A year and a half!

18 months old today! It's hard to imagine that my itty, bitty, little, baby boy is in full toddler-mode and is getting so close to 2! He is growing so quickly and so strong, I love to see him try new things. He is really into carrying heavy things from room to room to show us how strong he is. He has a very large stuffed bear that Ryan gave to me when we were dating that we call, "Big Bear", and Topher loves to try and bring him from his room to the living room to our bedroom. He also finds it very entertaining to carry his plastic standing table from room to room. He is so strong!

One of my absolutle favorite things about Topher Van Sol is his words. The things he says and/or tries to say just bring joy to my heart and a smile to my face! He chatters like it's nobody's business. We can carry on conversations, although I wouldn't be able to tell you exactly what he says, maybe the jist! Topher does have a lot of words in his vocabulary and I am so excited when he learns a new one. I probably can't list them all, so here are a few of Topher's words:

"More"- sounds like ma and he signs when he says more!

"Hi"- Sounds like HI!

"Bye-bye" sounds like bye-bye usually comes with a wave!

"Yeah" sounds like yeah accompanied with a head nod

"No" sounds like no and usually has about 5 extra seconds of head shaking- he likes to shake his head.

"water" sounds like wawa

"duck" sounds like duck

"truck" sounds like truck

"plane" sounds like pane

"pan" sounds like an (spanish for bread)

"luna" sounds like luna (spanish for moon)

"fish" sounds like ish

"ball" sounds like baa

"Daddy" sounds like dada

"Mom" sounds like MAAAAAMAAAAA

"Butterfly" sounds like bu-fly- makes hand motion too

"Bubbles" sounds like bubah

"Awesome" sounds like Ah-sum

There are 18 words that my 18 month old says! He also loves to ask, "Where is it?" and it sounds like one long word like "whaisit?"and when he asks this, he holds his hands and arms to the side in a quizzative manner. So cute.

Topher's eyebrows are still the more expressive part of his body and the faces he is learning to make really do crack me up. He is learning that he is in control of his face and it makes me happy. I hope that soon, he will learn to look at the camera and smile without me having to prompt him! He loves to look at pictures we take of him as well as video. He thinks he is halarious! He laughs at himself talking and playing all the time.

Topher is growing so beautifully and wonderfully because we have such amazing help with him during the week. M/W/F he goes to stay at Brittany's house and gets to learn all things big boy by her 3 year old Austin and the other 3 year old that she babysits. They love to dress-up, play outside, and pick on "Baby" Topher. He is learning a lot of good things and some other things that 3 year olds do that I am going to have to discipline out of him! T/TH he goes to my other friend's house and plays with her 1 year old son, Jet. They have little adventures like playing in the leaves and looking at their reflection in the oven's glass! So sweet. He is learning a lot about sharing and being the 'big boy' there, since he is a few months older then Jet!

Ryan and I are in full-school mode, although sometimes it doesn't feel like school. Ryan is working full-time and going to school part-time, and doing 1 internship (at his work, thank God!). This means that the only time he actually comes straight home after work is Tuesday evenings because I have class! He is really doing amazing things.

I am in school full-time and doing 2 1/2 internships. I am doing a 300/hr internship at Cibola High School, and a 10-session Group internship there too. I was also required to do a mini-internship at a Community Counseling Agency, so I had to squeeze that in there too! It's been a great semester of learning and hands-on experience.

I have decided to 'walk' in May's graduation even though I will lack one more 300/hr internship. I decided that it would be very anticlimatic to finish all my Master's course work in July and then wait until December to actually 'walk' in the graduation ceremony- so I am going to do it before. I am excited to 'walk' with my bestfriend, Lindsey! We started together, had babies within 4 months of each other, and I would love to finish together!

Rufio and Harper are doing well too. Their lives consist of sleeping, playing in their awesome backyard, sleeping, eating, and hoovering around Topher's highchair for falling food. It also consist of constantly running from Topher who wants to touch their "eyes" (another word he loves to say) and they run from him because he loves to try and ride them! Rufio especially!

It's been a long time since I've written, and I hope you understand why.... busy busy busy.