Hutch Marshall - 19 months

Yep, I missed a month. The boy's one-and-a-half-year birthday, to be exact. But we were celebrating in high style at the beach, so there's that excuse. Speaking of the beach, Hutch LOVED it! He yelled wa-doo!!! at the ocean and especially loved to go in with his daddy. He even loved the sand. Due to his distaste about grass on his feet (and sometimes he is even tentative about walking on it with shoes on, like he might still be able to feel it), I figured the sand would be a no-go. Glad I was wrong! He especially loved having snacks on the beach, and he was quick to tell us when he was done with the sand and sun, or wanted a full meal. One morning he clearly stated, "All done. (complete with sign language) Outside. House." Translation: hey people, I am ALL DONE being outside. Take me to the beach house! He did not love the airplane rides so much and wiggled, squirmed and kicked us all the way there and back. i think he slept for a total of 15 minutes roundtrip. He also removed every paper and item in all the seat-back compartments and unlatched the tray tables 342 times. The best part was when a stewardess walked by and he gently reached up and patted her hip!!! When she walked by later, I was laughing through tears and told her I wanted to be sure she knew it was a cute 18 month old, not a creepy old man (or Jordan!), who was touching her.

Hutch is also turning into a little water baby. He loves to be in the pool and wants to do everything sister does, including jump off the side and a few times off the diving board (he does have to be holding your hands at all times, though). He's so brave, but also scares himself sometimes. :)

He's continuing to do well with his glasses, although he has learned how to pop out the lenses and recently hid one from me in a secret compartment of his carseat. And of course scratched it AAALLLL up in the process. 

We had our first bout with Hand, Foot, Mouth. Thankfully, brother fared better than his poor sister. Even though they were under the weather, we had a fun Fourth of July with a little swimming and our annual trip to the Quail Creek parade, where Hutch yelled "goggies!! tucks!! cars!!" the whole time. He pretty much stood in the street, in the parade the whole time. 

His talking continues to amaze me. At his 18 month appointment, our ped said most kids his age say between 10 and 12 words. I estimate my smarty pants at 75 to 100, complete with lots of two-word, some three-word and a few four-word phrases. At his appointment, he was in the 40th percentile for weight, 18th for height :) and remains in the 85th for head. Lots o' brains in there.

Weight:  24 pounds
Length: 26.5 inches

New things:

• Oh the words ... he says "welcome" instead of thank you, which makes me laugh every. single. time. He often says it on his own, but he'll also say it when we ask him to say thank you. He says "hop hop" for flip flops and continues to obsess about his shoes. Pointing at me and saying, "Mama, a-boo," which means he wants to play peek-a-boo. Calling Jordan boo-daddy. I don't even know. He points at the stove and says "hot" and also anything on his plate/tray that might be hot. He also says hot when he means cold. He also says pa-da (pasta), o-rry (sorry), no-nut (donut), mote (remote), bug (usually followed by daddy? which means "did daddy kill the bug?"), kitty, meow, ah-side (outside, or inside), Mammy, Mama, Nanny or Ling Ling for Grammie, and lots lots lots more.
• Injuring his momma. Today I am nursing an eye wound, inflicted by my dear son's fingernail. I have to wear a protective contact for at least 2 days, visit my optometrist so he can look at the wound and change out the contact for the next two mornings, and put in hourly saline drops and antibiotic drops. Sure is a good thing he's cute. 
• More running. He's SO FAST.
• Climbing on chairs to turn light switches on and off. Climbing on anything, really. I found him on the kitchen table the other day.
• I am constantly finding random toys, sippy cups and other items in the garage because a certain someone likes to put things out the cat door. 
• Swimming like a little fish, in a life jacket mind you. He kicks his legs when we ask him to, rolls over on his back, floats on his back and will blow bubbles in the water. I hope all this means swimming lessons will go well. 
• Still more teeth. Top canines are in and bottom soon to follow.
• Going to time out. Sometimes he will even stay in his little orange chair.
• Calling his favorite books by name ... in addition to Go Dog, he likes Moon (Goodnight Moon)/ 
• Singing Let it Go. "Goooooooooo, goooooooooo!" Hilarious. He can also name all major Frozen characters - Elsa, Anna and Olaf. He calls Mickey Mouse, and really any cartoons, Hot Dog.
• Twirling. Thank you, big sister.
• Telling us when he poops. 

Likes: 

• Calling roll, especially in the car when he can't see all of us. Daddy? Mommy? Addie? All at the top of his lungs.
• Shoes. Especially his hop hops. Mostly because it means he will likely be going bye bye. At the doctor's office now instead of yelling "bye" he yells "shoos!" because he thinks once he puts them on, he can leave. he also just loves wearing his hop hops around the house.
• Playing with sister's kitchen.
• Eating a big-kid vitamin like sister (listen I'm just lazy and was tired of the liquid vitamins and having to buy two different kinds. there, I said it), and then standing on the big kid stool to have his hair and teeth brushed. He asks for "amin?" in the mornings. 
• Eating. Carbs in particular. Pancakes, toast, pasta, pita bread. 
• Getting in mommy's bed in the morning with Addie to drink milk and watch "Hot Dog."
• Chasing Lola with all manner of toys or push cars and laughing hysterically.
• Going to the library, especially if his friends will be there.
• Being with Addie. All the time. And asking where she is if she's not in sight. 
• Going to school. He always hugs his teachers :) And they say he is super easy and quiet. Who is this kid??? They also very easily got him to nap on his nap mat. 
• Sleeping when he's tired. He will clearly ask for night-night, bankie and paci when he's ready for bed. Though we're trying to limit paci to sleep times only, it doesn't always work out that way ...
• Playing outside, especially when he can "dive" his car or go in his wa-goo 
• Finding belly buttons and giving hot boxes
• Wearing his mama out. I swear this kid has so much energy.

Dislikes:

• Time out.
• Being away from sister.
• Being held down or forced to be still for any reason.
• Slowing down.