James at 18 Months

James at 18 Months: May 30th 2014

James is a whole year and a half old (and has been for a month now actually) can you believe it! I personally am not sure that I can. James however, has no problem believing this whatsoever and thinks that he should be allowed to do everything himself and decide all of his activities on his own thankyouverymuch.

As of the 18 month mark James could say about 25 words and knew 10 different animal sounds. James loves his water table and the park as well as taking Pippin on walks around the block (to go on longer walks where James is required to sit in the strolled he usually requires a bribe). He also adores his books, balls, puzzle, blocks, and his toy cars and trucks - those are his go to toys, but he can play with just about anything if given the chance. He has recently been more interested in coloring - especially since he got a little James sized table that he can sit at and draw. James does not like having to take a nap (though he usually settles down really quickly once he's in his crib), having his diaper changed, or not being able to "help".

As mentioned above, James has become more and more independent. Don't misunderstand, he still wants someone to sit and actively play with him, but now he knows what he wants to play with and how long he wants to play with it - no more easily redirecting him to a new activity.

James is a sweetheart who gives lots of hugs and kisses, but that adorableness is tempered by the messes he makes and the tantrums he throws when he doesn't get to play with knives or whatever other fun activity he is excluded from.

As you can see below James is also not as keen on his little growing up photo-shoots anymore, or at least not as interested in actually sitting still long enough for a picture. He would much rather ...

play with his monster ...

 put his monster on his head ...

rescue his monster from Pippin ...

run screaming with his monster ...

give his monster kisses ...

or just be adorable while not looking at the camera.

Perfect model or not, we sure love this adorable little toddler!

Say hi to Pippin!

Here is our adorable new puppy. Pippin is a Sheltie (Shetland Sheepdog) and he is super cute as you can clearly see. We are all already in love with Pippin despite the fact that he is peeing and pooping on our floor like crazy. He is a super friendly dog who loves people and we can't wait for him and James to have tons of fun growing up together!

The Tantrums Have Begun

Sometime life is tough ... for instance, sometimes you are 17 months old and your mom won't let you eat a whole bag of chocolate chips.

Danielle's Graduation and Our Utah Trip

Me and the graduate!

My baby sister, Danielle, graduated from BYU last week! I know, I know you are excited about this as well. Danielle managed to keep up the Cronquist trend of finishing in four years and graduated with a BA in English and an editing minor. Hopefully she'll have an amazing job editing soon. Since this was a pretty big occasion James and I (Jed had to work on account of taking a month off earlier this year to study for the boards) decided to head out to Utah to be there for the festivities. Well technically I decided to head out to Utah and made James come with me - in fact, James made it known during the graduation ceremony that he had not chosen to attend this event and we spent a lot of the time outside with what appeared to be every other toddler in the Marriott Center. But we did manage to listen to most of the speakers before James decided he was done with graduation and we at least were able to slip back inside to watch Danielle walk across the stage.

James checking out some flowers during commencement (the big whole University ceremony that James and I decided to skip in hopes that he would be happier to sit through the ceremony for Danielle's college the nest day)

James loved the top of the JFSB

 Along with the graduation itself we also got to spend a nice few days with my family eating delicious food, chatting, and just general visiting. It's always nice to get a couple days with family - especially since I hadn't seen them since Christmas.

After graduation weekend, James and I went to spend a few days with Jed's family - since we'd already made the flight to Utah it would have been silly to head back without letting James visit both sets of grandparents. While there we spent a lot of time visiting, a lot of time awake in the middle of the night since James was in a different place, visited Jed's grandpa's farm (which James thought was AWESOME [yes, all capitals]) and both got colds. It was a lovely trip. We can't wait to see everyone (from both sides of the family) again this summer!

James with his cousin Brooke, Grandpa and Great Grandma - they are sitting in his Great Great Grandpa's old rocking chair.

Petting horses

And bunnies

And a dog

James with his Great Grandpa and Chloe

Grandma Kendall reading with all the grand kids

Happy Easter

Easter was pretty low key around here this year but still lots of fun. On Saturday we dyed some eggs which James thought was the bomb. Jed and I were both surprised just how much he loved throwing those eggs into colored water.

 

On Sunday we went to church and then had a mini egg hunt (think 6 eggs) in the yard for James and he got a little Easter basket with some books, bubbles, stickers, and a new ball. James actually picked up 2 of the eggs and put them in his basket but then apparently decided he didn't quite get the point of this game and just pointed to the rest of the eggs. After that we just played outside in the yard (it was a gorgeous day) and then had a nice dinner at home.

Catching Up - The Never Ending Winter

This winter we had the opportunity to enjoy the polar vortex here in Cincinnati ... it was pretty yucky. This winter was long and cold, but good things did happen as well. James was adorable (per usual) and Jed finally took Step 1 of his boards (most people take this after the 2nd year of medical school but since Jed is in the MSTP program he could put it off for awhile ... which he did). Now that that test is over we can finally relax around here - Jed because he doesn't have to constantly study and me because Jed is occasionally home now. Of course Jed did spend most of his vacation studying so he won't be taking any actual time off for awhile :)

But lets not kid ourselves about why you're here - here are some cute pictures of James:

James got to start eating some soft whole foods (at his insistence).

Checking out the snow

Stacking and sorting (well mostly stacking - not a lot of sorting is occurring here).

A lot of the winter we had to content ourselves with looking outside instead of going outside.

But when it was nice we often headed to the zoo!

James enjoying bathtime

And it finally started to warm up - off the the park!

Playing Catchup - Thanksgiving and Christmas

Well believe it or not some things have happened in the last 4 and a half months. And I would be remiss if James being adorable on Thanksgiving and Christmas wasn't available to the internet.

James's First Thanksgiving (he missed it by one week last year)

Both Thanksgiving and Christmas were spent with the Cronquist family in Georgia this year which was of course tons of fun. Thanksgiving was an especially big deal this year as my sister and her husband and cute baby moved to Germany at the beginning of December so it was a chance for us to spend a little time with them before they jetted across the Atlantic.

While everyone was in Atlanta we enjoyed lots of time hanging out at the house as well as some fun outings including a trip to the aquarium, which James loved - see photographic evidence below:

James and his cousin enjoying a touch pool

James and his Aunt Danielle checking out the coral

A month later we headed back down to Georgia for Christmas. Luckily for James he got to celebrate a little bit of Christmas early as his present from Grandma and Grandpa Kendall was too big to make the trip with us.

 Christmas was fun as this year James was at least aware of what was going on even if he didn't yet understand the concept of Santa Claus. The only problem was that every time he opened something he wanted to stop and play with it so present opening was a slow affair :) I'm sure the holidays will just get more and more fun the older he gets!

A box - every child's favorite present

Doing a little present opening