I just realized...

...that my baby is growing up. I can no longer ignore it. In the past couple of weeks, here is what has happened:
1. He spent the night with his grandparents (obviously this was huge for me too...I was a little nervous but he did well).

2. He is having a major verbal explosion. Words now include: ball, moo, baa, drink, Bad Dog, mama, dada, orange, open, banana, cheese, book...and lots lots more. I'm sure some of them are just words that only I can understand, but still!

3. He stopped nursing. I had mixed feelings about this, being that he is my last baby, but I was also happy that he just stopped on his own without it getting to the point where I WANTED to wean him.

4. Last night he slept IN HIS OWN BED from 7:30 pm - 6:00 am. This is huge. I know, for a lot of kids this is normal, but for Archer it's amazing. He has been a terrible sleeper since birth (and therefore I have been sleep-deprived for the past 1 1/2 years), so for him to sleep this long alone is big.

5. He is starting to understand the concept of teasing...he now thinks it is funny to call his brothers "Bad Dog" when they do something/say something that he doesn't like. He marches up to them and points his finger right at their nose and says BAD DOG! Then he giggles. It's so cute. He especially likes to tease B this way because he generally responds "I'm not a bad dog!" Archer LOVES that.

6. He points to his (or others') tummy, nose, ears, mouth, etc.

7. He is big into imitating. It's cute, but can get dangerous also. For example, if he hears the word potty, he IMMEDIATELY runs to the toilet. He really likes the toilet a little too much! Maybe he will be an easy/early potty-trainer?

8. He is starting to protest at being rear-facing in his car seat. We did get our car seats replaced when we got hit, so I bought a "roomier" seat for him. It doesn't seem to help too much, but hoping he'll tolerate the rear-facing for a while longer since it's so much safer!