Thoughts on baby E at 18 months...

My son is a happy soul for which I am ever grateful. He's been going through some separation anxiety recently, but I'm actually quite enjoying it. He follows me around giving me hugs all day, cuddles on my lap playing with my hair and wants me to rock him to sleep. I love to look at his little face when he's just fallen asleep and marvel at his innocent perfection. I love his baby talk. Sometimes, he doesn't know what to say, but he wants to communicate so he strings all the words he can think of together in one long nonsensical sentence. He tells me 'fire is hot' and 'cactuses are sharp' about a hundred times a day. Anything he doesn't like or want is "hot." Every few minutes, all day long, he tells me to "sit" by him and play. He's really into sea animals right now. His favorite are sharks, sea horses, crabs and octopuses. And he loves to look at himself in the mirror where he has long silly conversations that only he understands. His favorite color is green. He points out things that are green everywhere and he only wants to wear green- even his fleecy Christmas pj's in the middle of summer. Whenever I paint my toes he wants his done too. He's always running around with green or orange toe nails and he likes to tell everyone about them. I'm always amazed at how helpful he is. He beams with such pride when he accomplishes different tasks we give him. I sometimes wonder how baby number two will compare to with the ease and joy that Eli has been. He's easy going while still having a lot of personality. He makes me laugh all the time and his gentleness is such a comfort.