Noah at Almost 18 Months

I know he is not yet 18 months old, but he will be in a few weeks, and here I am sitting in front of the computer in complete silence (Davis is at preschool and Noah is napping) and I feel like it is too good of an opportunity to tell you all (perhaps there is more than one of you reading this?) how special Noah is.

Did I say special?  I meant personality spilling over the top, throwing things, smiling, laughing, dancing, jabbering, loving, no fear, wonderful.

Noah "talks" all the time.  Can't understand most of it, but he sure looks at me like I should.  His favorite words: Nana, Bumpa, uh-oh, cacker (cracker), Mama, whof-whof (woof).  He laughs if everyone is laughing and sometimes he squeezes his eyes almost shut when he laughs or smiles really big, so that he looks a little like a fat, Chinese baby.

Any music, any time and Noah will dance.  He bounces up and down, swings his arms back and forth, and bobs his head up and down.  From waaaay back to waaaay down.  He loves it!  If I sit down to play the piano, he MUST sit on my lap and play too.  After he gets tired of playing, he sets the piano to play one of the faster classical songs and climbs down and dances.  His favorite song to be sung is Itsy Bitsy Spider.

Noah loves cars.  And trucks.  Of any size.  He constantly has a Matchbox car in his hand, making a vroom sound, but more with his lips vibrating like a helicopter sound.  (I can't do it nearly as good as he can.)  He loves to drive around in the little blue car outside on the back porch.  He loves to play big dump trucks with Davis.  He will sit forever in front of the little race track we have and race cars down it as long as someone will help him when they go off track.  His little chubby fingers have gotten so he can get them the cars the right spots at the top now and it is so fun to watch him really concentrate and be so careful putting them there.

And a bit of a weird thing about Noah - his other favorite "toy" is an empty milk carton.  It must be something about the handle being just right.  He loves to carry they around, bang them on things, and offer "drinks" from them.  Luckily we are a milk-drinking family and there is always an empty carton around.

As sweet and funny and he can be, Noah also has a bit of a temper.  When he is told "no" he throws things.  And whines.  The little cars that are almost constantly in his hands?  Those are thrown the most.  Tell him not to stir his milk with his fork?  Off it goes across the table.  No biting Mama when you are giving her a hug?  Slap in the face.  Oh man.  I am in for a rough haul, I think.

He and Davis still have a love-hate relationship.  Sometimes they play really well together.  Or just in the same room.  But more often than not, they are fighting for the same toy, or for my attention.  Davis loves to grab Noah around the waist and drag him down to the floor.  Noah doesn't love this so much.  Noah loves to take the toys Davis is playing with.  Davis doesn't love it so much.  But they both love to eat popsicles, dance, and play hide-and-seek.