caleb at 19 months

caleb turns 19 months old on wednesday, so i thought that i'd share a few of his favorite things. he is still fascinated with his crocs, especially since his nana bought him 2 jibits to put in them. he has a dump truck and an excavator--nana can find the best things--and is busying himself trying to figure out how to put them on/take them off. he also loooooooooooooves the water. we were a little worried that he may not like the ocean, a perfectly reasonable fear if you are only 31" tall and weigh a whopping 22 lbs., but he loved it...at least for the first 30 minutes. i think he just got too hot and too overwhelmed. however, he can spend almost 2 hours in a pool before he (and i) gets tired. he has a few new tricks in his vocabulary this month. he really enjoys the long "e" sound and will add it to just about everything: momeeeee, dadeeee, naneeee (we think it's nana, but we're still not sure), jakeeeeeee (jack). he's also become much better at pronouncing his "s" and "th" sounds so that bus and bath are discernable to everyone. and i am most proud of the fact that he will repeat thank you when i ask him to. it's so cute to hear "tan ouuuuuu" after i hand him more crackers. this week, caleb has been more adventurous in his diet. yesterday he ate soy sausage, bacon, and grilled chicken...all in the same day!!!! i'm still not convinced that bacon and chicken will be permanent additions, but it was nice to see him branch out a little. as far as discipline goes, it's all typical toddler stuff. he will protest, quite loudly, when he has to quit an activity before he wants to, or gets told "no." i will quickly remove him from the situation, or smack the little hand if need be, to end the protest. he also has the wonderful habit of smacking at things and people (namely mommy, daddy, and jack) when he is frustrated. however, it only takes a stern "no hitting!" and time out in the crib for caleb to decide not to smack anymore...at least for that day. all in all, he's a readily compliant child with a normal amount of defiant outbursts. and given his gene pool, that's a blessing!!!