Kade - 18 Months

Our baby is not quite so much like a baby anymore! He is 18 months old and really starting to look and act more and more like a toddler. 

Kade is ___ lbs and ___ inches tall. He is such a little guy who still wears some 6-12 month clothes. Kade takes only one nap on most days which starts around 1:00 and he sleeps for 1.5 - 3 hours. He goes to bed between 7:00-7:30 and wakes up anywhere between 6:30-7:30 most days. He still sleeps in a pack n play in the office at night and a pack n play in our bedroom for naps. Kade is in size 3 diapers and already has 15-16 teeth in his little mouth. He has a few nicknames - we fondly call him the Kade-inator and Kipples. 

Kade truly is such a sweet little boy and I can't go anywhere without someone commenting on how cute he is. He loves smiling at people and saying "Hi." He wears a little green puffer jacket that people absolutely love on him. And he just looks too little to be running around like he does.

Kade is starting to say some words. He consistently says hi, mama, dada, sissy, Reece, nigh nigh, wa wa, eat, baby and ball. He is getting really good at imitating and can copy us saying many other phrases like "please" and "thank you." He will also imitate Ember saying "Maci, you have to go potty" when she is letting Maci out. Kade also really loves to sing. He will copy parts of certain songs such as sing his version of "you are" at the end of the line in Way Maker that says "that is who you are." He also really likes to try and imitate the "ahhh ah ahhh" sound in the Frozen 2 song Into the Unknown. 

It is amazing how much kids learn at this age. Kade is getting really good at following simple directions. Kade will usually help clean up when asked, he for sure knows what "do you want to eat means" and will run to his booster. He can sign more and all done. He can shake his head yes and no and usually does it correctly. Kade can touch his nose and head when asked where each is. And he puts his hands above his head when we ask him "How big is Kade?" 

Kade loves physical touch. He is always right in the middle of tickles to make sure that he gets his turn. He will run over and just lay on the ground to make it easy for us to tickle him. He is most ticklish under his chin on his neck. One of our favorite things that he will do is if Dustin and I are both in the kitchen he will run back and forth between the two of us hugging our legs over and over again. He also will make a "muahh" sound and come toward your face for a kiss when asked for a kiss or he sees someone else giving a kiss.

You wouldn't know by looking at Kade that he absolutely loves to eat. I cannot count how many times a day he says "eat." He is a little picky with what he eats so the quantity of food is more impressive than the different types of food. Some of his favorite foods right now are: waffle, blender pancakes, muffins, macaroni and cheese, cheese crisp, pizza, shepherd pie, chicken pot pie soup, banana, Cutie, applesauce, blueberries, cooked peas, french fries, fig bar, crackers, and cookies. 

Kade loves to play and is always busy running around the house trying to keep up with Ember and Reece. They are his favorite "toy" and he is always wanting to go upstairs if they are up there playing. They are so sweet with him and enjoy playing with him too. Ember will put him on her legs and go "1, 2, 3, GO!" and then do superman with him. He also says his version of this when going to bed, in the car, or before running from one room to the other. Reece likes to hide from Kade and then give him clues and hints so Kade can find him. They both also like to build things out of blocks or other stacking toys and let Kade run over and knock them down. 

Kade enjoys playing by himself too and does well entertaining himself when everyone else is busy. He has gotten the nickname "Recycle Monster" because he loves pulling all the empty boxes and papers out of the little recycle bin in our office and spreading them all over the house. Kade also loves pulling his little snail pull toy around the house, throwing or kicking any ball that he can find, and climbing into any cardboard box laying around. He also enjoys playing with cars and will drive them around the floor while making a "vroom" noise. He LOVES hitting balloons around the house. He enjoys his cute little hedgehog toy and also hitting the balls in his xylophone toy with a hammer. He is getting better and better at his shape sorter toy as well and also really likes books. I will often find him just sitting somewhere on the ground looking through a book. 

Kade is to the age where he really really wants to be running around outside, taking walks, and playing on the playgrounds at parks but he isn't safe doing any of those things on his own. But when given the chance, he will gladly take it. He truly enjoys the outdoors. Kade will climb up the stairs at parks and go down slides all by himself. And he loves just running around in circles when outside. We have been doing a lot of hikes when the weather is nice enough and he behaves well in the Kelty hiking carrier but our hikes are numbered before he will really only be content walking. 

Kade is such a silly little boy and boy, can he ham it up. He still loves to scrunch up his nose and make other silly faces at all of us. He enjoys walking backwards and spinning in circles. He is always doing silly things like putting things on his head - including his siblings clean underwear when I am trying to do laundry. He also likes to walk with his stomach sticking out in front of him. He is consistently making us laugh with his little sense of humor. 

Kade is for sure starting to find his own voice and opinion. He is really good at squawk-screaming when Ember or Reece are doing something that he does like. He is also starting to through himself on the ground when he doesn't get his way. Kade will occasionally hit people or things when he is upset. He does however do a fairly good job about listening when we tell him "no touch." The things he struggles with the most is climbing things that are not safe for him to climb even when we say no and touching things that are new and exciting to the environment. Thankfully, he gets over his tantrum rather quickly and is ready to play happily once again.

Kade still really loves baths and playing with the toys in the water. He doesn't love long car rides or running errands for too long. He is really starting to enjoy playing in new places like at the Aquaplex or the church nursery during my Bible study. Kade doesn't like things being taken from him by us or his siblings. He loves when it is meal/snack time but doesn't like getting his face wiped in his booster. And he loves jabbering to me first thing when we get him up in the morning or after his nap. It's as if he is catching us up on all we missed since we saw him last. 

Kade truly is a gift to our family. We are so thankful that God added him to our family. Our lives wouldn't be the same without our sweet Kade and we can't wait to see what plans God has for him. 

A few more pictures: