Brady bear. You turned 18 months at the end of April 2014. Time is really flying!!! You love being chased (with the sounds of heavy footsteps coming after you). You giggle and get tickled. You’ve grown to love Sesame Street. Sometimes as a treat we’ll stream it on my iPad in my bed.  Some mornings I hear a banging noise on the wall and it’s you lying on your back with your feet propped up kicking the wall.   You’ve started pointing at your diaper to tell me when you want it changed. You also pat your bottom to explain about poop.  You absolutely love to help water the plants out back with the big watering can or the new little one Ra-Ra gave you for Easter.  We keep a bunch of old plastic Folgers coffee “cans” on a table out back for our composting buckets and you think they’re your own toys. You fill them with water, carry them around. put the lids on, stack them, etc…

You had another cold in the middle of the month just before Easter. Ra-Ra mailed you a Ukelele, which you love to carry around and strum. You assume this hilarious wide-legged-leaned-over-to-the-side stance/dance while you play the Ukelele. Gosh, you make us laugh. Sometimes you hand it to me to strum so you can dance with straight legs and swing your arms around with your funny “O” face.   Most of the month you transitioned to one midday nap, which has turned out to be pretty great. By the end of the month you’re on just one big nap from 12:30 – 3:30 ish! This allows me to get a bigger chunk of work done at one time and frees up our mornings and early evenings.

We’ve entered the reality of (attempting) disciplining you. If I tell you “NO!” and spank your hand sometimes you will imitate me and run over to the nearest wall and hit it and yell “BA! BA!” (which I think means “No! No!”) like you’re spanking the wall, too. There has been a lot of frustration due to the lack of words although, you’re very successful at communicating and achieving what you want without using words. You point and grunt a lot “eh, eh, eh!” in combination with some pretty great facial expressions. haha… Your most often used phrases are “Uh-oh!” and “Dah. Dah.”

You’re discovering what it means to share with other kids. It’s been a bit of a rough go, but you’re learning. We go to the gym a few times a week and you really like going to childcare. Mr. Charles and Ms. Q are great with you and you enjoy all the toys. You now have a few pairs of sunglasses that you actually like wearing – you even put them on yourself.

Ra-Ra visited Easter weekend. We took her to the Arboretum for some nice pictures of the two of you and we also showed her your favorite toddler garden that we spend a lot of time at lately. Ra-Ra got you a cute Easter basket/bucket and filled plastic eggs with goodies and we sorta went on an egg hunt in the backyard. You tasted a candy Peep for the first time. Not sure if you actually liked it, though. I think you were intrigued by its stickiness more than anything.

Dad was home for an extra week or so between his last 2 week hitch with Sidewinder Drilling and his new job with Seadrill. It’s fun to watch you two play together. You really love your Dad and he loves you so much.

It’s beginning to get warm so we gave you some really cute just-your-size mini ice cream cones from Trader Joe’s that you LOVE. Can’t wait to treat you more in the summer.   With each new month it’s my favorite with you. We love you, Brady bear!

18 MONTH CHECK-UP:
23.5 lbs (30%)
32 inches tall (30%)
19 inches head circumference (75%)

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