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Monday, June 23, 2014

18 months

where to even begin? 
the love i have for my sweet, kind hearted, long lashed, sports loving baby boy is out of this world. toddlerhood is exhausting. i'm finding it harder and harder for my pregnant self to keep up with a busy and curious toddler but this stage is the most rewarding. sam is learning new things daily and is constantly picking up on everything going on in the world around him, which can be scary at times. he is so independent at hime and wants to do everything for himself. when it comes time to brush his teeth he says "i do" and grabs the toothbrush. while we are reading books he says "i do" until he gets to turn the pages himself. he wants to tackle everything himself. 
sam actually went to nursery at 17 months because both ben and i have callings in young men and young women's and it was getting harder and harder to have him with us. his first week, he did amazing! but from the second week on he freaks out whenever we step foot near the nursery. it breaks my heart. we are hoping he will learn to love it soon. his nursery leaders are gems and are so great with him so we are hoping with him he will warm up to them. 
my little book worm loves to read and although he occasionally has me ready a few different ones, he generally sticks to his favorites. his current favorites are "brown bear, brown bear", "the little blue truck", "that's not my elephant", and an old goodnight book from when i was little. 
he can name each of the animals in his brown bear book along with the noises that they make. we are working on counting, but he generally just makes it to three and then starts naming random numbers. 
we absolutely love teaching him new things and seeing his wheels turn. 
at this point, we can basically fully communicate with him. he understands when we tell him to do something and he can tell us when he is wanting something. he is starting to get better at stringing 2-4 word sentences together. 
he currently loves playing with his mega blocks, any sort of tractor or car, and ALWAYS has his teddy bear with him. i am not sure at what point he became so attached to this one random teddy bear that he has but it is glued to his hands at home and always says "teddy?" as soon as i get him in his car seat to go somewhere. he also loves playing with his basketball hoop and actually has great aim. give his boy any sort of sports ball and you'll have his heart for life. 
he is still the worlds biggest ham and loves to say hi to every single person in every single store we step foot into. he if they say hi back to him he continues to say hi over and over until he can no longer see them. he honestly makes friends wherever we go!
we have been trying to explain to sam that he will be a big brother in september. he probably doesn't really grasp that concept yet but he loves to give kisses to "baby sissy". he comes up and pats my belly and then plants a big one on his sister. there is no doubt in my mind that he will make the worlds best big brother and i can't wait to see him interact with his new baby girl.
sam keeps us on our toes but no matter how tired i may be at the end of the day, i wouldn't trade this age for the world. i feel so blessed to be sam's mama and i love him to pieces. 

18 month stats:

31 1/2 inches tall
21 lbs. (11%)