18 Months (Almost)

Dylan is a couple of days short of turning 18 months. I am amazed at how big he has gotten and how smart, and how much we love him more each day (if that is possible). He is funny, smart, active, beautiful, goofy, willful, loving and just plain wonderful and happy.

He says lots and lots all day long but we can't necessarily always tell what he means. For some time now, he knows how to shake his head "No" but in the last week or so, he has learned to also nod "Yes", except we think it still means "No". Today, we were over at our friends' home and he spotted a big pink ball. He yelled "ba! ba!" and got the ball to throw. He clearly said "ba" for ball. Then, later on he said "ba" again and pointed to his sippy bottle. Close enough. Yeah Dylan!

He is into going up and down stairs, general banging on everything, pushing whatever buttons he finds (actual ones, not just mine). He loves to refuse help during mealtime, loves to climb up and down our bed, opening and closing doors and drawers, loves to hold Chapstick tubes, play with boxes of mac and cheese (like building blocks), eating mac and cheese, eating fruit, and my favorite of all, he loves to be danced to sleep playing Jack Johnson tunes.

He has also learned how to give kisses, no sound, mouth open and sometimes with a bite at the end. He also knows how to give hugs, wave bye, and withhold them all at will. Basically, he is becoming more and more his own person each day. It is fun to watch him figure these things out. He is pretty darn smart.

He also loves a couple of DVDs. Seriously, these are the only ones he will actually sit down and watch. And as much as Elmo used to annoy me, Dylan really likes the darn creature. He also likes Baby Shakespeare, at least all the way until the part on snow, which is when he is done watching and will climb down from the chair and find something else to do. He has learned the word "video" as in when I say it, he climbs onto our big chair, sits there contentedly and waits for the video to come one. Then, at this point, mommy has 20 minutes to get the kitchen and dinner ready or cleaned up.

We went to the beach today and ran into a bunch of friends who had the same idea. That's because the weather has been perfect and it wasn't a day to be missed. He squealed in delight as he ran naked through the water, picking up sand and splashing around. He also got to sit on a kayak and paddle around with Bill for a few minutes. He was a bit freaked out, I have to admit, but we just have to make him feel safe each time we try it and soon enough, he should be ok.

Here are just a few of the pics as of late. I haven't taken as many, as I have been working a ton and I've been forgetting to tote around a camera whenever we go anywhere.


Today at the beach, with that goofy smile he loves to flash. He knows everyone laughs when he does it so when he feels like entertaining us, he does it over and over.

He climbed up onto this chair to watch Elmo. I think this is fast becoming Dylan's chair.

Sometimes, he just cracks himself up.

Giving Daddy a kiss.


"BA"

Our morning routine with opening and closing the door, a hundred times.

He isn't really looking at his own photo, he is trying to climb up to reach the iPod on the 2nd shelf.

Splashing around at the Discovery Museum. We later put on an apron. Even then he still got soaked.

Walking down the stairs like a big boy.

Dylan's first kayak experience.

This is when you know Dylan has had a VERY GOOD day.