EIGHTEEN

clown car

Today Ben turns 18 months; he has been the center of our universe for exactly a year and a half. In celebration I've written 18 tidbits about my incredible son.

1. He is scared of the (sound of) the garbage truck.

2. He says "frrrrr" (frog) whenever he sees a pic of Yoda (in his Star Wars ABC book).

3. He does a little Gangnam-style skip-hop when he's dancing (or when he's especially happy).

4. He will sometimes sit for more than half an hour silently "reading" his books.

the stair Master

5. He takes anywhere from 20 minutes to two hours every night to fall asleep, but then wakes up only once (or not at all) until morning.

6. He loves the power of naming as many things as he can, starting as soon as I get him up in the morning with "nose" & "moufth."

7. He has been on an airplane more times that I can count (mostly to El Paso to see my family).

8. He uses words to describe the world, and not just to get his basic needs across (for example, the other day he pointed at a yellow-headed woodpecker in the backyard and said "hat," and then said "eat" as it pecked at the bird feeder).

climbing to worrying new heights

9. He often gets apprehensive when he gets to the top of a slide, and decides to go back down the way he came.

10. He consumes anywhere from 30-50 ounces of whole milk a day/night.

11. He has crazy morning bed-head (just like his momma).

12. He can climb ladders with almost no help and can sometimes climb up stairs without crawling (if he's got a running start).

Benben's best friend

13. He loves throwing balls, but they usually go behind him instead of the direction he's aiming (I think he gets that from his momma also).

first train ride

14. He understands what the phrase "What is this book about?" means, and can tell you that the book with the teddy bear in a towel pictured on the front is about "bath."

15. He can climb onto the dining room chairs (and table!) with no assistance.

16. After I made such a big excited deal about him calling broccoli "brock-o-lee-uh," he started adding "o-lee-uh" to the ends of a lot of words, like "milk-o-lee-uh."

17. Speaking of food, he will often joyfully eat sardines, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, and all sorts of meat; and other times he acts like they are poisoning him.

18. He gives the best starfish-clingy hugs imaginable.

(HUGS)