Manu is 18 months!

On Sunday, Manu turned 18 months!  

And you all know what that means - nursery!  Yes, I've been looking forward to this for a long time now.  In fact I've been taking him for a month now so that by this time Manu would have no problem being left in the nursery for 2 hours during church.  Well, and let's face it - I wasn't getting much out of Sunday School or Relief Society chasing him around and trying to keep him quiet and entertained.  We spent a lot of time in the hall.  I love nursery already.  Church seems so much more refreshing now.

We started our celebrations with a few unapproved art projects: table, door, fridge, stove....legs, nothing is safe.  This boy loves to color!

We made some delicious peanut butter snack balls.  Manu helped by scooping all the ingredients into the bowl, onto the counter and into his mouth.  

But, he's been learning to clean up after himself, too.  

I often call Manu a little wanderer because that's what he likes to do best.  He wanders from room to room investigating and finding things to play with and entertaining himself.  He has recently discovered numbers and letters and is fascinated by them.  He asks to sing the "ABDs"over and over (for some reason C gets left out unless specifically asked).

Whenever he hears the beep of a truck backing down our street, his face lights up and he runs to to door and says "truck! see, see!" So we go out and watch.  It's usually the garbage truck and really could it get more exciting than watching a big truck lift up and empty dumpsters?  It's been a slow week so far, stuck in the house with a cold, so sometimes that's the highlight of the day.

Manu loves to sing songs and will ask for more as long as I'm willing to sing.  Except for one song.  "I Am a Child of God" is only allowed at nap time and bedtime.  If I start singing it any other time of day, he thinks I'm going to put him in bed and starts crying.  I wonder what he does when they sing it in nursery....

Manu 1 year ago:  6 months old

Manu now!

What a difference a year makes!  Happy 18 months, Manu!  It's been quite the adventure being your mom and we're just getting started!

Language

Manu is picking up words right and left (or perhaps I should say "up" and "down" since that is his new favorite pairing).

I love when he walks around saying "oh, my!", which is what I say to him when I come across him making a huge mess.

Of course, I think everything he says is darling.

Except "no."  That's cute only very rarely.

Nate has been working his tail off lately (Thanks!), leaving Manu and I lots and lots of time together.  And so I've recently realized that while Manu is definitely picking up language quickly, he's also at that that stage where many of his word are completely unintelligible.

That is, unintelligible to anyone besides myself.  It's one of those warm, cozy, motherhood moments to realize that you and your child have your own special language.

I know that when Manu closes a book and says "ee ee" (it's very hard to convert this into text), that he's not just making random sounds, he's really saying "the end."  Though they sound very similar, I can distinguish between "no" and "down."  "Bukaw" is Grandpa, "dup" means duck, and occasionally I even flatter myself that he's trying to copy when I say "thank you."

This must be how our Father in Heaven feels toward us.  No other person knows Manu better than Nate and I, just as no one will ever know us the way that our Heavenly Father knows us.
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For those of you who come here for something a little less gushy:

Manu dumped out the salt shaker.  Four times in one week.  You'd think I'd learn after the first time that the table is not a safe place for the salt shaker.

This is a caricature of Manu that was taken at a birthday party last week.  I think it's cute, but doesn't look much like him.