18 Months

I can't believe Andy has gotten so old!  He seems to really be in the toddler stage now.  It's so fun to see how much he's learning and changing.  He's picking up new things every day.  Some Andy-isms as of late:

• He's a very busy boy who runs around nonstop.  (Literally, he doesn't walk.  He only runs.)  His favorite activities include shredding toilet paper,  pulling everything out of the cupboards (especially every single pot and pan), splashing in the toilet, throwing everything he can, throwing things away in the garbage, and climbing to dangerous heights while terrifying his mom.
• His more traditional favorite activities include building towers with blocks, playing with cars, and reading books--his favorites are "Winnie the Pooh," "Hushabye Counting," and "What Does Baby Say"--he likes to say "uh oh" on every page.  I love reading books with him because he sits on my lap.  
• He loves to throw things.  Everything.  We're trying to teach him just to throw soft things, but he's not picking up on that.  He spends the greater part of the day just throwing everything from one side of the room to the other. 
• He loves songs.  His favorite right now is "The Wheels on the Bus."  He moves his arms like the wheels and also tries to say "wah wah" while rubbing his eyes.  So cute.  He also tries to do the motions to "Itsy Bitsy Spider."  He still loves "Old Macdonald Had a Farm." And "If You're Happy and You Know It."  He can follow all the actions for clap your hands, touch your head, touch your nose, touch your ears, touch your mouth, etc. Whenever I sing him "You Are My Sunshine," he claps at the end.   
• He loves to be held at very inconvenient times.  Mostly when I'm putting on makeup or doing anything in the kitchen.  The good news: I've mastered dicing an onion with one hand.
• He's gotten really good at dancing.  Sometimes it looks more like squatting.  Sometimes more like twisting.  Sometimes more like moving his arms.  He especially likes dancing when Uncle Brendan beat boxes.  
• He's good at following little commands like clap your hands, touch your head, touch your ears/eyes/mouth/nose, etc.  
• He loves to organize and sort things.  He moves things backs and forth, sorts them in a particular order, etc.  It's fun to see how his little mind works.  
• He recently loves piggy back rides and runs over to me and jumps on my back if I'm sitting on the ground.
• He's old enough for nursery!  He's actually been going off and on for a couple months because our ward is pretty flexible.  It was a dream in the beginning.  He didn't seem to notice we were gone.  Gradually he's gotten a little less comfortable, and last week it culminated in him screaming the whole time until they came to get me.  Poor little thing.  We're excited for when he's well adjusted to nursery and we can actually get something out of church again.  
• Likes Cameron way more than me.  I used to think it was funny, but now it irks me.  Doesn't he realize it's me that did all those night feedings?  And still gets up with him every morning?  
• He's gotten worse at eating, if that's even possible.  There are only a few foods he'll eat: bananas, peanut butter sandwiches, yogurt, oranges (a new favorite), sometimes pasta, sometimes cereal, sometimes eggs, sometimes raisins.  If he's not in the mood for something, he lets us know by throwing it across the room.  
• Words:  He seems to learn words, say them for a few days, and then forget them.  His most commonly used word is "doddy" (for doggy).  He also says dada, mama (but hardly ever), buh-bye, hi/hello, nanas (for bananas and all food), three and five (when we're counting), bee (bird), yeah, no, and others.  My absolute favorite is when he says "vroom" when he plays with cars.  He says it more like a throaty "gru, gru," and I love it.  He pushes everything around like it's a car, so we hear him say it all day long.  I also love when I ask him a question, he sometimes says, "yeah" or "no no no."  
• He loves to walk around outside.  He's actually pretty good about hold our hand (actually, our finger) if we need him too, which is adorable.  He's usually stuck in the stroller, so when he realizes we're getting him out to walk around he gets so excited.  
• He's a tantrum thrower.  He has the strongest will.  The smallest things set him off.  We were out a few weeks ago letting him walk around.  He wanted to turn on a street, we needed to go straight--and that was it.  Frantic screaming for 30 minutes.  That reaction was a little more extreme than usual, though; usually he just turns limp, throws his head back, and lays on the ground for a few minutes. We see that at least five times a day. 
• I'm embarrassed to admit that he kind of has a mullet right now.  I wanted his hair to grow long, but it's not growing fast enough on the sides.  And I have no idea where to get his hair cut here.
• He continues to love Baby Einstein, but has added Teletubbies and Mickey's Clubhouse to the list.  We've watched a few Disney movies with him.  We love sitting there with him snuggled between us.  I love Disney movies, so I'm happy to have an excuse to watch them occasionally.  He can only make it through 25 minutes or so, so we watch the movie over a few days.  
• He continues to be the most social and friendly little guy.  He is constantly saying hi and bye to people on the tram.  It's adorable.  People fall in love with him everywhere we go.  People are always commenting on how happy he is, his beautiful blonde hair, and his pretty blue eyes.  He looks just like a little dutch baby.  
• He loves climbing the stairs.  I've started to let him climb the stairs up to our apartment--with my help, of course.  He's gotten really good at it.  It takes us a good ten minutes to get up to our apartment, but it's nice to give my back a break from carrying him.  He's started to go up the stairs standing instead of crawling.  Anytime he sees stairs, he wants to climb up.  He's not nearly as good at going down, but we're working on it.  

We love Andy to pieces.  We're so grateful to have such a fun little person in our family!  Andy's not the best for picture posing lately, but here's a few of our handsome little Andy:

Playing with a new toy from Grandma & Grandpa Lee.

Walking around with Dada.

This is what our house looks like within 30 minutes of Andy waking up.  He's a fast worker! I wasn't kidding about his love of throwing things everywhere.

Reading with Dada.  Don't mind the teething slobber that existed all month--Andy had 4 new molars come in. 

I love his big belly.  He likes to slap it after he eats.  It's so cute/weird.

Looking handsome in his new outfit from Grandma Jean!

Eating his first cookie!  I can't get enough of that giggle.

Playing at the Nemo Museum. 

Watching the Light Festival Boat Parade.

Playing with his car!  Don't mind his crazy outfit.