19 Months

Our baby is now officially closer to being two than one.  Excuse me a moment.  (Muffled sobbing.  Sniff sniff.)  Okay, all better now! 

So, what's the 'ol Walternator been up to this month?  Well, mostly running his yapper.  Yes, since Gram's visit a couple of weeks ago Walt has not stopped talking.  He will attempt to repeat pretty much anything you say, with varying levels of success.  He has a remarkably clear version of "jelly" (as in "jelly" beans), but of course, that's also what he calls the Bushes' dog, whose name is actually "Ellie".   I don't know how  Ellie feels about it, but  I think it's pretty cute. 

Another one of his frequent words is "Daddy".  He's a big fan of Daddy.

Walt's newest word (as of tonight) is "potty", (or in Waltese, "totty").  This vocabulary addition was brought on by the purchase of a potty of his very own, which he likes to sit on, preferably nekkid.

Not that we're really starting potty training yet . . . just thought we'd let him get used to the idea. 

While his spoken vocabulary is increasing daily, the number of words he recognizes just blows my mind.  I really only have to tell him what something is a couple of times before he's got it down.  Here, we have a fruit/veggie lesson:

Now if we could only get him to eat a fruit or vegetable that is not a banana, strawberry or green bean.  Oh wait, I forgot, he also likes mashed sweet potatoes:

I mean he really likes mashed sweet potatoes.  (This started out as a lesson on using a fork.  I think we need another lesson.)

Let's see, what else has Walt been enjoying this month?  Well, he still loves to hit the sprinkler park on a hot day:

He likes doing puzzles:

He likes walking around with his "Slicky" on his head (and has a remarkable ability not to run into things while doing so):

He likes doing the "naked dance" both before and after bathtime:

He likes making gazpacho:

Okay, maybe it was just that once.  After he realized that it was made completely of vegetables, he wasn't too interested anymore.  If someone would please send him a good macaroni and cheese recipe (that doesn't include pureed spinach like Mommy's does!), he might see fit to channel his inner Julia Child again.   

All in all, Walt spent his nineteenth month on our fair planet being the sweet, wonderful kid he's always been.  Sure, there have been lapses in the sweetness and wonderfulness at times, but those times are mercifully brief, so we think we will keep him.  Plus, he's really cute.