Mason - Almost 18 months

I realized that when we passed the year mark my monthly updates on Mason's physical, emotional, physiological, and spiritual development went by the wayside. Well, not so much the spiritual...I have no idea how that will turn out - I'm just hoping that he believe he exists.
I suppose that after a year, everything seems to blur together and nothing seems so "monumental" about his developmental milestones, even though I know they are.
For example...a few months back his big thing was taking trash out of one can, walking to the bathroom and depositing it in the lidded trash can. He has now advanced to sneaking off with a shoe/pen/toy/hat/book/other small object and hiding it in any number of places, but namely the closet, behind the bookshelf, behind the trash can, in daddy's boots, under the couch, and in the bathtub. Oh, it is SO cute when you can't find your keys in the morning because (surprise!) little klepto has learned about "object impermanence!"
He walks with not-quite-a-strut and is still in the I'm-falling-forwards-no-really-running stage. Our once relaxed evenings when he lay sleeping on our laps in milk-addled lulls are gone and now we chase him from room to room to make sure he isn't hiding/moving/eating anything he shouldn't. And we have a small house.
Hide-and-seek is becoming one of his "things," but really it means he closes himself in the closet and pushes the door open and pops out two second later like "I KNOW you didn't see that coming!"
Sign language has turned out to be an amazing development and he has a least a few dozen words he signs fairly cohesively - more, banana, help, please, thank you, water, light, milk, where, cat, daddy, mommy, fruit, and walk. He picks up new words so fast that even we are impressed (because we haven't really even learned the signs). We are still working on stop, no, shoes, music, dance, drive, hot, change, sit, read/book, moon, on/off, and sleep. In the last week, his vocal development seems to be following suit and we wake up every morning to his daily pronunciations of "mouwww" for mouth, "noooo" for nose, and "eayeh" for eye as he points to both of our sets. Then he leans in for kisses.
We ask him questions and he understands and responds with vigorous "yahs" and "noooos" while nodding/flapping arms and fervently shaking his head from side to side. Attitude will soon be forthcoming, we believe. We knew that he would definitely end up stubborn if he were anything like us....can't wait for those toddler years to be in full throttle.
He is very adept at climbing on chairs and the couch. We had to remove the bookcases from the office because he was started to scale up the front and pull stuff off of upper shelves. He loves pushing his chair around and we are working on not having him stand on top of it. Ugh.
He is ticklish between his collar bone and neck. He is mesmerized by Zola's collar and can spend 30 minutes just trying to latch it together. He doesn't seem to like shoes and socks and immediately removes them if put in his car seat. He seems to favor his left hand. He almost whistles and loves to click his tongue. He could eat a half cup of peanut butter in one sitting and OBSESSES over bananas. In the middle of the night he wakes up saying "nana" and using the sign for "more." (He does this on the dot at midnight and 4am, which makes me think that although we weaned him, he still needs to "nurse.")
He loves smelling the lavender and rosemary in the front yard and loves books. I often find him sitting in his toy box (or any box, really) and proceeds to remove everything else from inside of it. He likes pulling credit cards out of my wallet and taking bills out of daddy's.
Jazz and drum music are his favorites, along with "Two Weeks" by Grizzly Bear (see Michael's post).

What I've Learned...Y3

Having just passed our third year anniversary I look back and think about all of the things I've come to realize and ways that I've grown into my marriage. It's so easy to idealize being together "forever" when promising marriage to a person all the while glossing over the monotony, the minutia, the mundane of living with another human day in and day out for eternity.
This is not to say that I'm bored, fed up, or tired of my husband. No, no...I absolutely adore him. I cherish him more now because I've coming to terms with the fact that "marriage" is really loving some one despite all the crazy, unique, beautiful, charming, infuriating, endearing, loathsome, questionable, hilarious, sweet, loving, stupid, honest, and amazing things they do.

Here's what I've learned...

1. He does NOT like to be waked up prematurely.
2. He is an amazing father, just like I knew he would be.
3. I recognize his "mom" voice when he talks to her on the phone.
4. He LOVES projects - furniture (crib/changing table, for example), gutters, re-plumming the kitchen, brewing beer, but does not leap to do dishes.
5. I consider myself a very good cook, but I know when to step aside - namely for crepes, coffee-rubbed tenderloin, any meat prep for grilling, pizzas, martinis, and all forms of chocolate and pastry.
6. He loves all things Apple.
7. His photographic eye is more realism, while mine is panoramas and details.
8. He loves hockey....and football...and baseball, but not so much basketball or soccer. Though I refuse to surrender the TV for 3/4ths of the year.
9. He is a renaissance man - any task is an adventure.
10. He is an amazingly talented musician and extremely creative graphic designer.
11. A Pisces in the truest sense of the sign.
12. His favorite brand of humor is Family Guy, Arrested Development, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and The Office. In that order.
13. Tom Waits=Musical God.
14. He can be a jerk. But he knows it.
15. Of all mundane household chores, dusting is his favorite.
    
16. Somehow he manages to have great hair despite only washing it once every two weeks or so.
17. Almost as anal retentive as me.
    
18. He chooses snow over rain, mountains over ocean, Paris over New York.
19. Not always the snappy dresser...luckily Banana Republic and he were introduced.
20. Pain he cannot suffer possibly more than death is anyone touching his toes.
21. He is just as stubborn as me.
22. It is OK if we aren't on the same page all the time.
    
23. Just like me, he needs to be complimented. On his clothes, his work, and his cooking.
    
24. He is his father's son.
25. I am the woman of his dreams.