Dane is 18 months!

Life is so exciting with you my little Dane. You are 18 months old now and you are changing and growing and learning at such a fast rate it is hard to keep up. I find my self watching you and thinking to my self "I don't ever want to forget how you look/sound/smell/feel at this very moment". I know that is probably not possible so I'm doing my best to right as much down as I can remember. I wish I could be taking pictures of you all day long doing all the silly, exciting, naughty things that you do but I also don't want to be messing with a camera. (not that I don't take a ton of pictures of you:-). Your dad and I are cherishing our time with you and love every second of it.

Daddy and Dane at 18 months

 Your stats are:
34.5" long 95+%
28.4 lbs 75%
19" head circumference 50% 

Your vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds! You are officially fluent in English however a lot of words are still in your baby accent so only Daddy and I can understand it. Our favorite thing is when you say things just a little wrong. For a while you would say "Tuh-raatt" for truck. We loved how you turned it into a three syllable word. That only lasted for about a week though and you started saying it correctly. Now it is one of your favorite words to say. At bedtime one night Daddy and I were singing you a song and you started to sing along but since you didn't know the words to the song you just said "truck, truck,trrrruck, truuuuuck". We thought it was the cutest thing ever. Daddy started laughing so hard that he fell over and then you cried. You don't like it when we pretend to fall over. Some of your other favorite words right now are; buss, daddy, anana (banana), peese (please), no (I hear this one a lot. Even when you mean 'yes'), Yes, dar (for car. I'm loving this one right now but you already started to figure out that it is pronounced car), rice, baby, book, shoes, up (another one of my favorites. especially when said because you want me to hold you), more, bicycle, moon, clock (you struggle with the 'L' in this one...it makes us giggle), mimi (this is what you call your blanket made by your mimi), Lala (for Auntie Laura), its trash, apple, water and bottle (both of these words are said without the 't' sound...super cute) sip, sit, stick, Jesus. One of your favorite sentences is "What is this" and you mostly say that about food. There are so many that I'm sure I am forgetting some. It seems like everyday you are saying a new word.

You just love hanging with your daddy. And he loooooves hanging with you!

Physically you are still growing like a weed. And you are so strong! Your hair is the color of golden wheat and your eyes are a clear blue green. You only have one freckle and its on your right hand and your dimples on your cheeks are just so kissable (for some reason I feel like in 16 years some girl is going to be saying the same thing;-). You are a master of the stairs going up and down and you really enjoy climbing on things now. We took you to a trampoline park once and ever since then you try to jump all the time. You try jumping down the stairs, over things, off of things, on baby brothers, on rocks, on beds and couches. Really you are just bending your knees and straitening them fast and haven't figured out how to get into the air but you are so proud of yourself when you do it and we love watching you try so hard. I hope you always find such joy and pride in trying hard to do something. It will pay off. You are also experimenting with new speeds in running. This is causing you to fall a lot more but your little legs are sure getting fast! Especially when you are running away from me (that is another story.) You love walking up and down hills and across rocks. You love to flop around on our bed when you come in in the morning. You think it is hilarious. You have figured out how to trow a ball up in the air and catch it. You don't hit as much as you used to and you will show us "soft hands" when we ask you too. You love to take your truck outside and push it around the courtyard. You do this for a long time. While at the playground once you slipped off of a ledge and caught your self with one hand on a bar. You held your entire weight one handed dangling for a good 5 seconds (one one thousand, two one thousand...) until I was able to get to you. You kept saying "oh wow, oh wow, oh wow!" a little frantically while hanging there. You are just a hunk of muscles.

  

You still love everything that has to do with a ball. You throw left handed exclusively (except when you are throwing with both hands).

You are definitely an internal processor (I am too). Your nursery leader (Samantha Smoot) told me that you are getting better and better and socializing and playing with the other kids in class. You have always been good at saying hi and going up to people but now you are learning how to really play with other kids. She also said that you are paying attention during lesson time and even participating! Your dad and I like to "check" on you and peek in the window while you are in nursery. Not because you really need to be checked on but just because we love seeing you having so much fun. You are sensitive and don't like play hurting. You are getting silly! You like to make all kinds of silly sounds and faces at your brother to make him smile. You like to be independent. Sometimes I will watch and see how far you will go before looking back for me and I've decided that you just keep going. I think it shows how secure you feel and you should because your family will always be here for you. When you get nervous you twiddle your fingers and when you get excited you stretch out your arms and shake. You tend to be a little on the nervous side so we are working to show you how to work through it.

 

 You love finding sticks and pushing them on the ground or hitting/poking thing with it. You will find one and say "Its a stick"

You are very affectionate.  You love grabbing my and your daddy's head and giving group hugs/kisses. You love snuggling your brother and giving him kisses and hugs. And you love giving Chloe hugs. You will also go up to other babies (even if you don't know them) and giving them kisses. Maybe you'll run for office when you grow up:-)

 

First time climbing a tree

 Your best friends right now are Chloe and Preslie Walk. When ever they see you they shout "Hi Daneeee!" and you get really excited and run to them. You three are adorable playing together. You love them so much. Especially Chloe. We catch you trying to give her hugs and kisses a lot now. I think you like how gentle, patient, kind and soft spoken she is. Being the child of the property manager has some perks and one of them is that you are loved by a lot of residents. You like to go up and say hi to them when they pass by. They all look out for you and I think it is adorable. Your best friend is still your daddy. You guys are best buddies.

Here you are helping Mimi build Mikey's crib.

Dane 10 months and Mikey 3 month.

You have started to experiment with your will and saying 'no'. You mostly do this at home and with me. I think of it as great learning opportunities for each of us. Some times I will get frustrated but then when we go out and I see you say please and thank you and put things back after you use them I know we are making progress. Our big challenge right now is getting you to come when you are called. When I ask you if you are poopy you will now say yes or no and you are 95% of the time right. Uh oh, is potty training time coming already?!

First time playing volleyball. You loved watching daddy and mama play.

Dane our love for you is so great that I know I can't express it in writing. But even more importantly I want you to know that your Heavenly Father loves you even more. You are his child and he will always be there for you. You just need to turn to him in prayer. Your father and I know that to be true.

Love you little Munch!