18 Months Of Bonks

My dear, sweet, surprise baby is 18 months old! It's hard to fathom that I cried the day I learned I was pregnant, as this little man has brought so much joy into our lives. It's amazing to see how unique each of my children are, and yet how they each just "belong" so well in our family. Lucas is the glue amongst the kids. He's an equal-opportunity lover. He has endeared himself to each sibling so much that they all bend over backwards for him. He's a hugger. He gives great, big squeezy hugs when you ask for them (and even when you don't), and he even exhales an emphatic, "Huuu Waah" as he squeezes. Lucas is also our most adventurous. He climbs on top of chest freezers, over the tops of sofas, up and down the slide, and he walks (not scoots) down our horribly hard tile stairs. He has gotten SO many bonks in his short life :-(  We are tempted to buy him a helmet to protect his head from his many hard knocks. Here's a glimpse of what his face currently looks like. You can't even see the bumps in his hairline from falling off couches!

 Lucas is our linguist. Someone recently told me that a child begins to speak words after they've heard a certain number of thousands (millions?) of words. Well, I think being in a home with 5 other chatter boxes has given little Lu a jump start. I sat down at dinner and started writing a list of the things he says. These aren't things he just repeats, these are his words that he uses in context:

hold it, want it, get it, get down, up, come on, vamos, aguita, some, food, book, lap, doggies, pizza, pick up, eat, more, please, gracias, give back, thank you, don't touch, obey, see it, agua, water, milk, leche, juice, jugo, juice box, yogurt, cereal, stinky, fuera, damela (give it to me), mio (mine), I do, no throw, no scream, no-no-no, boca, no hace, toma (take it), chupa (binky), chocolate, luna, nose, how are you, good, name Lucas Daniel Thiry, apple, chips, cheese, hungry (which sounds like hungaly), hola adios, suave (gentle), there ya go, animal, buckle, shoes on, lego, cookie, chocala (give me five), daddy, Julie, Elijah, Levi, Eliana, Natalie, Oscar, Dafne, Jasmin, Sophia, Rodrigo (Rigo), careful, splash, peek-a-boo, cucu, ei-ei-ooooo...  

We are so thankful that God has given us this little man, and we're excited to see what his future holds.