18 months.

This is the month where I think Max's lungs are fully developed, it has to be--geez... He's loud, really loud. If he's excited or being cheered at, he screams loudly, it sounds like a small wild animal. It's also the month where he seems to be expressing himself more in a way that everyone can tell.

He seems to be fairly coordinated which is surprising because, I can't speak for Amy but I was always one of the kids that was picked last when teams were being picked. I couldn't catch a ball to save my life and soccer was always, well--funny and with football, I couldn't understand why you'd want to slam in to someone on purpose, but I get it now! So maybe he's getting his athletic coordination from Amy. He can dribble a soccer ball for a while and follow it as though he were playing the game. In fact, sometimes it looks like he knows what he's doing! I haven't shown him the concept of basketball, baseball or football yet. Last week Max and I pretended we were sword fighting using two flexible, toy race car tracks. I tapped him on his shoulder a few times and he blocking my taps every time thereafter. We were soon swashbuckling with Max actually surprising me with strategy because he was trying to sneak up on me by scurrrying under the chair to tap my legs with the track. Of course climbing is one of his specialties as he's now very fast and doesn't appear to look back, it's move, move, move. Ladders, stairs, nets, rocks, walls--if it's there and can be climbed by a toddler, he'll probably be all over it with his little tongue poking out.

I think he's finally getting the concept of drawing and painting. Amy and I sit with him often to color and paint. We take out large sheets, his crayons or finger paint and let him scribble. We show him the proper way to hold a pencil and he'll do it for a while, then return to grabbing it with his fist.

He seems to be willing to learn and will hold attention for a while. He likes play-doh and has sat at his high-chair for a long time playing with it. He doesn't shape anything recognizable yet. I think he still just likes how it feels.

He didn't like finger painting when he first tried it. For some reason he doesn't like sticky, messy things on his hands and he doesn't like being obstructed by things like hats, smocks, gloves. He seems to panic when you put a little piece of tape on hand that he can't remove. I told Amy that we could let him finger paint naked but my request is as far as that went. But as you can tell by the picture, he eventually worked it out and got into finger painting.

Still not talking very much but he does seem to understand a lot of words. This is the first time I've seen him apply logic to his understanding. He's getting a bilingual education as he understands words in English and Spanish. One such bilingual question that he understands is to ask Max where the moon is in both English and Spanish. Amy and I will ask, "Max, where's the moon?", or in Spanish, "Max, donde esta la luna?". He'll point up and say some sort of baby-babble. But first he'll look up and actually look for it. He gets excited when he can find and point at it. If he's indoors and someone asks him where the moon is, he'll hesitate a bit and point up but he won't really look for it, he seems to know that it's up there but can't really see it. There are other words that understands in both languages. "Milk" and "Leche", "Stars" and "Estrellas". We spend a lot of time outside and I like pointing things out to him.

He doesn't seem to be attached to comfort objects like a favorite blanket, or a stuffed animal. In fact, it seems like he's not really interested in some of the stuffed animals that he has. He doesn't like blankets even when it's chilly. I know he doesn't like wearing long-sleeved shirts. Cuddling seems to be something that only Amy does with him at night. Sometimes I can hold him and he'll put his head down on my shoulders.

All in all, he just seems to be a cool little dude to hang out with. I can take him hiking, play soccer with him and explore things together. He seems eager to try everything.