Family

My how time flies

It’s hard to believe that my little man is 18 months old today!  I want to always remember what he was like at this sweet, sweet age!

Basically everything in this picture is something that James loves.  The first word that he started consistently saying with feeling was “Sissy” and he still think that she hung the moon.  When she’s at school he’ll stand at the gate saying, “Sissy? Sissy?” wondering when she’s coming back.  They play great together and their favorite past time is racing trucks around the house in a big circle.
The second word that James started saying with passion was “PAPA!”  When he would hear the garage door open or would hear any door open, he would look around and say, “Papa! Papa!”  I thought that James would be so young when we moved into our new house that the change wouldn’t phase him but I think he’s going to be pretty sad to not see Papa all the time every day.  (Memma too, but she will tell you that James loves his Papa A LOT!)
And the last thing that James LOVES in this picture?  His bat and ball.  My cousins gave them to Jason and James for Christmas and James carries them both around the house almost exclusively.  Sometimes he’s swinging it like a golf club at the ball on the ground, sometimes swinging for the fence, but he loves his bat and ball.  He says “bay-ball” whenever he sees it.

James is down to one nap a day from 12/12:30 to 3:30.  I was concerned about how it would be transitioning to one nap since I would be losing a large chunk of time around the house to get things done, but I’ve found that I absolutely love my time with just James.  We get to do fun things like eat lunch out or go shopping together or just play.  It’s so much fun getting so much quality time with him while Charlotte is at school.  And I’m excited about how it’s going to allow us to do a lot more fun activities as the weather gets warmer!
(For my records, James is going to bed at 7pm and we wake him up around 8am.  Even with all of that sleep he is usually exhausted by nap/bed time and takes after his Mommy and his Sister and is hard to get out of the bed.)

Our interactions with James these days are so much fun.  As I’m sure a lot of you know, time spent sitting in the carpool line waiting for Sissy can be trying.  But James has become so much more interactive that we can play fun games like Peek-a-boo while we wait.  Starting a Peek-a-boo game with him will almost always stop his crying and get him giggling.  And those giggles?  If you could bottle them to make Mama’s happy and play them on repeat it would make you millions.

I’m also enjoying more snuggle time with James these days.  I’m not sure if its the increased one-on-one time or if it’s just him getting older, but he loves bringing me a book and getting in my lap to “read” it, even if he only lasts for one page!  It’s so cute to see him get a book and then stop a few feet in front of me and turn around and walk backwards before plopping into my lap.

This picture sums up his personality so well right now.  He got Spot for Valentine’s Day and loves him.  But, like his sister, he also likes his other baby’s (stuffed animals) that are in his bed.  Although, he hasn’t attached near the affinity to any of them that Charlotte had by this age.  He still loves sleeping on his Braves Pillow Pet that he got for Christmas and, occasionally, I’ll find him with his toes stuck under one of the blankets in his bed.

This picture doesn’t really convey what this morning had been like.  Over the past few months, James has gotten all four of his molars and it felt like we were all in teething pain.  Poor James just felt miserable most of the time and was very hard to entertain and distract from the pain.  Plus, as a growing boy his independence has really been kicking in.  Just as an example, here was the tweet that went along with this picture: “J is refusing to eat snacks anywhere other than my lap & in anything other than a bowl. Teething might cause my demise.” And my follow up, “Yes, I know this picture is deceiving as it looks like we’re both really happy. :)”

This is James’ favorite way to carry his cup: no hands, with his teeth.

James has started signing a little.  He, randomly, used the “more” sign correctly in the pantry one day which prompted us to start using our signs again.  I don’t know that he’s used the “more” sign again after that one day but he is really good at signing “Thank you” which is what he’s signing here for me getting Minnie to start singing. 
James is a pretty picky eater right now.  If it has icing or sugar (like Daddy’s birthday cake in this picture) then he’ll eat it.  If it’s a fruit, he’ll gobble it down like there’s no tomorrow (there is a reason, after all, that Charlotte called him tonight a “Strawberry Monster!).  If James gets even a peek of a Banana he GOES banana’s until he can start eating it.  Every morning the first thing we do is hand him a banana and he starts squealing “Na Na! Na Na!” over and over again until we get it peeled.  Other than that though, his preferences are all over the board.
He has eaten hamburger one night and then the next time we try and feed it to him he won’t touch it.  Sometimes he only wants to eat when we’re feeding him and sometimes he only wants to feed himself.  He typically loves PB&J but, some days, he doesn’t want to eat it.  (As a funny side note, he always tears the pieces apart and eats the inside before eating the bread.)  So, it’s a stretch to find things that James will eat consistently but we’re trying to keep plucking along.  We are determined to not fix two dinners because if we start it for him we’ll have to do it for Charlotte.  We figure with all of the fruit he eats and the carbs he’s doing ok.

I know this picture is blurry but can you say ALL BOY?!?!  It’s amazing to us the stark contrast between a boy and a girl even at this young age.  Charlotte has never liked baby dolls so we weren’t sure how obvious the differences would be but everything from his fearlessness to his constant energy to his recklessness all tell us every day that this BOY is going to be a handful!  Second case in point?  The picture below where he fell at least three times dragging the pillow from the couch to where I was just so that he could stand on it.

James is pretty vocal and that’s taken off in the last month or two.  He knows a lot of his animal sounds (dog, cat, sheep, bird, horse) and tries to identify all of his familiar family members.  He calls any his sippy cup “juice” no matter what is in it and despite the fact that I can’t remember if he has ever actually had juice.  He says “foo ball” anytime he sees the Alabama A and, sometimes, it sounds like he’s saying “Bama” or “Roll Tide”.  His cutest animal sound that he makes is when we ask him what the penguin says and he shakes his body and says “Wad Wad” (i.e. Waddle, waddle).  He sometimes calls himself “J J” and we wonder if he’s trying to get us to call him that as opposed to Jamesy which is still what he’s called most of the time.  He loves Goofy (Goof Goof) and Minnie (Ninnie) and stares in awe when Mickey Mouse comes on, although it can rarely hold his attention for very long.  And he has recently started doing “motor skills” at home by stopping where he is and hunching over and growling.  Charlotte says (and I confirmed with his teacher) that they act like animals in motor skills at school so he must have picked it up there.

I am so thankful for our little boy and all that he brings to our family.  His spunk and joy for life are infectious and make us all laugh every day.  His giggle melts my heart every time I hear it, especially if it’s because he’s giggling at me.  I never really understood what people said about Mama’s and their baby boy’s but now I do.  You can’t explain it, but there’s just something about little boys.  They are a wonderful blessing from God!

We love you James!
love, Mommy

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2 Comment

  1. Reply
    Anonymous
    March 6, 2013 at 6:30 pm

    Happy 18 Months James!
    We love you,
    Memma and Papa

  2. Reply
    Anonymous
    March 6, 2013 at 8:38 pm

    James, Happy 18 months!
    Love, KayKay and GrandDavid

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