18 months

Stanley turned 18 months old on Sunday. I'm not even sure where I can start when writing this birthday post. He is such a wonderful fun kid lately. And, his physical and mental developement is growing in leaps and bounds.

I'll start with the his language. Stanley still uses sign language to say, more, water, and food. But even with a limited amount of signs, he clearly communicates what he wants. He runs to the door if he wants to go on a walk, he brings you what food he wants and then shows the sign for food. And on the other side, he clearly let's us know if he does not want something.

And, Stanley has graced us with some spoken words too. Stanley often graces us with a word about 3-5 times and then does not say it very much. However, there are a few words he says quickly frequently.

Since he was about 16 months, he has often said 'hoppy' for happy. I'm not sure he knows exactly what it means, but he loves to get the smile and reaction from anyone to whom he says it. How can you not smile when a little kid says "happy" with a huge smile on his face. Halima has enjoyed having him say "happy baby". He needs to be prompted for each word at a time, but it does come out very clearly when he says it. And, Stanley clearly knows what baby means--every kid about his age or less is a baby including Stanley. He sometimes points to himself and says baby.

Just on Saturday, Steve walked into the bedroom where Stanley and I were nursing and Stanley very casually said "hi".  It was so casual, we were both a bit shocked.

I've listed Stanley's regular words below (i.e. he says them regularly.
- Waaaaaaaa   --- wow
- tsss   --- Thank you (This is Peter's way of saying thank you and Stanley has picked it up)
- Hoppy ---Happy
- Baaaby --- baby
- di   ---that (in russian). Turns out to be a very unfortunate sounding way of saying 'that'
- Wooo woo ---woof and also means dog and cat (he does not yet differentiate dogs and cats)
- Coo  ---noise birds make
- dada --daddy
- mama --we just got this word, but I'm putting it on the regular list with a lot of hopeful wishes

Other words (words he has said a few times, but not regularly)
- Bunny--this is new. The babysitter thought he was saying it.
- Ligh --light
- eleffff  -- elephant
- hi
- ####- some bird in russian (the # means I have no idea how to say it)
- #### love in russian


Stanley is also really developing physically. About 3 weeks ago, he decided he wanted to climb...everything. We really need to watch out now what he can climb and what he should not be climbing. He and Peter think the coffee table is a stage for them to sing and dance. And starting around 17 months, Stanley runs and runs and runs and runs. It is quite cute to hear the little pitter patter of feet everywhere around the house.

We were really worried for a while about Stanley's eating. He was hardly eating anything. But then about 1 week ago, he decided he needed to grow and now he eats more during the day than Steve or me. This kid spends his day eating and eating and eating.

He also enjoys sleeping. He goes down for naps and at night quite easily. He often dives for the crib and we can hardly even give him a kiss. He plays so hard, that he enjoys the quiet time. We still put him down for 2 naps during the day, but he is OK if he only gets one nap. And often, for the second nap, he happily goes into his crib and then babbles for about 1-1.5 hours and then wants out. It is quite cute and it is good quiet time for everyone.

 Stanley loves:
- Mom/Dad,
- Halima & Geoff
- Grandparents --it is wonderful that he seems to remember the grandparents even though they live far away
- Peter--the two of them spend their days together laughing and laughing and laughing
- Buttons
- iPhones and iPods
- Tickling people
- Smiling
- naps
- running
- pushing his stroller!!!!
- Veggies: carrots, greens (spinach/collard/cabbage/kale/beet greens), cauliflower,
- FRUIT! Bananas, grapes, BLUEBERRIES, apple, blackberries (just not raspberries)
- Other foods: Cheerios, almond butter & butter sandwiches (don't mock it till you've tried it, he has stumbled on a pretty good combo), tofu, girl scout cookies, pasta!! with Parmesan or with tomatoes
- Baths (sometimes and sometimes he dislikes them)
- Did I mention buttons!
- Climbing
- His kitchen
- Eating while in the park
- The Academy of Sciences
- Bike riding

- Eating ice cream

- Reading books

Stanley dislikes:

- boots

- meat (all forms even hidden in veggies)

- baths (sometimes)

 In general this is a pretty short list. He really enjoys lots of things. 

Stanley can:

- Easily communicate what he wants and does not want to eat. 

- Eat quite more than his parents when he wants to

- Run around quickly

- Walk ~1mile pushing his stroller. 

- Convince anyone around to play with him

- Know wherever the iPhones and buttons are hidden 

- Make his parents very very happy. 

I've posted a bunch of picture below. Enjoy 

If we ever move our of SF, Stanley will miss walking
around and running into interesting people. I mean where else
will you walk into an amazing musicians dressed as clowns and playing
rock cello with his speakers on his Big Dummy bike. No joke! 

Stanley loves spending time with Halima. Here they are in tahoe

Flounder often takes Stanley around walking. 

Enjoying the park

Climbing

We like someone with him, but he can do it mostly by himself.

Searching for our friends cat under their bed... the cat did notr espond though
to Stanley's cute WooWoo sounds. 

Unfortunately, the only climbing video I have is right before the camera ran out of batteries. Stanley was a bit distracted here, but you can see his style of yelling/celebrating when he gets up high.