18 months

Dear Elliott,

Today you are eighteen months old! You have grown into a little force of nature these past few months. You still have cheerful moments, a wonderful giggle, and a radiant smile, but you also have this fantastic glower, intense little eyebrows, and a tiny iron will. Like me, you have a quick temper but get over it pretty fast. You occasionally throw spectacular tantrums, folding dramatically to the floor and wailing while you kick your feet. You make spectacular excited / surprised faces sometimes when things make you happy. You definitely have some words, and you understand lots more than you say. You constantly surprise me. You are mischievous and headstrong and funny and beautiful and I feel so fortunate every day that I get to be your mother.

Other things about you as you reach a year and a half...You still really love mini muffins and when you get to Grandma's in the morning, you trot right to your high chair and demand that we open the container. ("Muh! O muh!") We have to cut the muffins into quarters so you don't stuff them whole into your cheeks. You're a champion eater overall right now, and the only thing you've ever rejected is cheese pasta, even the good kind from Panera. You can drink from an open cup if someone holds it for you, and call all drinks "Ba!" whether they're in a cup or a bottle. You love to splash in water and will usually try to drink it - so far this month you have drunk from the bubble rock at the little landscaped creek we visit, the fountains at the zoo, two swimming pools, and the water room at the children's museum. At swim lessons you'll industriously paddle your little arms through the water and sometimes kick your legs. You'll take my hands and step happily off the wall during jumping-in practice. You're trying to work out how to blow bubbles and it's adorable. You're bold on slides and stairs and have seemed to enjoy our last few visits to Pump it Up. You carry flannel blankies around now, though you don't seem to have a particular favorite.

You are in some ways my mini me and in some ways wholly your own creature. You are so unexpectedly different from your brother and yet the perfect complement to him. You are smart and stubborn and sassy. We have so many adventures ahead of us, little one, and I can't wait.

Love,
Mama

Here are some photos of the other dude, too: