What’s he like at 18 months? He’s hard at work. He gets involved in tasks, which he pursues with zeal, such as taking dog biscuits out of the box and walking across the room to hand them to me one by one. Or feeding kibble to Tenzin one by one (he INSISTS she eat them.) Or taking all the spoons out of the dishwashers with the intonation which would convey, ” and look at THIS one! WOW!” The fruits of two of his recent projects were wet sneakers –after he proudly showed me how he’d nestled his sneakers in Tenzin’s water dish– and all the boots in the snow room carefully filled with their portion of clothespins.

He’s conspicuously left-handed and he is utterly smitten with Da-da.

He really started giving talking a punt right around 18 months. To his 6 word vocabulary, he added “tongue” which he can pronounce really well, and then multitudes of other ambitious words.

pasta= pa-tah!!,
sandle= da-du,
up= appa,
down= downg,
more= mo,
Octopus= Ah-bun,
Anemone= Ammm-neh,
balloon= b,
blue= b,
ice cream= Ah-dang,
spoon= p,

And despite Kaley trying to cultivate her name as “Kay-Kay”, it looks like she will henceforth be known as “Noo-Noo.”

He pretty fastidious about things being “as they should be,” even including childproofing latches and bungies. After he ransacks the grain cupboard, he’ll often put everything back and then sign for help to reattach the bungy. He’s really psyched to be able to communicate with signs. Last night i taught him yes (nod your fist like your nodding yes) and he picked it up immediately. He was beside himself with joy. I guess he’d been waiting for that one to come up

I’ll have to find out how to sign “I’m sorry” soon. He’s got one hell of a little Irish temper, as do all toddlers, but he still will bash his head against something to demonstrate his displeasure. This has now been added to a roster of pinching, biting and head butting mom! Fun!

But tonight he grabbed my head (like he usually does when he’s lining up to bite me) and planted a kiss right on my lips for the first time, with the smooch sound and everything. Luckily, he a huggy little lovebug most of the time. And anyway, he is so smitten with stories that if I start telling one, even his foulest mood will evaporate and he’ll settle down with a little face full of magical awe. I tell the same ones over and over and he knows when they will end. Not one beat goes by between the last word and Griffin signing “MORE.”