Happy 18 Months!

August 26, 2010
My sweet Max, you are 18 months old!

Here is what we did on the day you turned 18 months old:

You woke up at 6:15am. This is a little early for you, usually it's about 6:50 or 7am. You talked to yourself for awhile but when you started to get cranky, I came in. You smiled at me and reached for me, I got you out of your crib.

You signed "milk" and said "baa" (which has been your word for milk lately) almost immediately, so we headed downstairs to get you some whole milk in one of your new Toy Story sippy cups that your dad picked up for you last week.

I turned on the TV to kind of help me wake up a little, Sid the Science kid en Espanol. You didn't really watch it, you were playing in the kitchen, I was kind of dozing on the couch. You brought me a box of Bisquick and said "Crackah, pleease!" I told you that was not a box of crackers, it was pancake mix. You still wanted me to do something with it, we made pancakes for breakfast to celebrate your 1/2 birthday. You usually have your mixed grain cereal with either applesauce or yogurt but today you got pancakes with syrup, some dry life cereal, and half a banana.

We then kind of bummed around the house, we usually go for a walk in the mornings between 9-10am but it has just been so hot by that time the past few days that I figured we'd just do our walk later in the evening. You were happy playing in your room and following me and dad around while we got ready. Dad watched Elmo videos with you on the computer while I got ready. We had family prayer before dad left for school, at the end you said "men!" and we told you how great that is! You had a tiny bit of a hard time saying good bye to dad.

At about 10am I started getting you ready for our Music class called "Music Makers" that we have at the church. Just before we were going to leave I noticed a random wet spot on your carpet, I think it was coming from the air conditioning unit in your room and I think I fixed the problem, hopefully!

At 10:30am we were at Music Makers. We were only the 2nd ones there so we chatted with a friend and her little boy. We talked about Nursery since you'll be going there this Sunday now that you are 18 months. Our friend said her little boy did ok at first, but usually not so good. We'll see how you do!

Music class was fun. You marched all by yourself during Marching Time and shook your little jingle bells. By story and snack time you were pretty tired. It was past your nap time so we left after the first story

You fell asleep in the car just as we arrived home. I carried you in and laid you down without any problem. You slept for two hours. I put dinner in the crock pot, Mexican Lentils, ate lunch and did the usual nap time things.

By the time you woke up, Dad was home. He was getting ready to go skateboarding with our neighbor Peter. He hadn't been in awhile and wanted to try out this skate park in Costa Mesa. You were a little cranky when you woke up and daddy got you out of your crib.

We had lunch, left over pot roast with vegetables and orange slices. You ate a few good bites.

We said good bye to dad again, it was a little hard for you again, and then we slowly got ready to go to the Irvine Spectrum. We played a long game of "find the belly button" you find mine, I find yours, we giggle, it's fun.

We finally got stuff together to head to the Spectrum. I had some returns to make and I thought I'd let you run around in the kids fountain, something fun to celebrate your 18 months. You were really good in your stroller. Since you were content I decided to stroll through Anthropologie and put on my favorite perfume there, "Wish". We just looked, didn't buy anything, as usual! We returned two skirts to Old Navy, you danced to the music as we were waiting in line. We then passed the Carousel. No one was riding but there was an operator guy there. I dug up our punch pass with one punch left. I could tell you wanted to ride. The man said he'd turn it on just for us! How nice. You chose a pretty horse and kept a serious face just like you usually do during the whole ride! It's cute. You pointed out the tiger and bear to me.

We then headed to Carter's but did a quick stroll through the Bellini Baby Boutique, I've been strolling through there since I was pregnant with you, another store where we usually just look and don't buy. At Carter's you really wanted to get out of the stroller. I was looking at a rack that was near the toys so I let you out and you started playing with them. Five seconds later I couldn't find you, it was the longest 30 seconds of my life until the clerk told me you'd run across the store to the lego table. Whew! We were the only ones in the store so I knew you couldn't have been too lost. We exchanged something there. You didn't want to leave the legos so we stayed and played with them instead of playing in the fountain like originally planned.

We walked through Nordstrom on the way out, you wanted to try on shoes for a minute, you're so good at saying "shoes" lately. When we got to the car you did NOT want to get in your carseat! It was a struggle, but I got you in and you were happy within a couple seconds.

We parked at home and then stopped at our playground. At first it was just us, but then our cute neighbors came out to play. A bunch of our friends come out to play at this time of the day. It's the best. I got a call from dad saying we'd have a guest for dinner so we hurried home to get ready, and we had a skype appointment with Auntie Jessica.

We got home and had dinner, Mexican Lentils with Ground Turkey, you ate it right up. Skyped with Auntie for awhile, hooray! Then our dinner guest came over, your friend Violet's dad his name is Clark. Violet just moved away and we miss her so (and her mom too)! It was fun to talk with her dad. I got you ready for bed during dinner and you were very tired, it was almost 7pm, definitely bed time. We said good bye to Clark and to your daddy as they left to the air port. It was hard to say good bye to daddy at the door for the third time in one day.

I took you upstairs to your room, we said prayers, then I nursed you for what is probably the last time. We sang our usual songs, "I am a Child of God", "My Life is a Gift" and "This is My Beloved Son" and then "Edelweiss". I kissed you good night and laid you down in your crib. It was a happy day, you are a happy boy.

I can't believe it has been 18 months! I love spending my days with you, you fill them with sunshine. I love you and love being your Mama!