Team Berube is 18 months old today

*sniff* It hardly seems possible. When I was pregnant, a year seemed a long ways off, but even then, to me 18 months was OLD for kids. This, to me, is when babies stop being babies and start being kids. I think the *official* age for toddlers is 15 months, but since mine started walking late, it is only now I really feel like I have toddlers. *sniff*

Walter is still not saying much, but somehow he is my best communicator. He can make his wants and needs known with grunts, 'ehs', and by handing me objects. And he gets his point across way better than the other two kids. That said, his sounds and word vocabulary (mostly signing) is expanding every day. And he loves to walk! In fact I have to keep him from trying to walk down the stairs outside. Yikes!

Gordon is repeating words like crazy. Just in the last day or two I'm starting to see repeats of repeats. And his word usage has increased a lot. For example, when he wants to be picked up out of his crib or wants more blueberries, he makes the sign for 'please.' And sometimes he even remembers to say 'thank you.' Gordon is cruising around on two legs everywhere. He seems steadier on his feet than Walt, but that's partly because he doesn't take as many chances, too. Gordon does NOT like having his photo taken now. I get a lot of photos that look like this when I try.

Adele is finally walking versus just taking steps. She still prefers to have a hand on a chair, sofa, or adult, but that hand is really just brushing versus holding on for support. And now she often tries to walk first before getting down and crawling. I noticed that was a big step with the boys. She is communicating, singing, and repeating words like crazy. She counted to ten with me just yesterday, even though some of the numbers are hard to understand. And she sings along with the ABC song, even though some of her letters are just grunts. Right now we are working on her screaming. She gives the same 'I'm dying' scream to communicate that Walt bit her, she fell, someone took her toy, or she just can't make the toy do what she wants. So I'm trying to help her understand to ask for help or to tell me what's wrong. I know she can't actually tell me yet, but I'm hoping this is laying the seeds for ideas that will bloom later. We tried apples again. This time, Adele was a big fan (so was Gordon.)

Today was a fun day. Not everyone was in the best mood, but everyone was up for learning new things. We played with kitchen utensils for a while.

We also climbed into the cupboards. I didn't put them there. I just documented this.

Then we tried eating our snacks out of bowls for the first time. It was a big success!!

Previously, we just ate right off the floor.

We also tried feeding ourselves yogurt with our own spoons and own bowls. Also a big success! We'll keep working on this. By the way, this was one of the things we did today that really slapped in my face that my kids were growing up! When I brought them home from the hospital, they couldn't even hold their heads up and their little hands and arms were just things we had to keep them from hurting themselves with.

Our final activity was to walk to the Garda station. Jeff and I had to register with the immigration officer there and this was the best time. The weather was warm, but with a chilly wind, so we kept the kids' shield around the stroller. They did great until we'd been at the office about 45 minutes. Then they were DONE. Who could blame them? Luckily, Jeff was able to get them back out while I finished up. We got home to discover the static under the shield was having quite the affect on their hair -- especially Gordon's!

I keep thinking that if I feel this way today, I can't imagine how I'm going to feel on their first day of school. Or when they turn 16. Or 18.

*sniff*