For three days I was wondering where you all went…and then I realized this post was tagged as ‘private.’ Oops!

Dear (best little boy in the world),

You’re 18 months old and your daddy and I can hardly even believe it! It’s been 6 months since my last formal letter to you and now that I’m trying to remember everything to record it here I realize what a bad idea “just twice a year after the first birthday” was. Quarterly letters would be a better idea and I’ll try to remember that from now on. (Don’t hold me to it, but I promise to do my best.)

In the last 6 months…

-You’ve gone from taking your first independent steps the night before you turned one to running everywhere and only stopping to sleep.
-You’ve cut your 15 month molars on top & bottom and have been working on both eye teeth and 2 year molars – neither of which will show their damn faces already so you continue to suffer intermittently.
-We moved into your second home and you handled it like the champ that you are. I think you actually enjoyed the moving process because you loved the boxes, and you loved coming to the empty new house to run around. You slept fine in your new room right from the first nap on moving day (until the teeth, of course) and it’s like you’ve always lived here. We’ll miss the big back yard at the old place, but not the yard work and we live right on a park now so it’s like a huge yard to run in that we never have to mow. The best of both worlds.
-Eight days after your birthday we found out that we have another baby on the way. We’re so excited to give you a built in friend and support system and to grow our family.
-You’ve gone from saying “Mama” and “Dada” to well over 75 words and word combinations that actually make sense. You also combine words and signs which is really very cool. You say “More” and sign “Please” at the same time very often. You also say “On” and sign “Please” when you want to turn the light on.
-On that topic…you have a fascination with switches and could turn lights on and off all day if we had nowhere else to be.
-You have developed an insane love for dancing. You point to the stereo and say “Dance!” and shake your booty like nobody’s business. When you hear any kind of music anywhere you are, you immediately start to bop and you are usually right on the beat. (I assure you that you do NOT get that from your dad.)
-You started to go to a wonderful day home at 13.5 months and you love it so much that you want to go on the weekends. We were so incredibly lucky to find such wonderful care for you! (Honestly, I’d have lived in a box and given up my career completely before I’d have left you at some of the places we checked out.) You wake up and eat a few bites of breakfast before declaring that you’re “All done,” and telling me “Keys. Go play.” You giggle as we pull into the driveway and smile as your friends yell your name to welcome you. You nap better there than you ever have at home (probably from exhaustion). You rarely are happy to leave with me when I come to pick you up as you’d rather stay and play with your friends. I dreaded leaving you there (anywhere really – nothing to do with the actual place we chose) and now am so glad that you’ve had this opportunity because you’ve grown so much, learned so much and loved it so much. I feel guilty making you stay home with me for a year now so you’ll be going to visit your friends on a drop in basis when I have appointments for me or the baby or you just get sick of being at home and need some action.
-You have learned many body parts (the first of which was “penis” of course) and you love to point them out on Mommy and Daddy too. You love our noses and eyes most of all, and you can also identify mouth, ears, hair, bum, toes and feet.
-You have peed on the potty once and on the floor several times. We aren’t trying to potty train you but you love your potty and love the big toilet even more. You especially love to flush it and wave bye-bye to whatever is going down the drain. You like to sit on it and tell us when you’re “All done.” (Though all you’re done doing is sitting there.) One time you sat on the little potty in your bathroom and actually peed! It landed all over your clothes which were on the floor in preparation for your bath, but you were sitting on the potty so that was cool. You said “Pee pee. Uh oh.” and I laughed my head off. I don’t think you know yet when you’re peeing so potty regularity is still a ways off, but you do know when you poop. You tell me because you like to have your diaper changed after. You think a fart is also poop, though, and sometimes ask for a diaper change then too.
-Your favourite things to eat are fruit and yogurt. You are still primarily a vegetarian but every so often have one bite of meat before you remember that you hate it. That’s totally okay with us since it’s much healthier not to eat saturated fat. You eat healthier than anyone else I know so I’d never complain.
-We spend much of our summer playing outside. You LOVED the west side water park so we went there several times a week. Even once I had you all dressed to go home you often managed to sneak back into the sprays! You also loved your small pool in the back yard and went in there absolutely every day. Mavi often joined you for a little drink and you thought that was just the best! (Thai stayed far away and thought you were both insane.) You loved your sandbox too and would toss handfuls of sand onto the grass and laugh hysterically when Mavi pounced on them. Your other favourite thing was our big apple tree. You picked apples every day and would eat many of them. Usually you’d have one in each hand and liked to give Thai a bite off of the one you were eating.

It’s been a super fun and very active six months since your birthday. You give the best kisses and hugs in the world and your daddy and I take full advantage of every one you’re willing to give us since we know our supply might slow down eventually. I love when you wake up and call “Mommy!” instead of crying and when I come in to your room you immediately ask me to take you to Daddy. Watching you and your daddy together is one of the highlights of my life. You’re very lucky to have such a great man for a father (…and I’m lucky to have him for a husband. I hope you grow up to be a lot like him.)

I love you right up to the moon and back, Baby.

Love, Mummeeeeeee
xoxo