valen found this pacifier somewhere in dahlias room. he has never actually ever used it before, i dont know why we still have it, but he had so much fun chewing and sucking on it...

we couldnt find valens warm coat anywhere. he wore a couple days ago, but now it is nowhere... so this is the only thing we had that was warm for him... well dahlia has a nice sparkly sweater that could have worked i suppose. i realized once we were outside that his whole mid area was exposed and probably freezing!

 

this one is just adorable! he loves to climb up onto our dining chairs and just sit there. if they happen to be next to anything, he will quietly observe and destroy the surroundings. we actually keep the chairs pushed up to the bar at our house, so that he wont climb the walls with them... but he finds a way. 

valen tried to venture off on his own... resulting in an accidental snow angel.

this time he had no trouble.

valen did NOT want to come inside after the snow!

this was a sad few minutes!!

this guy is amazing. he balanced there for quite some time. this is his new favorite thing to do..  slam dunk himself.

thanksgiving valen ate two white rolls and a cup of milk... he was not interested in anything else, even though i know he was very very hungry. he politely refused all the goodness!

this is what he does with his baby food in a jar. no need for a spoon, just some squash straight up.

we were at a birthday party for a two year old friend of dahlia and valens and valen was being oh so cute the entire time. there was quite a bit of chasing on my part, but he has much fun being cute and exploring. this was one of the only times he sat still for more than 10 seconds. 

 Valen is a very smiley, happy guy. he talks a lot more now and has so many faces. especially at meal times, he gets super silly and is very entertaining. 

in the morning valen wakes up before us and when he does, he doesnt cry ( usually) he just starts jabbering on and on, sometimes for an hour or more.... depending on how tired we are and if dahlia sleeps in too. how wonderful is that?! he does that after his naps too....well most days, unless his nap was too short, then he cries right away.

i know everyone thinks their kids are cute.. but gosh these kids are REALLY REALLY CUTE!! (=

wow, we can hardly believe that our baby is 18 months! cuter than ever and more fun and precious! he has a thing for his two fingers on his left hand. he can do many things while these two fingers remain in his mouth. also his pooh chewy bear and his puppy arent very far away at all times for this guy, they really seem to comfort him. if he is cranky, i will go and get his little friendsand just about every time it does the trick. and his blanket (not pictured) who auntie megan actually made for dahlia a few years ago, but valen has kind of taken that over. he carries that around all over the house most of the day.

he is talking a little bit more. easy words like door, more, up, off......he just started throwing tantrums about a week ago. nothing tragic but he is certainly different than before. sometimes if i go into the bathroom and he doesnt want that (i can still see him because we have a gate in the doorway) he will fall on the ground and hit his hands to the floor a couple times while whining and then in a couple seconds crawl away and play... so cute! i cant help but laugh! 

he was teething again for a few days and it was not fun for anyone. he wouldnt sleep or eat much and needed to be held at all times. not to mention all the serious drooling going on! thankfully it only lasted 3 days and it wasnt as bad as having a 6month old teething... at least we can communicate with him and he isnt screaming his head off with no end in sight! i dont miss those days! 

he loves being in the nursery at church. until recently it was hard for us to leave him because he would cry and just not get over it. but now he is fine.... but dahlia still wont let us go. i teach sunday mornings in her class so i am hoping that by the end of the month she will be more comfortable even when i am not the teacher. 

ok, well valen is our favorite boy and we couldnt imagine a more perfect beautiful amazing child and are cherishing every moment and excited to see who he becomes!