18 months old

Dane is finally starting to talk these days. He is now able to say milk, baby, daddy, mommy, thank you, video, cheese, please, read, and his absolute favorite words dog and uh oh. He is also starting to understand us to the point that we can have him get things for us around the house or do certain small tasks. He has even started climbing up into his own car seat. I would say that is just perfect timing since Brynna will be here soon. His favorite task is closing everything up. He likes to make sure all the cabinets and doors are closed.

Lately we have been busy playing outside and hanging out with our closest friends since I am not really able to walk far or chase him around very well. This is just fine with him because he could play in water or push his bubble mower all day long. We haven't done many things at the YMCA or the library lately but we will get back to it very soon. He loves to read so if his daddy is up, he is reading. I read to him every night but for some reason he wants Jacob reading to him all the time. He also likes watching Sid the Science Kid and Word World. I really do my best to limit his tv intake but he really enjoys watching those shows when we are in the basement waiting on Jacob to wake up in the morning.

He is still being super picky about what he will eat. He loves cheese and crackers and everything else is pretty much up for debate on a daily basis. I have to admit I am beyond frustrated with my lack of options. I keep trying to work in more fruits and vegetables but at this point he is still not eating meat either.

Easter 2011

Easter was a very busy day for Dane. We started our morning off at church and then went over to Jacob's parents house to spend the day. After a much needed nap we played outside for a couple of hours. Dane spent the majority of the time out with his grandpa learning all sorts of new things. Later on that evening my family came over to the Sapps house and we all enjoyed a wonderful dinner and watched Dane hunt Easter eggs. Since we had trained the weekend before he new exactly what to do and was ready!

 Dane getting his hands on his first golf ball and golf club (watch out everyone)

 Danes first golf lesson

 Moving on to something a little more adventurous like riding a scooter!

 Dane loves to read so he makes sure to capitalize on the opportunity to have multiple people read to him. This is Dane and his Uncle Sam.

 Now it is Uncle Lukes turn to read.

Here is Dane looking at his Easter basket from everyone. 

Here is Dane in action finding all of the Easter eggs.

Pre Easter Festivities

The weekend before Easter we started our egg hunt training. We took Dane to a local church and taught him how to hunt Easter eggs so he would be ready to go when the official day came. For this to be his first time I think he caught on pretty quickly. Unfortunately by the time he figured out what he was doing most of the eggs were gone but that didn't stop him from dumping his out over and over and putting them back in his basket. The church had other festivities besides the hunt but most of them were crafts that were for kids older than Dane.   

First firetruck experience

A coworker of mine invited us to his grandsons birthday party and at the party was a real firetruck. Dane thought it was pretty cool but he would never admit it to his daddy.

Getting into the Easter spirit at Storytime

 Lets just say we barely had time to snap a picture before he ripped this hat off.

 Dane loves to watch all the older kids to see what they are doing

Chasing the bubbles at the beginning has to be his favorite part of the whole thing. 

Our own park

It is getting harder to chase after Dane in the front yard so we had to move our play time to the back yard. Jacob and I have been on the look out for cool toys to put in the backyard to keep Dane entertained this summer. With a second baby on the way we are not sure how much getting out we will be doing so I wanted to have a nice place to play without going somewhere. We have managed to get quite a few things for Dane recently. His two favorites are the sand/water table and the big play gym. We have only been able to pull out the sand / water table a couple times but he has a blast making mud or even just getting himself soaking wet.

17 months

I am sure if I looked back over the months I have said that this age is the best but honestly I am having SO MUCH FUN with this age. Danes personality is really developing these days, the good and the bad. He is starting to repeat words that you say and actions you make. Since he was about 3 months old he has been in love with Baby Einstein videos. Although we don't let him watch them very often he goes absolutely crazy when we do. I noticed the other day that he was performing the actions on the video right before it happened. The one he is watching now is called Baby Moves and it teachings things like stand up, wave, clap, spin, etc. Now when I ask him to wave he knows exactly what to do. I am just amazed that he is learning from the dvd already. His favorite part in the video is when the kangaroo puppet plays peek-a-boo.

Another new thing he is doing is he wants to be in his crib all the time. In the mornings now he wakes up at 7 and the second I walk in he throws up his hand and asks me for his milk. Once I give it to him he wants to lay in there for another hour plus. I usually give him some books too and then I go back to bed. Somewhere around 8 or 8:30 I will go back in there and I still have to fight the kid to get him out. I don't know what makes him want to be in there so long by himself. I would think he would be so bored and ready to jump out once he woke up. Oh well the nice part is I get to relax in bed before I have to fight him to get out and put on his clothes. He is also doing this at his nap time too. Maybe he gets this from me because I love laying in bed all day too!

breakfast with daddy

It is exciting watching him become so independent. He wants to walk on his own now and sit at the kitchen table in a booster seat (definitely not in his high chair because it is for babies!), run, play, and climb all by himself. He doesn't really want help with much lately except he still needs someone to read him all his books. Jacob is his favorite reader. Once he sees his daddy it is only a matter of a few minutes before he takes him a book to read him. He also likes to eat a second breakfast with daddy once he gets up.