eighteen months

Today is an unplanned day off of work for me.  2 reasons...
1. Ryan spent a good part of last night vomiting, which means I spent a good part of last night awake with him.  This was the first time he has thrown up, so I wasn't quite sure of what was happening, nor what to do about it.  I was a bit traumatized by watching him go through it.  And, I learned that I hate cleaning sheets/towels etc at 3:30 am.  Luckily, he is acting completely fine today, ate breakfast without any trouble.  I think he ingested too much kiddie pool water at his friend Hadley's house yesterday.
2. Our nanny called out sick.  So that 6 am phone call was a bit of a blessing, as I was so tired I didn't even realize the phone was ringing until about the 3rd ring.  Okay, force me to stay home today.

So here I find myself with a little extra time.  Convenient, since Ryan is 18 months old today.  Time for a little update.....

This little guy has turned into quite the little man.  He is all toddler now.  Full of energy, very curious, running instead of walking, climbing anything he can, and for the most part very happy (with the occasional tantrum thrown in there, when he doesn't get his way).  He would spend all of his time outside if we let him.  I call him the plane police, as he gets super excited at the mere hint of the sound of an airplane, he points upward and shouts "pane".  Lucky for us, our house is just about the turn around point for the test flights of those big military planes from Travis AFB, so we get a good plane sighting several times every day.

plane spotting.  side note...I love these hand-me-down pants!  Eddy does not.

He's still taking 2 naps/day, but can survive pretty well on the days we skip the morning nap in lieu of something more fun to do.  He's close to dropping it all together I think.  And he still sleeps about 11-12 hours/night.
I have recently caught him "feeding" his stuffed animals, helping them drink from his sippy cup.  Which is amazing to me how much kids learn by watching.  He'll copy us with most things we do...watering the plants in the backyard, wiping the table, etc.  We recently put together an IKEA bookshelf, and Ryan was right in the middle of it, trying to use the screwdriver to put in the screws.  He loves to figure out how things work, how to buckle/unbuckle his car seat or high chair seat.  And his coordination has improved so much that it makes it easier for him to try. 

His appetite is on hold...meaning, he would rather not waste his time eating.  He still loves fruit...pretty much all kinds, but blueberries and kiwi are his favorites.  He also loves cheese (an inherited trait from both parents, clearly).  But other than that, don't bother.
He has gotten good at throwing a ball overhand.  In fact, he's gotten good at throwing the previously mentioned not so desired food as well.  He'll sit in his highchair, cock his arm back with a small vegetable in between his fingers, say "ball?" and then chuck it.  This is about my least favorite part of our day, as you can imagine.

look mom, I got up here all by myself!

His vocabulary is increasing daily... he is able to say "No", even if he means yes and definitely when he means no.  He can say things like "cheese", "che-o" (Cheerio), "bath", "bubbles", "chair", and recently started saying "hi baby" and "hi puppy".  2 things we do not have in this house.  Go figure.  And he can point to just about every body part of his own...but doesn't quite understand "where is mom's nose?" yet.  Still too self-centered I guess. 
This boy still loves to read.  He is very picky at times about what books we read...but as long as there is a train, truck (which he still says "be" instead of truck), car, or boat involved, he's happy.  It's usually a struggle to put him to bed with only reading 1 book, he'd choose 5 or 6 if he could.
And one last big milestone....we took down the baby gate on the stairs last week.  He is free to roam upstairs as he pleases, but thankfully he still likes to be where the action is. 

Here are a few more shots from the last few weeks. 

in the shoe box

post nap bed head, playing on the stairs

Happy 1/2 Birthday Ryan!  We love you buddy, and can't wait to see what the rest of this year brings.