TJ at 18 Months

Ahh! I'm 18 months old!!

This little man seriously makes my day.

He is getting too stinkin smart.

He's starting to talk and will repeat practically anything you ask of him almost perfectly, but is only barely starting to use words voluntarily.

He will sing with me though.  I can leave off the end of a sentence to almost any nursery song and he will fill in the missing word, or letter in the case of the ABC's.

My favorite thing he says is "ai oo" (Thank you!) He will say it a million times a day and any time I give him anything.  I hope he continues to cultivate this heart of gratitude.  It's a good quality to have:)

He likes to count with me and point to things in a book but usually gets stuck on repeat of "two tree two tree two tree." 

He is one of the most easy going people I know.  He adapts well to change and is always happiest when there are people around.

So far I can pretty much handle anything this kid dishes out to me but he has begun a habit of whining that I think should cease, if not immediately, very shortly!  I guess nobody's perfect:) 

He does spend quite a bit of time with this stroller.  Obviously the little seat is gone in this picture, but he loves figuring out how things work so when the seat is assembled... he snaps the little belt together and then pushes it over to me and says "open" so he can do it again and again. 

I told him to say "CHEESE" 

It has taken some time but he is learning to love books and is willing to sit just a tiny bit longer.

 He's such a loving boy and always ready to give some mooches.

He must have worked pretty hard on this hairdo one night.

He is still an awesome eater!  I have yet to find something that he absolutely refuses to eat.  Hallelujah to good eaters!!

He has a strange obsession with doors.  They must ALWAYS be shut!  OR if at any time they must be opened, they must be thrust completely opened until you hear the banging sound of them hitting the wall.  Sigh.  Sorry, Mom and Dad, there are a few TJ original door dents in the walls...

TJ is notorious for hiding objects.  He loves to stick things into other things.  Many belongings have been lost via TJ, including an enormous garbage can lid (never found it by the way) several shoes, my hand held mirror and who knows what else. He is the male version of Cinderella.  I have a whole collection of just ONE shoe.

This is me playing operation on the heater vent.

And here's all his trinkets and treasures he stuffed in there. 

And in spite of what these pictures portray he does love his sister very much!
He spends hours chasing her around, and like all little brothers, gets his giggles from tormenting her.

And apparently she gets a few from tormenting him as well:)

He is such a sweet, loving boy.  I am grateful everyday that he was sent to our family. He has been such a great blessing in all our lives (and even though you might hear differently from Leilani, she kinda likes him too:)

I can't believe he's not a baby anymore!  These numbers are proof that he's a BIG boy!

Height: 35.5 inches  99%

Weight: 26.8 pounds  82%

Head: 47 cm  39%

TJ Beyond One

The little guy is doing some funny things and I need to write them down before I forget.

He'll be 14 months in a few days and it still blows my mind how much they change in just a month or two.

He has always been a bit of a book snob, picking and choosing only a limited variety that he will actually sit and read (this is in total contrast to his sister) but lately it has gone to the extreme.  We have a selection of  three books:

Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See?

(it has to be the one with the slidey pictures) 

Teddy Bear Teddy Bear

and occasionally

My First Book of Learning Words

He will point to a picture over and over and over saying "Dat?" you say, "Duck," he says, "Dat?" you say, "Duck." It's really fun... :)

He has also decided he's a bit of a food snob.

What?

What's that you say?

My monster truck eater has changed his pace and is now quite selective about the foods he decides to swallow.  I say swallow because he will put something in his mouth, chew/suck for a second, and then spits it out and the rest of it goes on the floor.

BOOO!!!!

Keep your fingers crossed this is a phase and not the beginning of a picky eater.  I wouldn't even know what to do with that.

Such a stud on his new rocking horse.

A rare occasion where I walked in the room and he stayed asleep.  I guess he's a light sleeper because I've never been able to catch this before.  Love sleeping babies.

He got his first big boy haircut after Easter weekend.
Before: "Uh Mom! It's time to let go of the locks"

(p.s. We are just barely getting him to keep shoes on. After a year of listening to little old ladies mention how he needs shoes on his feet, I will finally be able to oblige:) 

Luckily the sucker did the trick and he "stayed still" enough that we didn't chop his ear off or anything.  Eek!

After: "Cheers to the new due Mom"

He is a busy body!  But, one of my favorite things is he will come and check in with me with a hug or a little lap time for a second and then be on his way again.  That kind of attention I can handle anytime.

Oh ya! And he also loves to be naked. lol. 

We love this little guy so much!

O.N.E.

My sweet little boy turned one!

We had a fun party even though he had no idea he was the star of the whole thing.

His Choo-choo train cake.

I couldn't feel my hand for a few hours after squeezing frosting tubes, but I had fun making it.

All dressed up for church and looking dapper in his vest and tie (Targhee's jealous of the vest:)

I could just eat him up!

Chilling on mom's lap eating a string cheese waiting for his guests to arrive.  If he could have told me what he wanted for his birthday I think this would have made the list.

I didn't get a picture of it but we had a pretty impressive spread of Cafe Rio salads for dinner.  Delish! 

I got all the recipes HERE.

Present opening.

He seemed a little confused by the whole ordeal, but was happy to sit on Dad's lap and rip paper.

Leilani knew exactly what it was all about and took as much advantage of new toys as possible.

Best of show: The weiner dog (aka my hot-dog slicer)

I can now get TJ his hot-dogs in HALF the time:) and if you have ever met my son while in the high chair, you can imagine how important that really is.

Prepped for cake demolishing.

This boy knows how to get food to his mouth and this was no time to mess around.  He finished his cupcake and looked around for more.  There was hardly even a mess to clean up.

I have a balloon and some new batman jammies.  I'm a happy one year old!

This little boy has made a permanent place in my heart.  It makes me happy just thinking about him.  It is so fun to watch him develop and his personality unfold. He is starting to be more aware of what's happening and mimicking our words and actions.

For example:

He will open the bathroom closet and get his toys out when he hears the bathtub water running.

He will walk to his changing table when I say "We gotta change your bum" (and then turn around and run away for me to chase him).

In the mornings when I say, "Let's go get your sister" he takes my hand and leads me to her room.

He leans in and gives kisses with a "MWAH" (he loves kisses! especially from his big sister who is a little stingy with hers:) 

He insists on feeding himself which means we both have a spoon in hand for morning cereal.  If I ever forget this step I will hear about it.

If you make the snoring sound he will lay his head on a pillow and pretend to sleep.

He has made an entire language using different inflections of "dis" and "dat" pointing to things and demanding to know its name or demanding to have it.

He makes the animal noises of an elephant, zebra, giraffe, and monkey and the occasional dog.

He loves music and dances to the beat. 

He is such a fun easy going boy and we love having him in our family.

Stats:

Height: 32 inches 99%

Weight: 20.95 lbs 44%

Head: 46 cm 48% 

Happy Birthday TJ BOY!!!!!

10 month old TJ

So apparently 9 months to 10 months is a big jump for a baby because all of the sudden TJ's starting to do so many big things.

He says "ah dun!"(all done) out loud and in sign language.
Waves bye bye and says "ba ba"
He puts both arms in the air for "Big Boy!" and giggles because he knows he's cute.

He puts the phone or anything of similar shape to his ear and says, "Hi"
Puts the comb on his head and rubs it while I tell him he looks so handsome.
He has braved taking some steps.  It won't be long before he's walking.

He thinks it's pretty fun to irritate his big sister because man can he get a rise out of her:)
He gets into EVERYTHING.

He has decided that 10 month olds are much too mature for the strained baby food and will only eat foods he can grab and shove into his mouth himself.

He has also decided that being rocked by Mom really isn't so bad and will now lay his head on my shoulder while I sing him some songs before I put him to bed.  I love that!!
AND he has decided that 10 month olds don't need to take naps, but we are putting a stop to that ASAP!

We love him so much and love watching his little personality grow.