugga chugga choo choo, Richard Scarry, Millions of Cats, Quiet as a Cricket, The Bravest Fish, Gladys Goes Out to lunch, The Day the Babies Ran Away, and Goodnight Goodnight Construction Site.

Ok, now that i've told you about so many fun things you do, I can share some of my frustrations with parenting a toddler. You have decided that it is super fun to throw toys and food all over the place. You know it's wrong because as you throw it, you say "NO!" I look at you and tell you that if you throw another toy/food that you're going to go in time out, and you'll look me right in the eye and throw something. We used to put you on the couch for time outs, but then you discovered you can get right off, so now we've resorted to using the high chair. Some days are great with no time outs, other mornings are a struggle like yesterday when you threw blueberries, and then wouldn't pick them up and throw them out. I know it's a normal part of toddlerhood, but it's crazy to see your sinful nature coming out so easily! I'm sure i'm just like you, I just say and do different things when I don't get my way.That's really the main challenge right now in parenting! Oh .. and you getting into my hot cocoa!

You've gotten a little pickier with food than you used to be. You will eat carbs, dairy and fruit any time of the day, but it's more of a challenge to get in the veggies and protein. I've started giving you "dip dip" which really helps, except you usually end up dipping your whole hand in the dip and eating it, or dipping a piece of meat in the dip, only to suck the dip off. You love dip so much that you still pretend to dip things on your plate even if there's nothing there. We finally dropped down to 1 nap. I wasn't sure you ever would because you get up so stinkin early! You still get up between 6-6:30, take a nap around 12:30, and we try to get you in bed between 7-7:30, but you normally don't fall asleep until around 8. I usually sing to you before bed, and recently you've started putting your hands over your ears like my singing is super bad. Come on, act like your mom has a good voice! Your molars are finally through on the bottom, and almost through on the top. Man teething has been a doozy.

Well I think that's it for now. I'm sure i'll think of something right after I post this, but I've got to cut myself off at some point :) I love you Colterman.