Here we are at Adik’s 18 month entry! The boy is now 1 and a half years old!
[[image:2013_0629_rafe22.jpg:Short break in the action:center:0]]
* Mouse over the picture for captions
Adik is now fully mobile – walking, running, and climbing. He can now manage to walk down the stage steps face first without falling over (after some practising of course), while carrying something in his hands. He was determined to not be the only one backing down those steps I suppose. He climbs up the stairs when we go up to bed, but we do not allow him to come down the stairs yet as he thinks he is too big to go backwards, feet first. But overall, his coordination is pretty good. He can throw objects with pretty good speed and accuracy, and loves to bounce a ball off the wall and chase after it. He loves to run around and play tag with Yaya (it’s always accompanied with laughter and giggles). He loves to play “volleyballoon” (volley ball but with a balloon) with Vin, Yaya and me. He’s starting to instinctively palm balls (he seems to have inherited Mama’s big hands) and loves to make baskets with Yaya’s toy basketball hoop. He joins Yaya in building structures with building blocks – his tend to be more wand-like than a building per se, but he enjoys putting it together and taking it apart. He is learning shapes and is able to put the correct shapes through the holes in his shape toys. He throws himself into every activity around the house with us – when I vacuumed, he got his “toy vacuum cleaner” (this push toy) and pushed it around too. When Yaya tries to do a hand stand, he’s right there next to her trying it himself. Adik goes into the laundry room and helps Vin with the laundry. He’s been known to put items in the washer and try to close the door. He just wants to do everything that everyone does and is an active participant in the household now.
Adik still loves books (especially loving the part about pulling them off bookshelves) and he definitely has a “spelling” noise where if we say, “Spell Papa, Adik” he will respond with “Eee aay eee aay eee aay PAPA!”. It’s quite funny. He also now has a “counting” noise, “ooo eeeee” (two, three). And he says so many words now. He will say “ankooo” (thank you) if you hand him something, or “ove-ooo” (love you) in response to us telling him that. He also likes to point and say “theeesh” (this) and sometimes “peeeesh” (please). We also taught him what a wolf says so now he has added a cute little wolf howl to his repertoire of animal noises. He has easily about twenty words now! He is a very sunny baby, rarely crying and usually quite happy-go-lucky. But when Yaya takes something away from him, he puts up a fuss and yells “MA MA MA” (not “Mama”, but we think “mine”) while trying to jump and reach for it.
Adik loves to read at bedtime but the books have definitely been quite varied. Whatever catches his fancy (and whatever we have upstairs). He has been known to take a book from downstairs to bring up to read at bedtime.
Sleep status: he pretty much only gets up about once a night. There were a couple of nights where he slept in his crib until 7:30! We were quite amazed and very thankful! Perhaps the end is in sight and Adik will be a through-the-night sleeper before too too long! I could certainly use that break. He does spend the second half of his night on the bed with Vin and me, and so far that system has worked fine for all of us.
Food status: Adik does not eat very much baby food anymore. He seems to not be into yogurts much anymore, but he still enjoys his pureed frozen mangos at dinnertime. For the most part, he eats what we eat – peanut butter sandwiches (no jelly, apparently the boy is not a fan of jelly), english muffin with nutella, goldfish crackers of all permutations, different kinds of cereal, bananas, grapes, and he loves to mooch chocolates off my breakfast plate. He also enjoys spring rolls, seafood rolls, random bits of noodles and rice, and eating Yaya’s toast and potato chips. He will still eat some of my pre-made food sometimes but he does love trying to feed himself regular food with a fork. He also drinks Pediasure and orange juice to keep him balanced.
And now for the pictures of how Adik spent his 18 month birthday. He started off lounging on the sofa with Papa:
[[image:2013_0629_rafe01.jpg:Relaxing with some building blocks:center:0]]
[[image:2013_0629_rafe02.jpg:Some grape pieces to keep his energy up:center:0]]
[[image:2013_0629_rafe04.jpg:Putting the clock/shape puzzle pieces back:center:0]]
[[image:2013_0629_rafe03.jpg:Stacking the puzzle pieces on the tee:center:0]]
He had a go on the scooter but instead of riding it, he wanted to push it around:
[[image:2013_0629_rafe06.jpg:Push push push:center:0]]
[[image:2013_0629_rafe09.jpg:Wrestling with it to turn it around, easier to pick it up:center:0]]
He requested that it be transformed into the skateboard thingy but even so, he still decided to push it:
[[image:2013_0629_rafe10.jpg:Out of my way! Can’t see where I’m going!:center:0]]
Adik takes a break to play with building blocks:
[[image:2013_0629_rafe05.jpg:Yay! I can build stuff!:center:0]]
Now for a ride (and a snack) in the stroller:
[[image:2013_0629_rafe11.jpg:Pleased as punch!:center:0]]
And now let’s play ball!
[[image:2013_0629_rafe07.jpg:Throw the yellow ball!:center:0]]
[[image:2013_0629_rafe08.jpg:Is Adik traveling?:center:0]]
[[image:2013_0629_rafe12.jpg:Time for a bout of ping pong:center:0]]
[[image:2013_0629_rafe13.jpg:And now a different set of building blocks!:center:0]]
It is time to go outside and enjoy the lovely day in the backyard.
[[image:2013_0629_rafe15.jpg:Adik says “Cheeeese” while he and Yaya move dirt around:center:0]]
[[image:2013_0629_rafe16.jpg:Ooo? What are you doing Yaya?:center:0]]
[[image:2013_0629_rafe17.jpg:Hula hoop, Adik-style!:center:0]]
[[image:2013_0629_rafe18.jpg:Yaya joins in the hula hoop dance:center:0]]
The weather is warm but not so hot that we needed the air conditioning on, so all the windows are open and the back sliding door is open as well. Lily watches us forlornly behind the screen door as she is a completely indoor cat:
[[image:2013_0629_rafe19.jpg:The pair try to comfort the Kitkat:center:0]]
[[image:2013_0629_rafe21.jpg:Kitkat sniffs Adik’s finger:center:0]]
[[image:2013_0629_rafe20.jpg:Poor Kitkat can’t come out and play:center:0]]
We came out to play bubbles, so let there be bubbles! Adik loves the bubble wand – he can sometimes make a few bubbles come out by waving it around but he does have a tendency to have too violent and short waves to make many good bubbles. But he hangs on to it and likes to run around with it, dipping into the bubble mixture every so often.
[[image:2013_0629_rafe23.jpg:Trying to dip his bubble wand into the mixture:center:0]]
[[image:2013_0629_rafe24.jpg:Yaya leaps for a bubble while Adik runs around:center:0]]
[[image:2013_0629_rafe25.jpg:On the bubble chase:center:0]]
[[image:2013_0629_rafe26.jpg:More mixture, Mama!:center:0]]
[[image:2013_0629_rafe27.jpg:It can be tricky to get that wand into the bottle:center:0]]
Then we went indoors and Adik played with balloons:
[[image:2013_0629_rafe28.jpg:Yaya chose a blue balloon for Adik’s birthday balloon:center:0]]
[[image:2013_0629_rafe29.jpg:Let’s play!:center:0]]
This is Adik’s face when he asks us to get something:
[[image:2013_0629_rafe30.jpg:”Dee-dee?”:center:0]]
[[image:2013_0629_rafe31.jpg:Eating dinner with Papa:center:0]]
And then it was bath and bedtime. I shot this next photo right before he went to sleep:
[[image:2013_0629_rafe32.jpg:Wrestling with Shine-Flash the turtle:center:0]]
It’s been an amazing time getting to know you this past year and a half, and we can’t wait to see what the future holds for you! Happy 18 month birthday, baby boy! We love you!!
[[image:2013_0629_rafe14.jpg:Busy with more building blocks:center:0]]
