19 Months

First of all, I promise that one of these days we'll post some Christmas pictures. We've been having some computer issues with the laptop and we left our camera cord in Utah. Hopefully it will come home to us soon so we can post some more pictures.

Little Dude is 19 months old today. I can't believe he'll be two at his next birthday! It seems like he is growing up so fast. This is a picture of him with his new favorite hat. He loves his hat and points to his head whenever we are getting ready to go out. We spent the two weeks before Christmas visiting family in Utah and in Las Vegas and Little Dude had a blast. I was worried because he was difficult during our last vacation extravaganza, but this time he really warmed up to people. The only person he didn't like was his slightly older cousin K, because he kept getting pushed around by him. Little Dude also liked getting presents and is an enthusiastic unwrapper. One of his favorite presents is the bus his Auntie J got for him; he loves to put the people inside it, make the music play, and push it around on the floor while making "vroom" sounds. This last month Little Dude also started attending nursery at church. He's only been able to go twice now because we were on vacation, but both times I was able to leave without him breaking down. The first week he apparently sat quietly by the door for most of the time, but they told me he did better the next time. It's been different having a kid who is more reserved and quiet than S-Boogie was at this age. Little Dude still hasn't acquired any new words. He does occasionally repeat things that I say, like the other day he said "cookie" once. He also has a lot of signs, and his comprehension is great. I do worry a bit about his lack of speech, but I think he's within normal range. He likes to point at things and he will shake or nod his head to say "yes" or "no". Despite his silence he manages to communicate a lot. Little Dude is generally a happy, easy-going sort of guy. One of my favorite things about him right now is his laugh. He loves life and laughs often.