Eighteen Months

The little guy at our house is not looking so little anymore.  As I watched him "swim" in the bathtub last night I was amazed at just how tall he is getting.  I'm also amazed at all the new things he learns and comes up with everyday.  He never ceases to make us laugh, and I find myself storing up loads of ridiculous stories to relate to Bryon at the end of each day. 

Anyways, here's a little synopsis of Kai at 18 months.

Favourite Activities:

- Playing outside, especially at parks with lots of stairs and slides.

- Cars.  Yes, they may have even surpassed his love of balls, at least for the moment!

- Eating.

- Reading.  It's the first thing he wants to do when he wakes up, and the last thing we do before he goes to bed, as well as many, many other times during the day.  His current favourite book is Richard Scarry's Cars, Trucks and Things That Go, and Kai loves to point out all of the vehicles and animals as well as find "Goldbug" in each picture.  Usually he can find Goldbug before I can!

Least Favourite Activities:

- I think this one always is the same - anything that requires him to sit still (except for reading).  Hopefully our plane ride to Colorado goes well this weekend!

Favourite Foods:

- Most everything.  His appetite continues to be huge, and he'll eat anything we're eating.  Fruit is almost always his first choice though, so he's a good example to his daddy :)

Least Favourite Foods:

- I honestly can't think of anything I've tried to give him recently that he hasn't wanted to eat.

Words:

- Kai says a lot of words these days, most of which I can understand pretty well, but other people (including Bryon) can't understand at all!  He gets really frustrated when he's trying to communicate with someone and they aren't getting what he's saying.  Here are a few of his words:

- dada (which also means grandpa)

- mama

- nana
- Kaden
- Emma
- Abby
- Jesus
- amen

- hi

- yes

- no

- don't touch (which he'll chant from his crib while in time out for touching something he's not supposed to!)

- oh no

- whoa/wow
- all done
- go
- hands
- eyes
- bubbles
- car
- airplane

- water

- moon

- star
- sun

- trees

- chair

- high chair

- blanket

- ball

- baby

- water

- banana

- apple

- orange

- berries

- kiwi
- cheese
- cracker

- bear

- hippo

- rhino

- turtle

- ostrich

- bird

- alligator

- dolphin

- whale
- cool (He just learned this one today, and has been using it all day.  We'll see if it sticks.)

And a lot of sound effects...

- vrooom

- choo choo

- woof woof

- neigh

- baa

- moo

- hiss

- roar

- quack

- oink
- (cock-a-doodle) doo

And in sign language...

- more

- please

- thank you

- all done

Sorry for the list.  It's more for my sake than yours I suppose :) 

Personality:

Kai has always had a strong and spirited personality.  He knows what he wants, how he wants it and when he wants it, and he's quick to let you know if anything is not quite right.  He reacts strongly to any given situation, whether good or bad, and this is becoming more and more apparent in him as he grows older.  Some days I think he has two personalities warring against each other - Mr. Willful vs. Mr. Angel Boy. :)
I love this passion in him, which makes him so exuberant, joyful, funny, and loving. But in the "Mr. Willful" moments it does lead to frustration for both him and us.  I think that we're gradually learning to handle this side of him with patience and gentleness though, and he's gradually learning to respond more appropriately to situations he doesn't like.

  

Sometime he likes to go down on his bum.

But, usually he likes to fling himself down the slide headfirst.