18 months

 October 3, 2012

22.9 pounds

30 1/2 inches

 shirt made by Erica!

For some reason, I find these half-year marks a big deal.  I feel like celebrating - we made it another six months! The days have been fun and hard lately because it is clear Kyalo is learning/experiencing/exploring so much, and at the same time he's exerting himself a lot more. And so, we enter the "terrible twos" which actually begin around now. Joy. 

Some examples:

- much more possessive of things (which may or may not actually be his)
- throwing his spoon and/or food on the floor all. the. time.  I fight a losing battle with the kitchen floor every day.  Who wants to come mop for me?
- hitting (me, for the most part)

Still even in the midst of these harder times, he is fun.  He still isn't talking much, but I really do think it is coming soon. . .and in the meantime he's very good at communicating.  He can follow simple directions.  This weekend I asked him to put his shoes away and he promptly scooped them up and put them in our hall closet.  He was quite proud of this and came back clapping.  He'll always have at least one person to cheer him on in life!  And then this morning, he was eating applesauce and it spilled, so I grabbed a rag and cleaned it up saying, "when you spill, you have to clean up."  Not long later he spilled again (without my realizing) and he got the cloth and was cleaning it up on his own.  Good boy!

But, tell him NOT to do something and that's another story. . .

I meant to mention last month that he's a real climber.  We can't leave chairs at the dining table or he'll be on the table in a flash.  He's non-stop activity and motion.  He loves music.  And he still loves rocks. dirt. sticks.  I was realizing a while ago that this is a kid who knows nothing in pop culture (Dora, Winnie the Pooh, Blues Clues, Sesame Street, etc.), but knows a lot about the outside world.  This weekend on one of our walks he was picking up handfuls of dirt and stuffing them down his shirt!  Maybe Winnie the Pooh isn't so bad after all?

See the boo-boo on his nose?  He fell, face first, onto the side walk.  Cried for a few minutes and then carried on.  Tough guy!

After the inside shots, we headed out into the rainy day for pictures and a walk.  Thanks to Grandma {as always} he was well prepared for a cool, wet day.

We started at the slide - where he liked splashing all the water around. Plus, the rain made the slide extra slippery!  After about 2 minutes in the backyard, we headed on walk down the street.  Kyalo can get out of the yard since the front gate doesn't close properly {boo} so we spend a lot of time walking the block.  Kyalo's quite comfortable to make himself at home wherever he is.  Especially if that place includes a yard of rocks!

there is no better birthday gift!

See? He's made himself right at home in one of our neighbor's front yard!  I sure hope no one minds.

please note the leaves in his hair, and the rock appropriately placed behind him.

Is it too soon to get him into The Boy Scouts?

I'm almost to the end here . . . I've started having him "help" me make things in the kitchen. This generally involves him dumping ingredients into a bowl and stirring.  But he loves to do it.  Plus then after I can give him an empty bowl and whisk and he'll play happily with that for a while.  On Sunday, he whipped up his first batch of pancakes.  As one of my aunts said, it is in his blood!

testing the batter

So there you have it.  Kyalo in all his 18 month glory!

We love him so.