18 months

Some of the best parts about this age so far (sorry, the list is long):

• Jono was driving Jude somewhere the other day and vaguely noticed he was fiddling with his shoe. A few minutes later he turned to look in the backseat and saw Mr. Chunktastic with a sock placed carefully on top of his head and a huge grin on his face.
• "Bapa" (Grandpa G) taught Jude how to direct the choir. Now whenever he hears music his two index fingers pop into the air and sway back and forth to the beat.
  
• He has a good memory now. We went to see our friends Jan and Becky in Chicago a few weeks ago. Jude liked Becky and was calling her "Beck" by the end of the weekend. When we saw a girl two weeks later on the street with long blond hair like hers, he immediately said "Beck". This gives me hope he may remember his out-of-state uncles soon :) He was calling Brett "Butt" while he was here, so maybe when he shows up in a month again we'll hear "Butt" and be proud.
• He can imitate a mourning dove perfectly after hearing one in the yard.
  
• After a week and a half of being sick with an upper-respiratory/ear infection/molar coming in, he stopped walking. A few days ago he finally started up again; now he makes a solid effort to walk in the opposite direction from us at all times.
• He knows most of his body parts now: eyes, nose, mouth, tongue, hair, ear, feet, toes and then the term we're using for his privates (which I'll go ahead and keep private). We're working on "bum".
• He loves to turn light switches off and on and says "off, on" while he does it.
• He LOVES Mona, and constantly prattles on about "Nana" and "good girl" while he rubs his face on her, pats her, and tries to lay on top of her. Poor dog.
• He enjoys a nice couch pillow. Pulls it off the sofa, throws it on the floor, and rubs his face in it, saying "pillow, pillow, pillow".
  
• He folds his hands to pray before we eat. Not because we are especially pious, mind you, since the other night when we finally took a second to glance up at him as we were digging right in, we were reminded to pray by two chubby folded hands and a cherubic look from our son.
• He likes girls already. Especially waitresses. He flirts with them endlessly. Oh boy.
  
• He gives us kisses through the bars above the slide at the park. Too much.
• When we're just sitting around quietly, he likes to suddenly yell, "Mama! Dada!" over and over, looking from one of us to the other with a thrilled look on his face.
• He loves our neighbor Calvin and yells at the top of his lungs across the yard at him whenever he leaves his house.
• He is an interesting mix of strong-willed, decisive and driven, but also cautious, detail-oriented and gentle.
  
• He's becoming more social with other kids. Instead of staring or hiding when they approach, he waits for them to come over. The other day a girl baby walked up at the park and ceremoniously placed her hand flat on his face. He stood there quietly and let her keep it there for probably 30 seconds, then eventually walked away. Weird toddler social rituals.
• He loves bugs. When he sees an ant he says "buck", extends a fat finger, and tries to squish it. He saw a worm in a sidewalk crack the other day and tried to squish that too. We will begin teaching kindness to animals as soon as this stops being cute.
  

Here are a few videos of the little man, as of late: