From Mommy-
Michael now knows about 1/4 or 1/3 of the alphabet by sight or sound.  He can either find when we ask or he can tell us when we point to a letter.  S, T, O, and P remain his favorite and most common 'correct' letters.  He has added H, W, E, R, D, K, L, M, B, C, X, and U.  He loves to "read" HEB (although he pronounces it more like "HchB" or "HgB"). He astonished his doctor when we told her that after his 16th month check up, we counted up and had about 300 words.  Speaking of his 18-month check up, Michael is about 26 1/2 pounds and 33 1/2 INCHES TALL.  If he gains 2 1/2 more inches by his birthday, he should be 6 foot tall as a man!

From Daddy-
Today was a good day, some real quality time with my son. Tiff wasn't feeling well, so I left work early, grabbed the little guy, and went out to find UP 844 on its way in from Hearne. We had the windows down and sunroof open most for the way from Round Rock to Taylor. Michal just kept laughing and saying "WIND!". We caught 844 just as it was hitting the west end of the yard in Taylor. I told Michel to look for the train, and he saw a real steam engine for the first time. I don't think he like hearing the whistle so up close though. As we paced it out of town, he said  "Hot! Hot! Burn you!" as the 844 wound up (as much as they could this trip) and started putting out more smoke. I told him he was right, that inside it was very hot so it could make steam. We pulled ahead around Covert Ford in Hutto, and I pulled into a parking lot so he could see the train go past crossing guards he talks about so much. 844 was loafing along at 25-30 MPH due to the flat spots on its wheels, so we easily caught up by Dell Diamond, and Michael observed that the train was slow. But the best part was when we stopped on McNeil road at I-35. The train was creeping on to the GRR connection and we were going to be there a while. I pulled him out of his car seat and held him up to see and hear the steamer as it went around the curve. All he had to say was "Cool! Cool!".

We got home, ate dinner with Tiff, and before Michael got done, I went out and started some of the sprinklers. After he got done, he came out to "help" me water our meager veggie garden in the front and then he just stood outside in the sprinklers. Not where he got all the way wet like he used to when he would almost stand on the sprinkler head, but where he was at the tip end of each sprinkler's arc, where the was getting gently showered with a few drops of water. Later he went out back, and did like he used to do, and stood RIGHT in front of a sprinkler and tried to drink from the hose as I watered the plants. But there was just a moment while we were still out front, while he was just standing in the middle of the lawn getting sprinkled by the sprinklers while Tiff and I watched that I thought, man, it really has been a special day.