Wyatt is 1.5 years old!

We are really settling into a rhythm these days as a family and as Wyatt turns the corner to being 1.5 years old, it feels like we really have two kids instead of a baby and a toddler. There have been a few key changes that make this truer.  1 – Wyatt can walk reliably anywhere and will hold your hand and go where you want him to go (though he’d rather follow a long at his own pace).  2 – Wyatt has dropped his morning nap which means the kids are now both awake from 7:45 to 1:00 pm.  It is great to have a long chunk in the morning to play at home or go on an adventure.  When he had two naps it really limited our activities and the social events the kids could do.  He now takes a slightly longer afternoon nap 1-3:45 (or sometimes as late as 4:15).  It can cramp our style a bit for afternoon adventures, but it is worth it to have the morning free.  3 – Wyatt is talking more now and can ask for what he wants in ways other than crying and screaming.  He is still very opinionated, but his communication has made it easier to keep him happy and know his concerns.  4 – Wyatt can feed himself reliably and we can take him to frozen yogurt and dinner and he can manage his own food (allowing us to eat too).  These 4 changes have been really awesome for us and are really but us in a good position for a fun summer. 

Other awesome qualities of my Wyatt:
• Easy sleeper – pretty much anyone can toss him in his crib (as long as he has his blanket, 3-4 pacifiers and his water.  He will sleep the amount of time he is supposed to and ONLY wakes up in the night when he is sick, and even then he rarely wakes up. 
• He independently plays very well (still).  This has been a quality of his since he could first play.  He loves to play with Logan, but he is just as happy to go his own way and entertain himself.
• He is comforted by water bottles.  He will carry his cup anywhere.   He loves his pacifiers, but he knows he only gets those in his crib, but he will be okay with water outside of crib. 
• He is pretty easy going about stuff we have to do.  At 18 months, we had a lot more fights with Logan about small stuff (car seat, medicine, teethbrushing, diaper changing, etc.).  Wyatt may cry and not be happy but we won’t but all of his energy into fighting you (unless you are trying to sit him on your lap to read and then good luck to you!). 
Vignettes –
• When Wyatt feels really sick, he knows he needs something to change, but he doesn’t know what it is.  With his pneumonia and his second cold this spring, when he would feel really yucky, he would want to be held and then just say “go” and point somewhere.  He assumed that somehow moving would make it better.  It was so tragic but also so sweet.  He really was such a trouper through two bad bugs and with the exception of a few bad nights with fevers, he slept well and played as much as he could. 
• Just like his big brother, Wyatt loves to make coffee with his daddy.  He does all the steps with him and is learning the words.  He loves grinding the coffee on his own by pushing the button.  If Charles starts making coffee without him, he wills say “oo-oo—oo” and run over to make it.
• Papa.  What more can I say.  Wyatt is OBSESSED with Papa.  He was elated when we were staying with Papa and Mimi during our roof project in March.  He was so happy to play with him regularly and would get mad if anyone would try to wake him up in the mornings or from naps.  Papa has this ability to just go with the flow with kids and they will follow him anywhere.  I’m pretty sure that doing yardwork with Papa would rank highly with both kids as favorite activities.  Wyatt missed Papa terribly when he was gone in April and is very happy to have them back.  Though not to make it sound one-sided.  Logan is also obsessed with Papa.  When Papa walked in today both kids yelled Papa and ran over to him and gave him a big hug. Wyatt also immediately asked for Mimi, who he knows belongs with Papa. 

• Potty – Wyatt loves to sit on his little plastic potty while logan uses the potty.  They sit right across from each other and it is crazy adorable.  If logan runs to the bathroom, wyatt will yell “poo poo” and run after him.  As usual, they often get distracted from the task at hand, but they love it.

• Logan his buddy – These kids love each other.  They really enjoy each other’s company and they often crack each other up or get into mischief.  Just today in the car they were just mimicking each other, wyatt would clap, logan would clap.  Logan would put his hand in his mouth, wyatt would do it.  Wyatt would bang his head on his carseat, logan would bang his.  They both takes turns being the leader and follower but they are so amused by doing the same thing.  Often this works well but sometimes it is such trouble because the first action is a bad one (like throwing a toy or writing on walls).

• Trouble making – speaking of.  Wyatt is the chief instigator in most problems.  Logan is always the one who gets in trouble, but it is because of wyatt.  18 month olds are just not coordinated or strong enough to cause damage, but if a 3 yr old does the same the thing, then trouble ensues.  It is hard to get mad because I love them playing together, but if I am cooking dinner, good hearted playing can turn into a disaster in seconds.  Overall I love that they love to interact and that they are doing it all together (even if it is bad stuff).  They almost never are having conflict between them. 

Language –
I know I shouldn’t compare my kids, but it is impossible not to.  Wyatt definitely compares favorably on overall easygoingness, but Logan is a pretty tough act to follow on language.  Logan had so many words at 18 months and had impeccable pronunciation.  Wyatt has lots of words (though not as many) and his pronunciation is pretty terrible.  I don’t think we realized what “normal” was like for pronunciation with Logan, but hearing Wyatt talk makes it make more sense how people would go out of their way to tell us how amazing Logan’s pronunciation was.  We had heard the standard was for a stranger to understand about half your kids words by 2 years of age.  A stranger could understand everything logan said all along.  However, Wyatt is more typical in this regard (though still massively overachieving in comprehension and number of words).  He still says “wa wa” for water and “shh” for “pacifier.”  He says some words like “cheerio” and “cracker” perfectly but then has stopped saying “cherry” and says “cheerio” for that too.  He also says “strawza” for strawberry.

Overall, he is communicating extremely clearly with us and his number of words grows every day.  Today he told me “zipper” as he grabbed my zipper pull on my jacket.  Then Papa taught him the word “button” and he immediately picked it up.  I think if he was an only kid his vocab would probably be as big as logan’s was, but because of logan, we don’t spend as much time drilling in each word.  On the flip side, the variety of words he heres I think makes his comprehension fantastic.  He understands almost everything you say and will complete small tasks like “go get your blanket from your room and bring it out.” 

He is more likely to pick a sound for a word and stick with it.  We haven’t seen him correct himself from words that set in.  He still makes the sound of a coffee grinder for “coffee,” though he knows the word “coffee” and will make the sound to us when we way it.  He also likes to say “quack quack” instead of ducks, though he can say both words.  He says “caw” or “tweat” for bird and won’t even try to say the word bird.  This drives me a little crazy, but I’m sure he’ll get there. 
He has some compound words like “get it” and a few others that are two words but he thinks are one, like “thank you”.  He is beginning mini sentences like “uh oh daddy.”  And “daddy go outside.” But mostly he is still expressing himself in one words.  He knows the words for many body parts and can say many (Belly, belly button, eye, ear, nose, feet, knee, hair, teeth, hand). 

Activity –
Wyatt has figured out his run and it is super cute.  He is also still an excellent climber but seems to have tempered that with a little more caution and purpose.  He loves to just climb chairs and sit like an adult.  If he sees and chair or a bench, he wants to try it out.  Interestingly, he is more interested in pulling up with his arms then he is climbing up with his legs.  I’ve been trying to teach him to climb into the van but even though he can climb a ladder, he seems less willing to use his feet when climbing odd things. 

Wyatt is, what I call, park-capable, now.  This means he can climb the ladder, stairs, etc., walk over the slide, and sit down and go down the slide.  Since stairs are hard for me, I can’t follow him up but now he can do it without needing me too! This makes the park with both kids much easier.
Well, it is super fun to look at Wyatt and know I’m his mommy.  I have moments where I feel guilty because I feel like I don’t KNOW him in the same way I knew logan at this age.  That is probably true, but I think he has also had such an entertaining life with logan around.  He has had far more experiences and has a best friend.  I am sure he wouldn’t trade it for being an only child but sometimes I wish I could take a week and just hang out with him.  He is such a pleasant, smart and adventurous kid and I look forward to what the next half year will bring.  I can’t wait for him and logan to talk more to each other!