Scott was stuck at work this afternoon so he decided (with some nudging) to take the afternoon off. To make it worth his while we decided to head to Santa Cruz and take Chanler to the beach for the first time.
We started out with lunch at togo's where Chanler "tickled" a complete stranger (we think he thought it was uncle David). The only problem - Chanler could only reach to the groin area! needless to say I was slightly embarssed!

Chanler took a short nap on the way over 17 and didn't wake up until we were at the beach. With a quick change he was ready to take on the ocean. Until we actually got to it - it was a bit scary. So we watched the waves for a few minutes and did eventually get just a bit wet.
Later we checked out the tide pools, but they were too dangerous to let Chanler run around on by himself so he stayed in the Ergo.
We hit down town Santa Cruz for dinner and had some really bad local pizza, then headed home.
Of course Chanler fell asleep in the car (at 7pm no less) and we didn't quite know what to do when we got home (keep him asleep or wake him up so he would got to bed on time) We decided on the first and amazingly it worked. Chanler slept the whole night (except for the scare at 11pm when he came toddling out of the bedroom happy as a clam)

Pictures

Chanler and I were eating lunch today (me - tuna fish sandwhich; Chanler - strawberries - 9 to be exact) when Chanler offered me a strawberry piece and said (I swear) "you want a bite?"

Language is a funny thing. I don't expect Chanler to use sentences since he still only uses a few single words consistenly, but I know what I heard.

Other sentences I think I've heard:
I see (used during peek-a-boo)
buy it (used while pointing at anything)
you go (while handing you something)

We had Chanler's 18 month visit today (about a week early, but close enough). Everything looks great. Chanler was particularly shy and clingy during the examination, but he did manage to blow kisses "bye bye" when the doctor was leaving, so it couldn't have been too traumatic. Actually Chanler didn't really want to leave the Dr. office, they have fish and toys in the reception area and he wanted to stay and play.

Stats:
Weight 24lbs 7oz (25 percentile although he wouldn't sit still on the scale so the Dr. thinks he is probably closer to 26lbs.)
Height 34 In (90 percentile)
16 Teeth (all except the 2 year molars)

Current Words (used regularly with consistent meaning)
Mama
Dada
Ball
Car
No
Down
Up
Choo Choo
Shoes
Num Num (Nurse)
Tickle
Doggie
Duckie
Birdie
Juice
Uh-Oh

Signs without verbalization
Airplane
Please
Eat/Drink
Kisses bye bye
Thank you
What/Where

As a side note the word list seems short to me, but it doesn't include all the words or phrases that Chanler UNDERSTANDS. There are plenty of things that he knows I am saying and can react to and there are things he says that I just haven't figured out what he means yet.