Luke at 18 months

I don't know how it's possible, but Luke is now 18 months old. I love this age - actually the whole stretch from around a year to around 18 months would be my vote for favorite age if I had to choose. Luke is the sweetest, smiley-est, little boy and I can't get enough of him. I had to take a minute to note a few of the things he's doing lately - there's so many I'm afraid I'll forget. Actually, I'm pretty sure I will. That's what this blog is for! 

• when seeing a camera, he pushes his head forward and says his version of "cheese", which just sounds like "eese". Super cute. Unfortunately he doesn't always look at the camera.... so you have to be on it to actually catch a picture with him looking.
• when you're sitting on the floor and Luke decides he wants to sit on your lap, he'll turn his back to you and back his way in - usually from a long way out. I love this. It's hilarious.
• We are in a frustrating stage when it comes to communication. Luke's into pointing and grunting - at pretty much everything. Can't wait until the words start flowing a little more. He drives us nuts because we don't know what he wants, and we drive him nuts because we just don't get it. Only a few words so far: hi / bye / eese / baby / mommy / Ella (sounds like Eya) / dada. He loves a baby...gets so excited when he sees a picture of one, so he's got that word down. He signs the words more and please too.
• Taking a cue from big sister Ella, Luke is really into books. He'll actually pick up a book and flip through pages, "reading" outloud in his own Luke-speak.
• Can you say picky eater? Because we went through the same thing with Ella, we aren't as worried about it as we were the first time around. He's got to come out of it, right? This boy has never met a chicken nugget he doesn't like. Ugh.
• Luke and Ella get along pretty well most of the time, much to my surprise. Ella continues to be very loving with her brother a majority of the time (there are also times where it's more like the WWF around here). They read together, chase each other around, share snacks, etc. Don't get me wrong, it's not paradise around here. Luke's a hitter right now. If he doesn't have the toy he wants, he flares up and start hitting, which leads to Ella running to me telling me that Luke is hitting here. For some reason I thought I had a year or 2 before having to deal with that kind of thing.
• What else.... ? There's so many things I love about this kid. I'll add more fun facts as I think of them.

It's so much fun to watch Luke really become a toddler. Every once in a while I catch a glimpse of baby in my baby boy, but for the most part there are no more babies in our house. Sniff.