18 Months!!!

this is what he does if you ask him to smile :)


Happy half birthday to our little 18 month old. Granted I am getting to writing about it pretty late, but we marked the occasion, took his pictures, and I am wracking my brain trying to figure out just what exactly to say about our little 1.5 yr old.

Let's start with stats. We had our 18 month Dr. appt and B did very well (he has taken to screaming as soon as we go to the exam room lately, but he actually calmed down for a portion of the time this time).
Weight- 24 lb 11 oz (30%)
Height- 34" (70 %) (note- if he doesn't grow much between now and the next appt- I think they may have overmeasured by 1/2", not sure his head was touching).
Head- 18" (80%) must be a smarty! (or he takes after his bobble-headed dad LOL).

Everything checked out great and he did well with his shots.

Language-
I had thought B was a little 'behind' in the language department, but the pediatrician didn't seem worried at all and said that we are not counting as much as we should The pronunciation doesn't have to be perfect so as long as he consistently assigns a word to an object, it is part of the language development. His babbling has also taken on a whole new level of complexity- lots of inflections and such mimicing real conversation. This means B has a LOT more words than I counted for him.

He says: Dog, Baby, Mama, Dad (Gag), Block (gock), Sock (gock), diaper/cookie/cookie monster/mickey are all pronounced gickey (why is that for diaper? b/c diapers have cookie monster and mickey mouse pictures on them of course!), peepee, poop, burp (bup), excuse me (eeeeee in a high pitched voice), bathroom (bah), ball (bop), apple (bap), pickles (icky in a high pitched voice), milk/water (gik), duck (guck), dog treat (gog), bike (gike), book (bah), up (bup), ballpit/basement (bah-pa), basketball (baaaba), gymboree (bobo). He also moos if you ask what a cow says (boooooooooo) and says Baa in a very funny manner if you ask what a sheep says, and a pig says ock ock. And this is off the top of my head- there is probably more that I am forgetting. I still don't really think he says much b/c it is just not understandable to anyone but us- but it is consistent so maybe I am not giving him enough credit.

I am hoping something 'clicks' soon so more are recognizable, but he is working at it and it is amazing to see how much he understands and is trying to communicate. When we go places, if he sees a toilet he will point and go Baah. If you say what do you do there, he will reply peepees.

He can identify lots of body parts- some he isn't great at finding on himself, like his nose, but he can point to ours. He knows hair, head, ears, nose, mouth, tongue, teeth, eyes, chest, belly, tushie, wiener, diaper, toes, feet, piggies (also toes).

There is so much going on at this age- I am putting it at the end of this post. I actually envision logging in a few times to add to the list as the next couple days pass because it is hard to think of everything he is doing now and everything I want to remember about how much fun he is right now.

MONTHLY PICTURES!!! (showing 1, 6, 12, & 18 months)

Chair pics:




18 months!! WHICH DO YOU LIKE!?! I know which one I like, but his feet are off the chair, while they are on the chair in all his other pics so I don't know if that is great for comparison :)

(not sure how accurate this one is b/c his tushie may be off the seat as he was about to stnad)








And the monkey pics!






VERY difficult- not only keeping him there, but keeping him from ripping off the sticker






Some other fun shots!


He kept standing up!

Or trying to get off the chair



Head rush! (he does this all the time- even has stopped in public, like mid mall, to do this.


Fun things about this age.

*Every morning he comes downstairs and inevitably brings me the remote, grunting. This is so I can put the music on and he can dance.
* if he doesn't want to say Hi to someone, when you ask him to he will defiantly put his waving arm behind his back
* is terrified of the vacuum, and therefore cries anytime he sees our cleaning lady
* loves to play with credit cards and tries to swipe them when we are checking out at a store
* He likes to hang in his crib for a bit when he wakes at first- he tosses his blankets around, expects you to put them back in, rolls like a loon and gets upset if you try to take him out before he is ready
* loves the 'throw' game- where he throws things off the table just to get you to pick it up and repeat
* Will tell you poop as he is pooping
* Dances both by bending his knees and stomping his feet- likes music on during the day and will ask for it just so he can dance
* climbs on things- the couch, his play tables, the ottomans, he can get up
* backs down the steps and crawls up
* tests his boundaries
* likes to stand on his head for a head rush
* throws tantrums! (they can be funny and annoying all at once) Sometimes he literally pounds his fists on my legs while screaming. Others I get hit, others he falls to the floor in a dramatic way.
* bathes in the big tub rather than the inflatable one
* mimics everything- tries to make hand motions for wheels on the bus, itsy bitsy spider, happy & you know it, etc
* runs- everywhere
* loves to run around fake laughing (video to come of this soon)
* follows instructions (sit down, find your shoes, go to the bath, etc)
* asks for what he wants (mostly by gesture, but makes it clear if he wants milk, water, some certain food kept in a specific cabinet, etc)
* loves to play with Ming and her toys
* sings (if you say la la la he will sing na na na)
* loves to be dragged around the floor- will crawl 3 steps then back up towards you to indicate it is dragging time
* likes to help with the laundry- will put whatever he can find into the dryer as I switch my loads of laundry
* loves to empty all of Eric's shoes out of the closet and brings them around the upstairs. He gets upset if he cannot keep them in pairs, and he leaves my shoes alone- just Erics
* loves to walk around in my uggs, his slippers, his rainboots, etc
* loves music besides just dancing- enjoys playing the piano, xylophone, drums, etc
* has stranger anxiety- is very clingy to me around new people or people he is not comfortable with. He doesn't cry (although he would if we handed him to them like santa) but just doesn't want to be touched or say hi
* waves hi & bye to everyone
* pretends everything is a telephone
* Sleeps about 11 hrs at night (8-7) and takes one 2.5-3 hr nap a day (12:30-3ish)
* Eats 3 meals a day- although we are fighting a battle about eating in the high chair. He would rather walk and eat
* Gives kisses out, and will hug his stuffed animals or me if I am lying on the floor
* Loves to go up to Ming when she is sleeping on the couch and plop down and nuzzle his head onto her like she is a pillow
* Loves to watch out the window and point out Daddy, buses, bikes, dogs, etc
* Likes to play with our mouths- doing the lip/finger bababa thing
*has a cheese face when you ask him to smile



FAVORITES
* Foods: Mac & Cheese, PICKLES! (he will go up to the fridge yelling pickle for want of one), diced apples, fruit snacks, cheeze its.
* Game: Peekaboo- no question. He loves to hide in closets, under blankets, behind his hands. He also LOVES to peek at you as you 'search' for him and laughs while hiding while listening to you say 'is he in his crib? no, is he under the blanket? no, etc'.
* Book: Changes every day. He is very picky and one day will want to read the same book 20 times, and the next throw/hit/push at it if you try to read it. He does love teh Dog Book, Moo Ba Lalala, Mommy Hugs, & How do I love you. Also- top top favorites are these 4 pages mini books in a sesame street set- he loves the cookie monster focused ones.
* TV show: has no attention for cartoons but will watch ESPN highlights of Basketball & Football no problem. He also loves a video clip of 11 year old Jashaun Agusto- basketball prodigy
* Toys: Blocks are HUGE right now. He loves stacking them and throwing them and saying boom. He also loves musical instruments and vehicles. The Little People stuff is a big hit right now as well- especially the school bus