18 months

Dear Jack,

Today you are 18 months old! You are such a big boy now, I cannot even lie to myself anymore that you are still a baby. You run, you talk, you climb, you feed yourself, I don't think there's much left that you cannot do, little man.
DId I mention that you like to climb? Oh yes, it is one of your favorite things to do now. You will attemt to scale just about anything, in the house and out, and you are afraid of nothing, including falling. I think I might need to start teaching you about the laws of physics because you obviously do not know anything about gravity and how it works. You will climb up the stool that I sit on in the kitchen, and one day I watched you while you grunted and pushed your way successfully from the floor into your highchair. I still am not sure how you managed that without falling and I was too shocked impressed to stop you.

I've been trying to teach you sign language and now you can sign for:
milk
please
thank you
help
mama
more

There are words that you will say all the time like
Dog, Yes, Keys Bad (always referring to Chewy, oops) and Ball and then there are many other words you know how to say but only with some prompting, such as:

Jack
Papa
Mama
down
up
juice
bird
fish
tree

We look at pictures and books with animals all the time and you love them. You know so many animals now but instead of their names you call them by the sounds they make:
meow
woof
moo
roar
quack
oink
neigh
bak bak bak
cockadoodledoooooo

You have started to give kisses and hugs now and your papa and I cannot get enough of them. A few days ago, we were all in your room reading stories before bed and Papa asked you for a kiss. You walked over to him and put your arms around him and gave him a kiss. Then I asked for one and you walked over to me and gave me one. Then back to Papa, then back to me, back and forth and we could have gone on all night this way. Your hugs are awesome too and sometimes we sit for what feels like minutes with our arms around each other and our faces pressed together and I feel so happy and in love with you that I can't hardly stand it. Every once in a while I will say to myself
"This is the perfect age, I don't want him to get any older so he can stay just like this forever"
but then you do something new and grow and change and you just get better all the time!
I love you so much my little buddy, I can't wait to see what the next months and years bring

Love,
Your Mama