One and a half years old

Our little man is 1.5 years old today. When I think back to 1.5 years ago and the little wormy squirmy creature that he was, it's hard to believe that it is the same human being. He can do so much, can say what he wants and doesn't want, shows interest in very specific things and is generally a little confident person. Favourite animals right now are dogs and horses. There are a few carriages on the streets for the tourists and Tim just loves to watch them go past. And he also really likes drawing - well actually not so much drawing itself, but playing with pencils and putting them in boxes and packets.

One thing that he definitely is, is not shy. In fact he seeks attention from pretty much everyone. So when we go out somewhere he will try to get the attention of nearby people, by first smiling at them... if that doesn't work then he waves and failing that he makes a loud
grunting/shouting noise. One of the three usually gets the attention of these random people and then he gets all cute and flirts with them by smiling, looking away and smiling at them some more. These days it's cold outside so he parades in his bear-ears hat, which also assists him in getting more attention. The other day we were in a department store lift and it so happened that we were in the middle of it with Tim sitting in the pram. So without any shame he started taking turns looking at the people on either side of him. After a little while the whole lift worth of people was smiling at him... so I said to them "No shame" - indicating Tim. And one man replied "Perhaps he's a future diplomat - he is not afraid of making contact with people". Perhaps...

He's been trying to talk more - actually attempting various words. Over the weekend he started saying 'туда' (Russian for 'there'), and tried making a very cute hissing sound when Jack was trying to teach him to say 'cheese'. Otherwise we're still at the good old 'Mama', 'Papa', 'Dada', 'Baba'. Except that 'Mama' is used for any person that Tim currently wants attention from. So if I'm picking him up from Kita, he says 'Mama' in relation to one of the teachers as we're leaving. When a friend of ours comes over to visit and then leaves, Tim will point at the door and with the saddest eyes will say 'Mama'. Jack is also 'Mama' if I'm not the preferred parent at the time.

Aside from that he's been walking heaps and really enjoys the independence of running to where he wants to... which 80% of the time is the opposite direction to where we're trying to go. Over the weekend we went to Tiergarten and he enjoyed playing with all the dry autumn leaves and had plenty of freedom to run wherever he wanted. Here he is at 1.5 years! :)