James is 1 1/2 Years Old!

James is 1 1/2 years old today!  Oh how he's changed in the last six months.  At one year we were celebrating the fact that he was eating small amounts of fruit and that he had just learned how to roll over.  Now he's eating a lot more in terms of variety and quantity and he's an independent little walker!

So here's what's going on at 18 months:

- He wakes up around 7/8am each day.  He naps at 1pm and his naps are usually 2-3 hours.  He goes to bed at 8pm.

- He is walking and enjoying this new independence.  He likes to walk where he wants to walk, so this is sometimes challenging and we are starting to have to discipline him for outright disobedience (example: Walking to a street or parking lot when we tell him no).  It's hard to figure out the right amount of discipline because safety is obviously a concern, but he's just exploring for the most part.  So we are just taking it one step at a time.

- He eats eggs every morning for breakfast.  He loves almost all types of fruit.  He usually eats whatever we are eating.  He almost always eats chicken, fish, shellfish, and steak.  He does not like ground beef.  And sadly, he doesn't like much that's green.  He will eat peas and cucumbers, but that's about it.  We are so thankful that he doesn't seem to have any allergies.  He's nursing three times a day and only drinks water and breast milk. 

- He started sleeping through the night around 17 months and that has been a huge blessing for me since I'm pregnant.  He still wanted to nurse several times at night, but I couldn't handle it with the pregnancy, so Ray would comfort him a lot and over the course of about 1-2 months, we got him to the point of sleeping all night.  It's glorious.

- He doesn't say a lot yet.  He can sign "more," "all done," "eat," "drink," and he waves "bye."  He would probably know how to sign more if we taught him because he picks up on the signs fast, but I don't know other practical signs.  He can say "cheese" and he says cheese almost every time I open the fridge or he sees cheese.  He can also say "hi" and "uh-oh!"  He says "go-go!" when he means "no."  He understands a lot and he babbles in his own language more and more.

- He loves figuring out how things work and using his hands.  He likes to open and shut things, turn things on and off, and take things in and out of other things.  Just today we were at the park and he picked up mulch and tried to give it to all the other kids and the dog at the park.  When they were not interested, he took the mulch and put it in the trash can.  It's so much fun watching him explore.  

Here are some pictures from today in the backyard-

 On the move... his favorite thing-

 And this is his expressing right when he's getting ready to fall-

 Just today I was looking at him and I guess he's officially a toddler rather than a baby since he's on the move.  It happens so fast!  I'm trying my best to cherish every moment.