Eighteen Months

We are about to hit a significant milestone...Waylon's eighteen-month birthday. At the last pediatrician appointment, the doctor said he should be saying five words by 18 months, and with 4 days to go he is up to 4 words..sort of. He says "dah" for dog and dad, but we count that as two words because it depends who he is looking at. He used to say "boom" when he hit something with a baseball bat, but has since stopped. Just this weekend he added "buh buh" for bye bye, while simultaneously waving (does he get extra points for that)? He has also really embraced the "more" symbol in sign language. Although we tried for months and months (and months) to teach him to sign he ignored everything until he got to daycare and picked up the "more" sign almost immediately. He uses it to get daddy to keep pushing him fast around the backyard in his race car, and also when he wants more fruit (which is always). Waylon is pretty darn cute these days with LOTS of energy and personality. The kid is ready to go from the time he wakes up until he is forced to go to sleep. Even when he sleeps he still is a mover and a shaker, making me think its going to be quite awhile before he can transition to a big boy bed.

I've been joking that Waylon's cuteness is climbing a mountain and soon we will be at the top and come crashing down the other side into the terrible twos. We have seen a few glimmers of tantrums lately, confirming my theory. However, he was getting lots of teeth (he now has 12 regular teeth plus 4 molars) so that may also explain some of his not-so-cute moments. He stopped sleeping through the night, probably due to teething, prompting Mommy & Daddy to get a mini-fridge for upstairs so we will always have fresh milk ready for the 2 a.m. wakeups. We can no longer let him cry himself back to sleep because he gets really upset and throws everything out of the crib, including his lovey, which makes him even madder. Thus, he wont settle down until we come in and give him fresh milk, change his diaper (which is usually the cause of the wake-up) and put all pacifiers and his lovey back in the crib.

As I've posted lots of times, Waylon makes up for his lack of speaking with some serious physical skills. The kid has moves and is very coordinated for a toddler. He can walk/run all over with few incidents unless he's tired. When he does trip he can "save" himself easily. His favorite thing is still playing baseball in the backyard with his T-ball set. I cant get over how long that toy has kept his attention. He sometimes hits the ball so far that it shocks Aaron and I, but he also misses the T entirely sometimes. He definitely has the Strasburg/Thomas athleticism, and even loves to watch all sports on TV. I think we have a little all-star (or at least Most Dedicated Player) in our midst.

Waylon is often laughing and smiling these days, but for some reason its hard to capture pictures of these times
Waylon seems to be a great thinker, but not a great speaker

According to everyone that sees Waylon, he is the spitting image of Aaron and looks nothing like me. That's OK, I am proud to be the vessel.

This is his look when he is trying to figure something out, like how to use keys in a lock or answer a phone.

So excited to find a door he can actually see over!

Gearing up for Campaign 2008 (note the shirt). Apparently he needs scuba gear in order to campaign properly.

Waylon's Bachelor Pad

A few weeks ago, Anna picked up a second had Little Tikes set for Waylon. Part of the set has become what we refer as his "Bachelor Pad." When he isn't chasing the beagles or playing wiffle ball, just kicking it in the pad is his favorite thing to do. Notice some of the key Bachelor items he has in his sweet crib: Adirondack chair, sippie cup, wiffle ball, and veggie puffs. looks like Aaron's college dorm.

Waylon learns the "Pull My Finger" game with Daddy

Let's just say this was a good life lesson for Waylon. -Aaron

Catalina as a Big Boy

Last summer we made several trips to Catalina, but on July 20 we made our first venture to the Island for 2007. Its a lot harder now that Waylon is a toddler and takes up considerably more room sleeping than he used to. Last year he was shoved in a bassinett in the corner of the boat. This year he had the master stateroom all to himself with his pack n play set up in the middle of the bed. It was a great weekend, and most of Waylon's waking time was spent in the water. He also was allowed to stay up considerably later than usual to enjoy a porch party at FJYC.

Chillin' in the Fourth of July Cove
Waylon trying to look like his pregnant mommy.
p.s. The flotation device was Aaron's idea. As you may have guessed, it wasn't needed in the stormy waters of the cove.

Plotting his next water entry.

Our favorite clown really enjoyed his pasta for lunch at FJYC. I was mortified that he totally violated the community high chair.

Every time we got into the dingy boat, Waylon freaked out unless he got to be sitting on the driver's lap, or was holding on to the wheel. As you can imagine, this was not the safest way to travel, and probably not endorsed by the Coast Guard.

Waylon and his buddy, Davis Gershon, enjoyed frisbee in the kids' section of the party at FJYC.

The little boys watch the big kids play dodge ball.

Its hard to believe that these little tikes will soon be in there, chucking balls at each others heads with the big kids.

Petting Zoo

About 2 weeks ago we had our weekly playgroup at the petting zoo. Waylon couldn't quite believe that all of the fuzzy things (gerbils and bunnies) were actually alive, but once he figured it out he was quite gentle. He also referred to everything he saw has "daw eeee" (doggie), including horses and birds. Obviously his vocabulary still isn't improving by leaps and bounds.

Feeding carrots to the bunnies.
Tanner, Waylon, and Jamison loved playing on the bridge, and seemed to have much more fun trying to walk up and down than they did with the animals.

Waylon is perplexed by the goats and Llamas

Tanner and Waylon loooooooved their time on the ride-a-long car. Yes, we could have just stood outside Wal Mart and had the boys ride on one of these, but at least we can say we tried taking them to the petting zoo.

Its hard to tell, but Waylon is on his first train ride, which was over before he decided whether or not he liked it.