Hudson = 18 months

That's right. My baby is no longer a baby - he's 18 month old and taking the world by storm. Well, I guess he's always been like that. SO full of energy and excitement and activity. This kid is constantly on the go. He begs to be outside almost daily (so hard when we have cold days). It is a lot of work keeping up with him, but I surprise myself most days.

18 month old stats:
Weight: 22 pounds and 12 ounces (13%)
Height: 32 inches (41%)

A few things about H....

• He can say: no, hi, bye, wow, ball, mom, dad, bird, peeze (please), and bath.  

• He can sign please, milk, finished, and more.

• He knows most animal sounds and/or their actions including dog, cow, squirrel, cat, rabbit, monkey, dinosaur, bear, bird, and crocodile. I'm probably missing a few. The kid seriously knows his animals.  

• He is STILL drinking from a bottle, but it's gotten significantly less than what it was. He'll have a bottle in the morning, right before nap and bed. I'm planning to take it away cold turkey, but will wait until he hits 20 months. That's my goal.  

• His favorite snacks are fruit snacks, pretzels, cheese sticks, tortilla chips with salsa, and goldfish. 

• He is eating really well. Some days are better than others. He still prefers breakfast foods like waffles, pancakes, eggs, and cereal to anything else. However, he will eat spaghetti, chicken noodle soup, rice, ham and cheese sandwiches, chicken, carrots, pizza, and most pasta dishes. He eats really fast. Like he doesn't stop for air sometimes which is why he gags himself on occasion because he stuffs his face without chewing. We need to remind him to slow down. 

• He is a daddy's boy. He prefers him to me most of the time. He would rather stay home with dad than go out (he loves going outside) and run errands with me. 

• He runs off in all public places we're at (eating out, library, mall, etc). We really have to keep an eye on him because he'll just go and not look back. 

• He has a love/hate relationship with nursery. He loves the toys and the snacks, but doesn't really care for puzzles and singing time. Oh, and he'll cry almost immediately after we leave which is surprising (since he rarely cries when we leave him with babysitters). We're working on getting him to feel comfortable in there during church. 

• He loves reading books. That's his favorite activity. It's the only time he stays still too, so we really love it. 

• He LOVES playing with his friends. I'm so grateful there are little kids his age in our church congregation. We play with friends about 1-2 days a week, if not more.  

• He loves trying to help whether it is handing us toilet paper when we are using the bathroom (gross, but super helpful of him), unloading the dishwasher, mixing pancake batter or cake batter, setting the table, or opening the front door with keys - he is always willing to try and learn new things. I love that about him!

• He is starting to love electronics a little too much, especially dad's iPad. We had to start calling it Tabi (tablet = Tabi for short) because if he hears iPad he goes searching for it and cries until he can play with it. I usually only let him play with it in the morning when I need a little more sleep or when I am getting ready for the day. 

And, now, a few pictures and videos of Hud...

definitely impressed the ladies on his first day of nursery at church

what a little stud! 

found him reading to his animals one day

playing ring-around-the-rosies with his buddies, Leilani and Ethan

Hudson says "peeze" (please)

Hudson says "bath"

dancing to Gangnam Style
yep, our kid is way too cool

We celebrated his half-birthday by baking half a cake. We split the batter in half, for cupcakes and the other half was put in a 8" round pan (baked then cut in half and put on top of the other). Easy peasy. We had a few friends and their kids over to help us eat the chocolate cake/cupcakes with chocolate frosting and chocolate chips (Hud LOVES chocolate - just like his momma). 

party in the crib with Leilani and Ethan