He's already 19 (months old)!

Today, Spencer turns 19 months-old.  My slacking blogging skills mean that it's been a month since I last wrote about our little guy!  Yikes!

We've been keeping busy.  Spencer is on the go pretty much the entire time he is awake nowadays.  He's been doing "cute" toddler things, like lying on his tummy to play cars, and saying 'vroom vroom' as he drives them across the floor.

He's also been doing not-so-cute toddler things, like throwing a fit if he doesn't want to do something, like come in the house after he's been re-routed from entering the street four times in a row.

He's been doing funny and mischievous toddler things, too, of course.  Recently, he discovered he could re-position the rolling computer chair and climb in it so he can reach things off the table.  He also discovered he can take the computer keyboard off the desk and type.  He's been found using Google as well as trying to print things from my email.  Good thing we don't have a printer, I guess.

Overall, though, it's been a good month.

Jake started his new job, and Spencer and I went through a period of sleep-training where I would let him cry-it-out in his crib until he finally went to bed on his own.  The past two nights in a row, he cried a little on the way to his crib, where he went willingly, because I won't give him his milk in a cup until he gets there.  And as soon as I laid him down and gave him his cup, there wasn't another sound.  He just drank his cup, plopped it out on the floor, and went easily to sleep.  I was so proud.

He has been learning more animal sounds, too.  He has a See-and-Say that he got from Nana Mindy and Travis for Christmas that's been aiding in that, though he sometimes seems a little freaked out by it.  He also has been practicing them with a few books that have animal pictures.  It's been interesting, because even animals that don't really have distinct noises have to have some sort of noise or he won't turn the page.  So, we make them up from time to time.  So far, he's knowing goat, owl, horse, cow, duck, dog, cat, bee, bear, lion, snake, and a couple more that I can't remember.... monkey... and something else.

One of his new favorite past-times, I think, is watching Hot Air Balloons launch.  His uncle Jesse and honorary aunt Samantha help crew hot air balloons for her family that owns them, and invited us to watch two weekends in a row.  The first time we were pretty close to the action, but when the fire started, he got scared.  The second time we were about 100 yards away or so (I'm bad with distance, so just guessing) and he stood, silently, happily, and mesmerized for about 15 minutes while the balloons were inflated and took off.  It wasn't until he couldn't see them in the skyline anymore that he first moved.  It was SO cute.

Last weekend, he got his hair cut for the fifth time.  This time, my aunt opted to try the clippers.  He did NOT like them at all.  So, she switched to the scissors for the main part and then trimmed up again with clippers, and then the scissors once more.  He looks like he's three now, I think!  But goodness, he's handsome!


Next week, he and I are going to stay at my mom's house and visit my mom, dad, and siblings for four days while Jake works his new job in my hometown area.  I'm really excited.  I hope he does fairly well sleeping, I am a little nervous since it'll be not at home, but I think it'll be okay.  And then, in two weeks, my sisters are both coming to stay.  Yay!

The pools opened in town now, too, so I bet we're going to start swimming quite a bit, as soon as it gets hot again.  It's been pretty chilly this week.

Mister Mischief.

Spencer is definitely entering toddler-hood. Not that we didn't know that already, but lately, it's seeming more and more evident that he's not so much a baby.

I say this because, lately, he's been getting into a lot more mischief.

No, I wouldn't say he's a naughty boy. He's curious. He's inquisitive. He's exploring. And he's learning boundaries. It's pretty normal for a child his age.

Here are some examples of his current mischievous acts:

• On Saturday of this last weekend, Spencer was sitting in his high chair, finishing up his lunch, while I was standing in front of him, starting to work on our lunch dishes. I had my back to him. I periodically was checking on him to see if he was finished, and sometime in between the check-ins, he did finish, and decide that it was time to get out of his high chair. The picture to the left is how I found him. Scared the heck out of me!
• Also on Saturday, he was flushing the toilet, just for fun, while the naughty dog had stuck his head under the toilet seat (ugh) and was trying to drink from it.
• On Monday (yesterday), while I was going to the bathroom, he went into his bedroom and pulled the strand of Christmas lights we use for nightlights off the window (they had been falling down... or he had been pulling them down, not sure) and into the hallway. He then pushed the bathroom door open to show me.
• On Monday, a little bit later, I was in the bathroom again, and I came to the kitchen to find that he had emptied 3 desk drawers onto the kitchen floor. There were file folders, pens, envelopes, and highlighters all over. He did not want me to clean it up.
• And, this morning, I am not sure what I was doing, but I came into the kitchen to get us both some juice, and I found that he had used a blue crayon and gave the fridge door a little makeover.

And yet... I just love him to bits. That's a good thing, right?

On a side note: He learned to say "There you go!" which sounds more like "Tay-go," and he spent much of yesterday handing me... anything he could find, and saying that to me. It's his new favorite game, it seems.