18 Months... and getting bigger by the second.

Dear Maddux,

Here are a few of my favorite things you are doing at 18 months.

You now know where your Eyes, Ears, Mouth, Nose, Hands, Feet, Belly button, and Head are when asked. When prompted … You can point at your eye.. and also say eye. You point at your nose… your ears… you tap your head. You open your mouth as wide as you can… to show us your mouth. You LOVE  lifting your shirt to find your belly button. You can bend down to show us your feet. And you raise up your hand in a “what” motion to show us your hands.

However you are such a stubborn little guy you refuse to do this when I want to show anyone. So you make momma look like a liar… which I honestly think you understand and find hilarious.

Your newest words include – Up, No, GO, Car, Three!

You now will put your hands up and yell up when you want to be held.

I only hear no when I am trying to feed you. Lately you hate 90% of food I give you.

You LOVE to yell GO GO GO at Nala!

You have a new obsession for cars!!!!!! Anytime you see them you yell CAR!

Three… anytime I throw you, swing you, twirl you. I count… one…. Two… and we both yell THREE!

Your daddy loves to read to you in voices… his favorite is to read you your Cookie Monster book in the Cookie Monsters voice. Now… when you pick up that book… you imitate that voice… and although you sound like you are growling at your book… it’s the cutest thing I have ever seen…

You now sing along to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. And honestly… you do it to the right melody. Absolutely amazing.

You now also love to color. And even though you still try to eat the crayons… we have made improvement. Baby steps…. Baby steps.

And even though you are being a picky little eater yesterday. You are always willing to eat a Taco. You love them.

When asked for hugs and kisses you now willingly give them away with a huge cheesy smile… it completely melts my heart.

In the mornings… you love to follow me around and do everything I do. You want to brush your hair when I am brushing mine… you have to sit in my lap while I do my makeup…. And when I take a sip of coffee you want one too (don’t worry… I don’t tilt the cup… its just pretend coffee)

You love to talk away on the phone… you just talk and talk and talk. And when you get real excited you get your finger going… and you are scolding the phone…. Hilarious.

You are a little dare devil… no fear … always ready to go!

In the past 18 months… I have watched you turn into a toddler. You are so independent, and you want to do everything yourself. Its bittersweet watching your independence grow. I love watching you discover the world… with excitement and completely fearless. But you growing up so fast… is so hard for a mom. I see my baby boy disappearing and although I am excited about these new stages we are entering… I want to hold onto all of these little moments with you…. Lock them up and keep these feelings… these memories in my heart forever.

201. Little Moments ... bringing Huge Smiles.

202. Cowboy Picnics

203. Corn on the Cob

204. Family walks after work

205. sweaty curly hair... as seen above :)