18 Months!!

Can you believe this young man is a year and a half ? I love love love this age! He is into EVERYTHING but he is talking up a storm, he runs everywhere, he can read a little to himself, he is sweet and smart and wild.

As earlier noted, Paul loves basketball. And he loves to say, "I shoot." However, to the average ear, this sounds like "I sheeit." Or simply, "I shit." When we were at story hour a couple of weeks ago, Paul spotted a ball and started chanting, "I shit, I shit." A really proud moment for this mother. I had to explain to my fellow story hour moms the translation of this clear profanity. Some found it funny. Others did not. But what can you do?

Paul loves playing outside. When he wakes up in the morning he likes to say hi to his basketball hoop and then ask demand to go outside. On Wednesday it snowed and we were unprepared with our snow gear so we had to stay inside. Paul stood by the sliding glass door and repeated over and over again "OUTSIDE." When Ryan and I tried to explain that it was too cold to play outside, he just waved at the door and said "Bye bye cold." My sentiments exactly.


Paul knows all his body parts and many animal noises. My favorite is when he roars like a lion or tries to say cock-a-doodle-doo.

Paul also has an opinion. This is funny and yet frustrating. For example, if I do not give him the sippy cup he desires in the morning, he will throw it across the room and put his head on the floor and do this fake crying bit. Real funny.

Here he is expressing that shoes are for the birds.

We went to the doctor for his 18th month appointment and confirmed that Paul was a small dude. The doctor assured us this was fine, that he was growing, and it didn't mean he was going to be small forever. So everyone that I see can just shut their mouths when they says, "Oh he is 18 months? He is so tiny."


The doctor also commented (many times) about how energetic Paul was. Maybe it was the fact he ran circles around the examination room, tried to pull any tool off the wall, the high pitch screaming, the attempts to jump off the examination table, all while waving hi, clapping, and showing off his jumping skills.

Speaking of energy, Paul's new trick is to climb onto a kitchen chair and then shimmy up to the table. He then stands on the table and does a little happy feet dance. He finds nothing more hilarious. His parents can think of nothing more frightening.


Paul is beginning to play pretend and it is to die for cute. He pretends to feed his monkey and then pretends to feed us. He likes to drive his little cars around the house and make them crash into one another while narrating, "uh oh."

Paul can say many words: hi, bye, dada, G, GG, Nana, Papa, Kendra, shoes, tiger, Diddy, bus, beep beep, outside, I see, shoot, basketball, football, I'm Paul, purple, blue, tree, yeah, puzzle, pizza, please, thank you, apple sauce, ball, hippo, bear, boat, one, two, three, I did it, uh oh. There are more I can't think of and he can also repeat many things we say. You will notice that mama is not on this list. He can say mama, he just refuses to. Because I work part time, I spend the most time with Paul and he will not say my name. Sometimes I am Dada. Sometimes I am Diddy. It really makes you feel good when your son calls you the dog's name.


Paul is pretty good with his manners, but he thinks that if he says the word please he should be granted every single request. When we say "no" or "not right now" he will start screaming and moaning "PLEASE."

I love being the mom to this total boy who likes loud noises, to bang things together, and to be fearless with his life. He loves to dance and scream and read and kiss us on the lips. And although he won't mutter "Mama," we all know I will exhaust him with practice so that one day he we say it just to shut me up!

all photos by Tall Paul