18 months old!

Dear Benjamin,

You, little man, are getting big - and by big, I mean you're 18 months old today!

I haven't done any age updates since the big O.N.E., and to say that you've changed a lot since then would be a huge understatement.  I could go on and on about how much you're up to these days and how much you seem to be learning every single day, but instead I'll share some cute pics from our trip to the playground this morning, along with some of the things we love about you in these toddler days!

You LOVE to kiss things - you kiss your cheddar bunnies before eating them, you kiss each of your stuffed animals multiple times a day, you kiss us just when we least expect it, you kiss your buddies (even the sweet newborns), and you kiss animals and people in almost every book you read.  Your demeanor is exceptionally sweet and gentle, and I hope this is something you carry with you throughout your life!

You are going through a big mimic stage - almost everything we do you like to imitate in your own way.  It definitely is cute!  You brush your hair, try to put on your shoes, "clean" the tables and floors, and even grab my makeup brushes to put makeup on :)

You are going through a vocabulary explosion these days.  Even though your dad and I are probably the only people that can understand more than 25% of your words, we absolutely love hearing you jabber on and on.  Your most popular words at the moment (i.e. the ones repeated most often) are: bat, ball, momma, daddy, truck (cuck), bus, book, milk (milch), soccer (cockahr), hot, baby, mitt, go-go-go, quack, moon, please (peees), and thanks to our recent trip, beach. Occasionally you show glimpses of knowing much more than you let on (like when I said, "no hot sauce for you" and you responded "hotsuss", never to be repeated).  And we just can't wait til you can speak in sentences!

While you were sick recently, we let you watch a few shows here and there to calm down.  You became a huge fan of Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That - one day you just started singing along with part of a song.  It totally caught me off guard, but we now sing it all the time!  And by "we", I mean you only sing the "go, go, go" part, but it's still fun and makes me look forward to the days that we can sing lots of songs together!  (Here we go, go, go, go, on an adventure...) {And yesterday, while you were getting ready to slide, we said ready, set... and you said GO right on cue!}

the duck face :-)

Some other silly things about you these days that come to mind are how you yell at a bus every single time you see one (BUS!!!) while pointing furiously; you make a "duck face" when you're thinking or pausing to decide what to do (similar to your momma's silly duck face); you thought it was hilarious when we plugged our noses to talk to you in a nasal-y voice, so now you plug your nose and say "Daddy!  Momma!"; you fell in love with the water in Michigan last week and now you ask to go to the beach almost every day; you love to read "Goodnight Baseball" and point to everything you know how to "say" (trust me, your dad loves this!); you still sign often (only about four signs) but we laugh when you say please (peees) and rub your tummy vigorously; you still love music and learned how to "drum" with Grampa (who you started calling Boppa last week...) and started learning how to strum a guitar today with daddy; you developed a funny habit of loving to take garbage to the trash can in the kitchen (we guess you're right about 80% of the time!); and you love chairs - climbing in them, sitting in them, then climbing out. :-)

Most of all, I cherish every single hug and kiss you give me and daddy (which thankfully increase every week).  You are the sweetest boy I know, and each time you lay your head on my shoulder, my heart melts just a little bit.  As you've been growing and learning/understanding so much more lately, you almost seem to understand just how much we love you and try to show us back.  I'm thankful for your big heart, your laughter, your sweet footsteps as you run across the floors... You are our sweet boy, Benjamin, and we love you so much!

Love,
Mom & Dad