18 Months Old

Dear Evan,

Oh, how you have changed our lives for the better! Your father and I can't begin to explain how you have taught us how to love more deeply than we ever thought possible. The past 18 months, plus the 9 months before, have been some of the most lovable, stressful, meaningful, rewarding, happy months of our lives. We thank God every day for bringing you into our lives, and showing us what true love is all about.

At 18 months old, you are an independent little boy. You like to feed yourself, and are actually getting quite good at using both a spoon and fork (which you call both 'boon'). Sometimes you will not eat something simply because I am the one giving it to you! But if I am patient and set it down, you will eat it at your own pace.

Although you want to be independent, you still like to have Mommy & Daddy around to hold onto. Sometimes we worry about other people 'stepping' on you because you are so sweet! We don't want anyone to take advantage of your sweet nature, and are trying to teach you to be sweet but strong at the same time. We love that you say 'hi' to EVERYONE you meet! Neighbors, animals, people in the supermarket, crackers on the floor, and especially other children, are happy to receive a 'hi' from you wherever we are. You spread such joy to whomever you meet, and I hope that you will keep that personality trait throughout your entire life; remembering that your smile brings joy to others, and that you can make others happy with such a simple gesture.

You love playing with your toys, especially your blocks and colors. You are really getting into watching television now, which is something that you only recently discovered. For weeks now, some of your favorite words have been 'Barney' and 'Elmo!' Christmas is around the corner, and we are planning on looking for more of these DVD's, because there are only so many times that Mommy can watch the ABC's with Barney!

You love your family very much. Recently you have become pretty good at saying family members names. In fact, you talk about Aunt "Alla", Uncle "Nit", and Uncle "Bobby" all the time. In the mornings, sometimes it will take me about 15-20 minutes to come in and get you after I've noticed you are awake (sometimes you are so quiet that I don't know you are actually awake until I see you sitting up in your crib on the video monitor!). While I finish making your breakfast or getting dressed, you will go through every family members' name to see if anyone is around to come and get you! It usually goes something like this: "Mama?......Daddy?!.....Alla?................Nit?..........Mammy?.........Ainen?......Aubie?.....Pawpaw? (etc!). This goes on and on until I go in to get you, and you look so happy to know that we haven't forgotten you! Just know that we are ALWAYS thinking about you and will always be there for you.

You seem to be excited about getting a baby sister soon. Sometimes you will come up to my tummy out of nowhere and give it a big kiss! You like to tickle our belly buttons, especially Daddy's because he makes such a fun sound when he's being tickled! Daddy is so silly! We know that you are going to make a great older brother, and that you will take care of your little sister. We can't wait to see you two together!

You are teething right now, and we hope that those pesky teeth will hurry up and cut through already so that you will feel better. It just shows us how big you are getting! After going through some of your old clothes for your sister, we realized just how big you are! You might have to remind us of that every now and then as you get older. I'm afraid that is something all parents go through, and we might not realize how fast you grow up until you remind us. One minute we see a small 9 pound baby who can fit on our shoulder, and the next minute we see a big boy whose head is above the side tables in the living room and who can reach the door knobs in the house!

You are talking up a storm right now, and we really have to be careful about what we say because you repeat EVERYTHING! In fact, when you were sick the other night and I went in to rock you and give you tylenol, I was reverting back to staying up with you in the middle of the night as a baby. I was in the middle of reminiscing about you being a baby when you looked at me and said, "open!" about the tylenol bottle! I had forgotten how much you knew now!
You are also very polite. It took a lot of work, but once you learned to say please ("heas"), you say it all the time. You are smart enough to figure out that your parents can't resist you when you say that, and you have used it to your advantage quite a few times to get things you might not have gotten! And even though it's not all the time, when you say "Thank You" without me reminding you, it warms my heart.

We love you so much, and can't wait to see what else you and God have in store for us as parents! You bless us every day, and can't wait to see what's in store for the future!

Love,

Mommy & Daddy