18 months old!

James is a year and half! He is getting to such a fun age. He understands so well and is so interested in everything. He has started to get a bit ornery, but he has such a sweet heart, it doesn't take much to correct him. He is so funny and so smart

What he's up to this month...

* Sleeping in his own bed all the way through the night (only a once or twice has he woken up even since Eli has been home). In the morning he waits in his bed for us to come get him out. Today Mike and I were so tired we didn't even get up until 8 and when I saw the clock I was surprised we hadn't heard James say anything since he usually wakes up between 7 and 7:30 so Mike went in an checked on him and he was just sitting up waiting with a smile on his face! It was so cute. Who knows how long he was waiting! He loves the pillows in his bed too. He'll sometimes have a pillow on top of him during his nap like he's trying to make it dark so he can fall asleep easier. I need to get a picture of it. It's so cute.

*Progress on potty training! For the last 2.5 weeks James has been pooping on the toilet! He's only  had two times that he's gone in his diaper, so that has been so awesome. We use an M&M as a reward when he goes poop or potty in the toilet, and like his mom he loves chocolate! I ask him randomly throughout the day if he has to go and he'll say yes or no and then other times I just stick him on before/after a nap or running an errand and he'll go. We haven't made the full commitment of putting him on every hour and getting him on to go potty yet, but that will be the next step we'll need to take soon! My goal is to have him trained so we don't have to go on to size 5 diapers!

*Speaking very well. He will repeat most words you say and he can get the first or last syllable of the word. He has a couple two syllable words, but each day we can understand him more and more. He still uses some signs, but also says the word at the same time. The only exception to that is the word thank you. He will do the sign, but won't attempt to say it. I think the 'th' sound is too difficult for him.

*Loves the mower. It sits in the garage and he will ask all the time to go out to see it and say, "daddy, papa" because he knows they use it. He also loves trucks, helicopters, airplanes and motorcycles. He hears one while playing outside and is looking around to try and find it. He loves to chase the robins in the yard. He loves to give kisses and wants a kiss anytime he gets hurt.

Here is some pictures of what we've been up to lately...

This is our first walk with both boys. If you notice the picture with Mike in it Eli is in the stroller. We figured James could walk beside us because many times when we go on a walk with the stroller he prefers to walk. Well this time..since Eli in his stroller he had a little meltdown...a little bit jealous. So we let James have his stroller back. Eli ended up crying before we left the driveway so I went inside and fed him and Mike took James on a walk!

Here is James on his first Easter egg hunt. This is at Grandma Scheffert's house, but he also got to do one at Grandma Essink's and Great Grandma Anderson's. So he had a lot of practice searching for eggs. He loved it and wasn't quite sure why he was getting to have so many treats. He had one or two m&ms in each egg and he was shoving them in as fast as he could. My mom has the eggs in his toy box now and James brings the egg to me and says, "teets?" Wondering where the treats went and if he can have anymore!

James also got to dye eggs at Grandma Scheffert's house. He watched daddy so intently and then was ready to jump in. He loved it.

 His pretty blue and purple egg.

Daddy and his two boys on Easter Sunday..

It has definitely been an adjustment with two, but each day is getting easier and we couldn't love them more. We are just so thankful for all the support, help and love from everyone around us!