One and a half years old

I can't believe he is a year and a half. Where did the time go?

Our little guy is doing so well. He's hitting all the Nippising District Development Screens so all is well. He's walking, running, pushing toys, riding bikes, climbing, tunneling, stepping up, stepping down, building blocks, stringing big wooden beads, signing like crazy and sometimes, he even speaks. It's interesting how he seems to make no distinction between signing and speaking.

"Can you say cat?" He'll sign "cat."
"Can you say cracker?" He'll sign "cracker."
"Can you say Daddy?" He'll say "da da."
"Can you say mouse?" He'll sign "mouse."
"Can you say car?" He'll sign "car."
"Can you say Mommy?" He'll say "ma ma."
??

Milestones

- first time he dipped his hand in toilet water (July 27, 2008)
- discovered the joys of pulling as much toilet paper as possible from the roll
- can stack his blocks 15 high -- higher than his sitting position
- can step up and down on his own as long as it is not too high
- can bend from the waist to look at something more intently
- can squat up and down unaided
- now saying uh-oh and for some reason "Aiya"
- "no" accompanied by shaking head, and sometimes accompanied by the "no" sign, is cropping up in conversation with remarkable frequency
- creating his own signs (when asked whether he wanted "more" or "all done" he did a combination of the two thereby confounding his mother)
- more signs: car, cat, mouse, play, squirrel, cracker, swing, shoes, cookie
- inventing his own play (he discovered that by turning one of his play tunnels on its side that it would serve as a basket for the ball)
- now eating pretty much anything handed his way
- discovered blueberries and cherries
- eating corn on the cob!
- now preferring his left hand for feeding again
- transitioning from sippy cup to cup
- three, count them, three ear infections so far

With the language skills developing so quickly, now is also the time to start really watching our language. The other day he intentionally dropped his sippy cup over the side of his high chair and he said "no, no, no" with index finger wagging. Someone at daycare must have said that to him because neither one of us does that.

And finally, we seem to have a bit of a routine happening. He sleeps about 10 hours a night in his own bed. When he gets up at 6:30 am, he gets fetched from his crib and brought over for cuddle time with us on the big bed. Then he plays a bit before we get him ready for his 8 am breakfast. We drop him off at his daycare by about 9:30 or 10 am.

Now, if we can only wean the guy.