18 Months

Mason recently went for his 18 month checkup and is doing well! He seems to learn new words almost daily and is getting quite the vocabulary. He has shown interest in the potty and sometimes indicates to us when he needs to go, so we've begun to introduce him to using the potty like a big boy. He does quite well and gets very excited when he's successful! He's very interested in cars, real and toy, and has been working with puzzles a lot lately. He's also been working on his counting and loves to ask for either two, six, or nine of things! He's becoming such an independent and opinionated little guy. He certainly keeps us busy!


He now weighs 27 pounds 12 ounces, is 2 feet and 8 inches, and has a head circumference of 19 1/4 inches.

At the doctor's office

At 18 Months

MSI

For Christmas, my sister bought us a membership to the Museum of Science and Industry. With all the packing & unpacking to do we hadn't yet had a chance to go so we set a date and took Mason there to check it out. Of course, he had a blast! Unfortunately he moves so fast that a lot of our pictures were blurry. Here's a few!

Looking at the trains with Daddy

Taking a break to play peek-a-boo

Trying out the phone booth swing at the Myth Busters exhibit

 Mason absolutely loved the tractors. He cried when we tried to explain to him (over and over) that he had to take turns with the other kids. He would have stayed on there all day!

 This child finds water to play in everywhere he goes!

 Looking at the baby chicks (although he called them ducks)

Dupage Children's Museum

The other day we decided to take Mason to the Dupage Children's Museum to let him explore. We've been so busy with house projects that we felt it was time to take a break and have some fun! Mason had a blast! Even though we had to wake him up (which was a chore in itself) to go inside, he walked right in like he owned the place. He had so much fun at every exhibit. We had to pry him from each one to get him to try something new. It was no surprise, though, that the water and wind related exhibits were his favorite!

He really enjoyed "painting" on the chalkboard

What kid doesn't love banging on things?!?

Giant lite brite!!

Our boy is getting so big!

Pirate ship

Wind tunnel

Our water baby at play

Happy Easter!

This year Easter seemed to be busy. Maybe just because Mason was more into the festivities than last year. When he woke up he found a trail of eggs that the bunny had left leading to his basket full of goodies. He also found a trail of eggs leading out into the backyard where there were even more eggs as well as a sand box and water table!

Seeing what the bunny left in his basket

Claiming his sand box

Scoping out the water table (who needs water to have fun?)

Picking up eggs in the yard

Of course it didn't take long for Mason to insist that we play in the sand box, despite the fact that it was quite chilly outside!

After playing for a bit we had breakfast with bunny shaped cinnamon rolls and got ready for church. Then we went to Grandma Monica and Grandpa Gene's house for dinner and to see what the bunny left there!

Letting us know that the neighbor's dog was out

Just relaxing

A couple of randoms that I liked

Playing peek-a-boo from under the stairs with Grandpa

So excited that the bunny left more eggs here

Easter Egg Hunt

Today we took Mason to his very first Easter Egg Hunt. It was a lot of fun. The weather was beautiful and the event was organized by age so we didn't have to worry about him getting trampled by older kids. He did a great job finding the eggs and putting them in his bag! The Easter Bunny was there, as well as the fire dog. Mason kept waving at them, but didn't want to go close enough for a picture. It was rather amusing.

Showing me the dog

Getting ready to go

Grabbing his eggs

Checking out his loot with Daddy

On our way back to the car we crossed the baseball diamond and Mason parked himself on second base. He did not want to leave it. We even tried moving him to first base, but he ran right back to second. What are the chances we have a future second baseman on our hands?!?

Coloring Easter Eggs

This year we let Mason help decorate our Easter eggs. I still wasn't brave enough to let him touch the dye, but he watched us color them and then he got to decorate them with his Phineas and Ferb kit. He actually seemed amused by the whole process. Perhaps next year he can get his hands dirty :)

Putting the eggs in the dye

All in...now we wait...

The finished product, ready for stickers

So excited to decorate

A close up of Mason's first egg (Perry, of course)

Trying to eat them