Hyrum Happenings {18 Months Old}

First day of Nursery

Hyrum is 18 months old! Where oh where has the time gone? The months have flown by much too quickly. I am sad to say that my sweet little boy is not a baby any more. It stings a little bit to realize I will not ever have a little baby again, but truly, Hyrum has been a pure angel and has left me with only good thoughts about the baby stage. He is a full blown toddler now and Jonathon likes to say that he is in the "Rascal Stage." He is always moving, always exploring, and always learning something new. Sometimes it is a challenge to keep up with him, but he makes me laugh and smile EVERY day.

Sunday was Hyrum's first "official" day of Nursery. It was a much anticipated day because church has been so hard for the last 6 months. He never wanted to sit still, so we spent most of the 3 hours walking the halls with him. That was especially difficult with our challenging callings. He went into nursery a few times to "practice" and did just fine, but now that he can officially go by himself, he has developed a bit of stranger anxiety. It is so aggravating! 3 weeks ago, he would have been just fine in nursery, but now he cries whenever we leave him. I am shocked because Hyrum has always been such a people person. He has never had one problem with going to anyone. Hopefully, we can get him adjusted quickly and our little charmer will be back to himself soon.

Right now Hyrum is a fairly good sleeper. He sleeps through the night most nights, but he likes to get up really early (like 5 am). Most days I can get him to go back to sleep for a while, but he hardly ever goes past 6:30. He's very much like Andrew in that way. He also takes one really great nap in the afternoon. Usually it is 2-3 hours, and it is so nice to have some down time to get some things done.

Hyrum is trying so hard to communicate. He is excellent at getting what he needs by pointing, grunting, using sign language, and using his limited words. He is picking up new words every day as his language skills are just starting to explode. He also understands things so well. He can follow multiple step directions already and gets better by the day. At 18 months, here are his signs and words:

Signs:
More
Drink
Food
Please
All Done
Thank you

Words:
Hello (helloooo)
Shoes (hoos)
Socks (ock)
Cheese (dees)
Juice (doos)
Ball (ba)
Blanket (banky)
Thank you (dank doo)
Please (peas)
Mama
Dada
Stinky (tinky)
Uh oh
Car (ca)
Reducto! (ducto) {not even kidding... this kid already knows HP spells. Watch the video at the end!}
And numerous other words that he mimics

Hyrum is a dancer and singer. A large chunk of our day is spent dancing. The kids will turn on the music, and everyone will dance with Hyrum. He is so cute and funny to watch dance. He raises his arms, shuffles his feet, and turns himself in circles. He dances when he wakes up, he dances (with his hands) in the car, and whenever else he hears music. He also loves to sing (minus any actual words). His favorite song to hum is Harry Potter. He loves to watch the little video that I made of our family's trip to Harry Potter Land, and has memorized the tune to "Harry's Wondrous World." Every time he sees a HP book or movie, he will point and start singing the song. It is so hysterical. It's pretty amusing what kids learn from their older siblings.

Hyrum also LOVES to be outside. He whines at the back door daily to go out to the backyard. He doesn't get to go out much during the winter, but when he does, he is so excited. When he is outside, he always heads straight for the chickens. He watches them and does his cute little chicken sound.

And just to show you some examples of what I am talking about, here is a cute little montage of Hyrum at 18 months.