What Simon is doing at a Year and a Half

Simon's a year and a half now so I wanted to post some of the things he's doing that we love. He's been doing some of these things for a while, but it seemed a good time for a summary post.

See the full list after the jump:

1. Simon is a really good natured, happy kid. 
2. Says boo to scare you.... or anyone. We saw a bird in the tree and he said boo. With Jenn he pointed out a baby - he said 'shhh' soft and quietly and then yelled boo at her. 
3. He says "Shhhh" and holds a finger over his mouth when someone is sleeping. Not unfrequently this is followed by a boo or a 'wake up'!
4. He plays independently pretty well and is reading independently too. He'll pick up a book, holding it right-side up, and make the right sounds on the right pages. He'll go around to his toy area and play a bit and then come back into the living room pushing a cart or a truck.
5. Enjoys longer books now, listening more to the story than looking at the pictures (or so it seems)
6. He loves being held by mama and if I'm standing at the counter he'll squeeze between me and the cabinet and push me away and ask to be picked up.
7. Really likes to feed himself using his spoon/fork.
8. Likes feeding animals or pictures or other people with his spoons (or toy shovel) - he's been doing this for a while but now does it all the time.
9. Likes to sit next to us in a chair or on the couch, likes to define where we sit by pointing and saying 'sat!'
10. Loves his two main stuffed animals - Chili Dog and Jelly Cat - will ask for them when they're upstairs in the crib and we're downstairs by saying 'hug' and pointing upstairs.  
11. Other stuffed toys he enjoys playing with a lot:  his legless plush baby doll ('baybee!'), teddy bear, sock monkey, small bear that Jenn knit for him, fuzzy cow puppet, and Beany Baby horse (aka Tickle Monster Horse)
12. Learning so many words, and imitating the sounds and the actions and the words we are saying. I sneezed the other day (and covered my mouth) and he imitated the sound and action. And I must look so funny when I sneeze because it was the cutest thing!
13. Loves to hold hands and walk. Though sometimes he still likes to run away.
14. Starting to really run fast.
15. Initiates games. He remembers games we've played days later and will ask to play them again. He makes up new games and he laughs so hard about them.
16. He loves being tickled. You ask if he wants to be tickled and he nods, so you say 'ok, hold up your arms' and he does very slowly. Then as soon as you start tickling him he collapses in laughter and says 'all done'. Then he'll say/sign 'moore' you repeat. 
17. We tried to teach him to somersault and now he touches his forehead to the ground and then lies down and rolls.
18. He loves playing 'I'm coming to get you'. Which is similar to 'who's coming downstairs'. He runs to the nearest adult and if the only one around is the one coming to get him, he still runs right to you. If you're not playing the game and he wants to then he'll get down on his hands and knees and come to get you instead!
19. He loves baths.
20. He still likes going to bed and when he's tired and you ask if he wants to go night night, he walks over to the gate and points up the stairs and makes the sign for sleeping. Though he doesn't always think it's as good idea when we leave him in his room by himself.
21. Loves the Itsy Bitsy Spider song and will initiate it with the hand signs and saying 'itsy' and then saying 'down!'
22. For the most part he's really good about rules or boundaries unless he is really tired or unless the thing is a phone (both are recipes for tears). 
23. Tantrums are almost always cure-able by asking if you want a snack.
24. Will answer yes/no questions with nod and shakes of his head and saying 'no', but doesn't use no as an angry word.
25. Will tickle himself if you aren't doing it by having a rocket to his own belly or the tickle bug coming for him. 
26. He's still going to bed at 5pm and sleeping solidly until around 6 in the morning. He plays happily by himself for quite a while in the morning and if we're getting ready we can leave him in there talking and playing with his animals for another 30-45 minutes. 
27. He loves his pacifier, but only uses it if he's in his crib. While he will certainly pull it out of the crib if you're in his room playing he will put it back in the crib before going downstairs without an issue.
28. He eats anything we give him - only things he's consistently been iffy on are strawberries, tomatoes, broccoli and onions. He'll eat them sometimes but not all the time. 
29. If he takes a bite of something he doesn't like, he'll get this sour look on his face, pull the food out of his mouth, and hold it out until you let him drop it in your hand
30. He started having cows milk (or as we call it 'cold milk') around 13 months and he loves it from his straw sippy cup. 
31. Seems left handed - when he feeds himself it's always holding the spoon/fork with left hand.
32. Can put on his own hat, sometimes, but hasn't quite got the rest of the clothes. Though he really wants to be able to! He can zip and unsnap but can't pull up/on.
33. Loves music. He will ask for it to be on if we don't already have it on - he will point to the stereo and dance to ask.
34. Doesn't watch any tv.  If it's on somewhere that he can see he'll usually be fascinated by it for a couple minutes and then get bored. 
35. Gets really frequent visits from all of his family, such a lucky kid to have so many people love him.
36. When he finds weird stuff on the floor (usually food that fell while he was eating) he brings it to you. 
37. Loves cleaning up - with a napkin he cleans his own face/hands and then wipes up tables and floor and counters. 
38. Really likes to play with phones.  I don't think he really knows what they're used for (since he has all of his long distance conversations using Skype video chats) but he knows it's supposed to be held up to your head next to your ear and mouth.  Sometimes he'll just walk around the room holding the phone to his ear with his head tilted towards it, and then after a while he'll hand the phone to you so you can "talk" on it briefly before handing it back to him. He has a plastic toy one that's part of his baby jail that he loves to play with, but even better is when we let him play with one of the real cordless phones (we unplug the phone line first so he doesn't really call anyone)