Month Eighteen

We’ve reached a milestone here, people. One-and-a-half years of life outside the womb. Excuse me while I take a moment to breath, cry, and collect myself. I mean, really. Wow. We have a very busy toddler on our hands these days.

Hudson can now run. He never walks anymore, just runs everywhere, all the time. He especially loves to run away from us diaper-less after bathtime. Yes, he does pee all over the place sometimes if I am not quick enough to catch up to him. I think he is now very much aware of bodily functions and hates his diapers changed. It’s become a battle to catch him, subdue him long enough to clean him up and get a new diaper put on.

He loves to hide and play peek-a-boo. He is also now extremely independent and knows exactly what he does and does not want to do/eat. He can now climb up the slide on the playground and that fact alone makes me feel a bit sad because he is obviously growing up and much too quickly, in my opinion.

He is still not a big eater. He loves his milk. He loves his cottage cheese. And yogurt. That’s about it. He is really not wild about anything else. He’ll indulge me and will eat apples, bananas, cherries, cheese and crackers sometimes. But honestly, he is just not into food. Too busy, I suppose.

He is doing so much better in the nursery these days. Doesn’t even cry at all and is quite proud of himself. When we compliment him on doing so well in the nursery, he rolls his eyes as if to say, “Oh, c’mon folks, I am so grown up, you don’t even know the half of it. This not crying thing, well, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”

His father introduced him to a new show, Go, Diego, Go!! and he loves it. From the minute he wakes up to the minute he goes to bed he demands go-d-go (that’s his version of the title). He dances to all of the songs on the show. Speaking of dancing — he also loves to rock out to Raffi. So fun!

I am not sure if this is a boy thing or just a toddler thing but Hudson really doesn’t like to play with his toys any more. He loves to play with our big vacuum, the broom, DVD cases, remote controls, Wii controls, laptops, measuring tape, car keys, the microwave, pretty much anything we use on a daily basis. The vacuum has become his absolute favorite. In fact, he and the machine are inseparable. I would let him sleep with it, if it were at all possible.

One of our absolute favorite things to do these days, since it’s a hundred billion degrees outside, is to play with the hose in our back yard. He is getting very good at aiming this thing at us and spraying away. It’s lots of fun.

We also frequent the community pool and Hudson is just now becoming fond of it. He used to only last ten minutes and wanted to go play on the adjacent playground, but yesterday he actually spent about an hour (holy schmoly) getting into and out of the pool, eating snacks, pointing at birds, butterflies, and bugs, jibber-jabbering the day away and just generally having a grand ol’ time. He also loves to share his toys with other kids, which makes me so proud.

Not only is my little baby boy growing up, he’s also growing into a very gentle, delightful, joyful, gigglish, playful, assertive, and loving little boy. We are completely smitten and hope he won’t stop giving us hugs and kisses any time soon. Or ever, really.

I love you so much,

Mama