TJ at 18 Months

TJ is such a toddler, and such a boy.  He loves anything messy - literally, yesterday, he was crawling through the dirt outside.  He likes to pick up bugs and bring them to me.  I don't like that.  He likes wheels (on bikes, cars, toy trains, anything), dark chocolate, and climbing up the slide.

Shooting the dart gun with dad!

I think he's finally making up for the speech delay caused by teaching him spanish.  This month, he's picked up new words like crazy!  He speaks a few spanish words but mostly I hear english.  However, he is more responsive to spanish instructions, so my spanish is improving rapidly.  That is, my spanish for telling toddlers what to do is improving.

He can open doors, so we have to keep the front door locked all the time!  He loves bath time.  He refuses to take more than one nap a day no matter what.  Even if he only sleeps for twenty minutes, he knows he napped so there is no chance of getting him to sleep again.  TJ is helpful.  He throws his trash away when I ask.  He tries to carry Eli's carseat for me every time we go out.  He started helping us set the table for dinner- we give him plates and cups and utensils, and on his own, he started getting out milk and juice and taking those to the table too.

TJ is also big on selfies.

He is 29 pounds and 33 inches tall.  Even though he hasn't dramatically gained weight recently, all of the 12-18 month clothes are suddenly to small.

TJ is getting the hang of coloring, but mostly still likes to throw the coloring  stuff everywhere to make a mess.  He eats almost anything, and has a particular love of chocolate, fruit, and cheese.  How cultured.  Pushing elevator buttons is always a cause for excitement. He also really likes animals.  It terrifies me a little, because he will walk right up to any animal and start petting it.  We're working on that.

All the kids in our apartment complex know TJ and love him.  When he comes outside to play, any kids out there go "TJ!"  I think a big part of this is that he says hi and waves to everyone.  We walk through the mall, he says hi to everyone he passes.  I love it when people take a second to say hi or wave back.  I want to hug them and tell them thank you for treating my son like a person!  On top of being friendly, TJ just assumes he is part of the group.  He isn't afraid of people.  The other day, a group of tween girls were sitting in the grass and he ran right over and started jabbering away at them.  He is really pretty good at playing with other kids, which is something that it seems like other kids his age still struggle with.  He's getting the hang of sharing.  I guess we will see how good he really is when he starts nursery this week!

TJ is a really sweet big brother.  He tries to pick Eli up, and once in a while he asks to hold him.  He likes to pull a box over to the crib so he can climb up and look in at Eli.

 TJ holding Eli

TJ is still my easy baby.  The first few weeks after Eli came home, he was acting out - hitting, screaming, and biting - to get attention.  He also got some major anxiety about visitors and me leaving, since we had alot of visitors and he spent an unusual amount of time with babysitters.  For the most part, he is over it and is getting back to normal.  He asks for attention in more subtle ways now, like following me around with his blanket until I stop to give him snuggles.  I try to make sure I spend time every day just loving him.

I love being TJ's mama, and I can't believe how much he's grown up in only 18 months!  I sure love you, TJ boy!