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Jo, 18 months... this week she enjoyed taking walks outside and playing with the train set. She carries around the Yo Gabba Gabba stuffed animals and knows all their names. 

Oliver, 3 1/2... he chose this outfit for himself when we were at the mall and he was pretty stoked about it. He also chose a Star Wars t-shirt, not because he likes the movie (hasn't seen it yet), but because it's black and he is now into wearing all black outfits. 

Siblings in Springtime

Springtime is the best. After a long winter it feels so good to get outside. We've been going to parks and taking walks pretty much every day and we are all loving it. 

Josie 18 months

Happy half birthday Jo! I can't believe she's 1 1/2 already. She's growing so quickly and learning new skills all the time. She puts words together "more granola" and says simple sentences "I see a bird." She loves the ABC's. She can repeat them all and just today (a few days after she turned 18 months) identified 90% of them on her own! She likes music and will dance and sing along to songs she knows - one of the cutest things she does right now! The spring weather has been great and so we've been taking walks and going to parks. She's pretty adventurous at the park and will climb up the play structure and go down the slide on her own or with Oli. She loves the sandbox, enjoys teeter tottering with Oli, and is not currently a fan of the swings. She loves the little Yo Gabba Gabba stuffed animals we have. She knows all of their names and likes to give them hugs and kisses. She likes books, blocks, and coloring.

This age is not without it's challenges. She's sleeping well but is still an early bird. Her favorite word is "no" and at some point each day we just have to laugh at her because she's said no so frequently. When she does find something she likes she enthusiastically says "yep!" so we are never left guessing. Although she can be stubborn, she's usually pretty happy and recovers quickly when she does get upset. We love you so much Jo!

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The spring weather has been wonderful lately and we've been out enjoying it as much as possible. I had a work retreat in Madison so we combined it with a little trip to see family. Jo and Oli loved playing at the park with their cousins and eating popsicles.

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This week we enjoyed a visit from Shell & fam for Easter. The kids had a blast playing together and it was great to spend time with family. Thanks for the visit Ayres-Wilhelms!

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Josie 17 months

This month has been busy with work for me, so when I'm writing this Jo is already 17 1/2 months. She seems like she's grown up a lot in the past month or so. She's talking a ton including voicing her opinions (for better or worse). She has also been playing more and more with Oli which is fun to watch. They play pretty well together with occasional but expected disputes. She is getting pickier with food unfortunately but is still a relatively good eater. She loves music like Oli and dances and even signs along now. I have sang to her pretty much every night before laying her down to sleep and recently she sang along with me for the first time. It was too cute!

We travelled to Kansas City a week ago and she did great in the car, eating, playing with the little computer, and taking a few short naps. She also did pretty well while we were there, sleeping pretty well and playing comfortably. In the last couple of weeks she has noticed numbers and letters and wants us to read them out to her and she repeats them. She can say every letter in the alphabet. The cutest is "W" which she calls "double double". She knows a lot of words now and is even putting words together, "more granola." She also likes to point at each of us and say "Daddy, Mama, Oli, JoJo". The speed of their development at this age is amazing!

She is sweet and funny and regularly makes us all laugh. I feel lucky to be her mama. Kisses Jo!

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