Lucas is 18 months!

Somebody stop the clock! Lucas is 18 months old today, and I cannot fathom - or accept! - that he is this old already.

Up until an hour ago, I was all ready to write this post about how much I simply adore this age. And then he had a super scary choking incident involving some noodles at lunch. The kind where his lips turned blue for a second and I had him upside down doing whatever I had to do get it out, followed by a big vomit. The kind where your heart literally stops with fear and you almost dial 9-1-1. Have you ever experienced that? I do not recommend it. I still have not recovered. And to top it off, after I got his breathing all cleared, and his little self all cleaned, calmed, and comforted, and re-fed with practically pureed food, he was back to his happy self. And then 10 minutes later fell off a dining room chair and split open his gums. I thought he had knocked out a tooth for a moment, thank heavens that wasn't the case. Now he's all cleaned up (again) and down safely in his bed for a long nap. This mothering thing is not for the faint-hearted, I tell you.

Aside from that, I really do love this age. He sleeps well and plays independently, yet still loves to snuggle and interact lots with us. And, he doesn't talk back yet! And I love the imaginations at this age, and the development of more advanced thinking/reasoning/problem solving skills.

Lucas is love, pure and simple. He brings immense joy to all of us. He is bright, funny, curious, independent, adorable, determined, wacky, and has a strong desire to keep up with everyone around him. He is always busy. He says a bunch of words, mostly first syllables of stuff. And he just started going to Nursery! That is joyous.

Currently, his favorite things are:
- All forms of transportation (cars, trucks, airplanes, helicopters, etc)
- Music and dancing
- Balls
- Balloons
- Elmo in any form (stuffed, electronic, in a book, on TV)
- Animals
- Books
- Books
- Books
- And did I mention books?

Holy cow, I know most little ones love books, and he truly is crazy about books. He will sit forever if he's being read to, especially if I play the where is ___? game (where's the lion, where's the frog, where's the ball, where's the moon, etc). He will sit still for the entire Sacrament meeting at Church if he's being read to with the finding things game. I had to capture a few pictures detailing this book thing:
Getting angry b/c I wasn't meeting his book demands:

Clearing the bookcase looking for a book. He empties the bookcases in both kid rooms numerous times a day. It actually almost drives me mad b/c it is nearly impossible to keep them organized. I'm glad he loves books so much, but will be so happy when his pull-every-book-of-the-bookcase phase passes. Caught in action:

I love his cute point:

And here's a video the full sequence in action. Him asking for a book (we are working words rather than his sound to ask for things), and then when a lap is offered, he backs in just like a truck and plops down. He'll search for any unsuspecting lap and just drop himself in anytime, book in hand, so we've always got to be on guard.


If I could freeze him at this age for a few years, I think I would. Then again, after the lunch incident, maybe not.