mama is wearing: forever21 leopard blazer (similar here, here, and here) gap tshirt, anthropologie tulle skirt (similar here and here), target booties (similar here)

little man is wearing: zara button-up (similar here and here), american apparel v-neck tee, mama-made leather harem pants, converse sneakers

everyone told me that 18 months old is an insanely fun time, but holden and i have so much fun together on a daily basis that i didn’t see how it could get any better.  but we’re just getting close to holden’s 18 month birthday and i completely understand what everyone was saying.

although i honestly never believed it was possible, recently holden has become more animated, more vocal, and more silly.  he is constantly joking around and playing games, and is seriously just so funny.  the things he does just crack me up.

every single day, when daddy comes home and asks what we did that day, holden crows like a rooster (which means that we went to see a rooster).  and i always look at him and say, silly, we didn’t see a rooster today, because more often than not, we have not seen a rooster that day, and he gets the biggest grin on his face like he’s just told the greatest joke.

he has also started dancing and singing constantly, making up his own little routines and tunes.  tonight, he made up “back, back” which included a stomping and backing up across the room while chanting back, back.  dustin and i seriously laughed for a full half hour watching this little show.

and he remembers everything.  the littlest things that you wouldn’t think would stick have – we sold our dryer a few weeks ago and multiple times a day he will pretend to pick up something heavy, lifting an imaginary dryer with both his arms, mock grunting in exacerbation.

it’s the little moments like this that i don’t ever want to forget.

holden is such a character and such a little ham, and these days he is constantly putting a smile on my face or making me laugh out loud.  although there hasn’t been a bad age yet, 18 months definitely is a great one.

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and on another note, i bought this tulle skirt not knowing if i would have the guts to actually wear it.  upon seeing it in the store, i was unable to pass it up and so it inevitably came home with me.  today i wore it for an afternoon of lunch, shopping, and strolling in the city and i think there is a very good chance that it may become an everyday staple in my wardrobe.  there is something about wearing an over-the-top girly, princess-like outfit that changes the entire way you look at the world.  i know that sounds kind of ridiculous, but it seriously made my day better.  i felt good wearing it and although i didn’t have time to put on make-up before i left the house or do anything with my hair, i felt confident and pretty in it.  it was like an automatic self-esteem booster.  it made the most mundane of tasks (like grocery shopping or changing diapers) feel somewhat elegant.  oh, what dressing up can do for a girl.