18 Month Update

Our little man turned 18 months old at the beginning of August!  He seems so much "older" these days and really brings the saying "time flies" to a new meaning for us! 

In his Big Brother shirt at the airport heading to Papa and Nana's house!

Some of his favorite things:

• playing in the water
• being around people
• talking... oh the talking he does!  It is constant!
• playing with his farm toys and tools
• reading
• wrestling
• "crashing" after riding on Daddy's back down the stairs
• being chased
• swings and slides
• dancing and singing
• any of his "shows" on the Ipad, Phone or TV
• he loves bats and balls and frequently finds Koen's metal bats and brings them through the doggie door into the house
• gets super excited to go check the mail
• he likes to play hide and seek, but doesn't really get the hide part :)
  

He plays outside in the water every day with "Ne Ne" (Stephanie)

Developmentally:

• he is still "counting" and knows lots of numbers, but not necessarily in order
• uses all his signs, but now combines them with words most of the time
• talks, ALL THE TIME, lots of words and phrases we can understand and lots that we cannot!  Some of our favorites to hear him say are: "I don't know" "Seriously" "Peace" "Gone Gone"
• he will follow directions if we ask him to put something back, bring an item, close this, etc. etc. 
• he has started to ask to go "pee pee" mainly because of watching Daddy, but will go outside if we ask him to the majority of the time.  He tries every time, but doesn't always need to go.  I did buy him a stand up potty, but right now it is more fun to carry it around than to actually use it. There have been a few mornings recently that he will go all morning without wetting his diaper (even through nap) and get up and go pee pee outside.
• loves to hear the ABC song, and will shout out random letters
• loves animals, can identify and make the sounds of most

  

  Nana came to stay with us for a week and we took a trip to the bookstore for some reading!

  

  My sister in law let us borrow this baby to help with the new REAL baby on the way, the first day John Thomas stole his paci, poked him in the eye and bit his head...

Things I don't want to forget:

• he loves everyone and will talk to pretty much anyone we come across
• he loves to go to church and will say "funnnn"
• if there is anyone that walks out of the room he calls for them until he knows where they are or he comes back
• he asks for his brother, Koen, no less than 100 times per day and anytime we ask him if he is ready to go he gets excited and says, "Bubba!"
• any piece of paper he finds that is on or near the floor is "tash" (trash)
• when he hears a dog bark he takes his finger and points very seriously and tells them "no, no, no!"
• A few things we aren't as excited about, but I still don't want to forget, his word of choice is "no" regardless if he means no or yes, the answer is no.  He gets very territorial of his toys and things when others are around and does use the word "mine" a lot.  We are working on these.
• If we ask him where, Bubba, Ne Ne, etc are he will say, "I dunno" or "Gone Gone"
•  lots of times when he is in trouble with us, he will call for the other one, or his "Ne Ne"
• if we ask him if he wants to get a spanking he quickly responds, "No"
• he has so many facial expressions, and uses them daily!
• any blanket, towel, piece of fabric etc. is a "lovey" and needs to be held
• he will come up behind us and hug our neck, or walk up and hug our legs and sway back and forth saying "My Baaabayyy"
  

He was so proud of himself for picking this flower for me and came running inside saying "Momma, Momma" - melts my heart.

Eating:

Still a great eater.  I think with his growing slowing down, he seems to eat a little less, but still eats more than us some days!  Still 3 meals, with two snacks, water and breast milk in a sippy to drink. Still loves carbs and any fruits! 

Snack time by the pool with Nana.

Sleep: 

So far he is still taking two naps a day, with his morning nap being the best.  I keep waiting for him to drop it, but he always wants to go down! One nap at 10:00 am and one usually around 2:30 or 3:00 depending on how long his morning nap was.  He still sleeps around 10-11 hours at night, from around 9:00 until 7:30 ish. 

Lots of times if I work late in the afternoons he helps himself to my desk drawers and finds random things, this day he found headphones :)

Stats:

At his 18 month visit he weighed 26 lbs (50%) and was 32 inches tall (15%).  

While shopping in NC with Nana and Aunt Allie he grabbed onto this pink blanket and would not put it back! Maybe he is trying to tell us something about the new baby??

Clothes:

Mostly 18 month clothes and size 5 shoes.   We are still using cloth diapers and size 5 disposables.

I say every stage is my favorite, and this is no exception.  I love that he can communicate with us and is learning so much every day!  Seeing him grow and mature is such a blessing to us as parents!  We are very proud of his little bubbly personality and sweet spirit! We love you, sweet boy!