Crew | Eighteen Months

Crew went ahead and hit the 1.5 year mark. Some things about this age are difficult because he is still a baby, just more opinionated. But for the most part, he is a true delight.

I know I'll eventually forget the little things I love about him so much right now, so here they are:

• He lights up our home with his constant learning of new words and phrases. We love witnessing him learning how to vocalize things and the older boys are his biggest cheerleaders. 

• His favorite phrase is "Get down." He climbs up on the dining room table every single day while Blake does his homework and rattles off "Get down!" over and over and over. I think he might have heard that command once or twice from us.

• Crew loves climbing more than any of the other boys did at this age. In addition to the dining room table, he climbs up onto our bathroom counter daily. He recently sliced his thumb after obtaining Troy's razor. I don't even know where to put potentially harmful things anymore if drawers and counters are off the table.

• He had his first official "crewcut." He now joins the ranks of his brothers with the spiked up 'do.

• His favorite book is Are You My Mother. He giggles every time the baby bird goes "down, down, down...plop."

• Crew loves to use a fork and is getting pretty good at it.

• He carries approximately 6 binkies around whenever he can access them. He sticks them on the tips of his fingers. We try to hide them when he isn't napping, but now he finds Finn's binkies and steals those.

• He loves bananas more than monkeys and refuses plain cheese. I don't know how I could possibly have a child who doesn't like cheese.

• Crew is energetic, fearless and tough. He'll get scraped up and won't even cry, so when he does actually cry we know that he truly hurt himself. He gets roughhoused by his brothers and isn't afraid to dish it back. They love wrestling all together and it's pretty fun to watch. We always say that he has to be tough with someone like Nash as an older brother.

• He loves running around the trampoline, picking up bugs and snails, kicking and throwing balls, and "dancing," which entails stomping his feet at lightning speed.

• He is often the first one to fold his arms for prayers at mealtime.

• Crew is my little shadow. Wherever I am in the house, he is right next to me.

• We started introducing him to nursery at church the last couple of months even though he wasn't officially old enough until now. He hates nursery. He screams the entire time until we rescue him. It's funny because he doesn't show separation anxiety any other time than when he steps foot into the nursery room. We're really hoping that changes soon since we now have another baby in the mix.

• Crew gets so excited about putting on shoes. Especially when it means he gets to go play outside or hop into the car.

I was really worried about Crew's transition to "big brother" when he is still a baby himself. But the first month went really well. He adores Finn and hasn't had any noticeable adjustment issues.

Crew gives Finn open mouthed kisses all day long, which means that he licks his brother's head a lot. Here he is going in for another lick-kiss.

So sweet. Since I won't be able to bottle up these two babies forever, I'm excited for them to develop the same kind of brotherly best friendship that Blake and Nash have.

Crew is a total dreamboat of a kid and we feel so very lucky to have him in our family. His big blue eyes are killer. His smile and laugh and personality are contagious. We love our Crewser so much.