18 Months Old!!

Oh my sweet boy, you are 18 whole months old! I can't even believe it. You are such a perfect, perfect little human being. I can't stand it. I really wanted to recap your busy little life monthly, but it just hasn't happened. SO here we are at 18 months, and I'll try to remember some of the big events.

We just had your 18 month checkup with Dr. Willey on Friday. You weigh 22 lbs, 15 oz, and are 32.5 inches tall. You have definitely grown in the past couple months! You are still wearing a size 4 diaper and your 12 month pants are definitely too short, as are your 18 month longalls. Yes, I still dress you like a LITTLE boy most of the time. I know we are on borrowed time with your saddle shoes and smocked jon jon's so I am enjoying them. I don't want my baby gone yet! You still LOVE your paci's for nighttime and naptime, but you are getting less and less dependent on them while we are out. It makes me a little sad!  I will be so ready for spring so you can wear some different clothes! Your shirt ranges from a 12-18 month. You are doing so much better at eating! You LOVE mac and cheese, hot dogs, tortillas, cheese, yogurt, peas, green beans. You will not TOUCH a potato chip or mashed potato, and barely will eat french fries. You love to drink milk, water, and occasionally juice. You are great at drinking out of a straw, which is great! No more lugging around tons of sippy cups! You are working on using a spoon and fork. You do pretty well with the spoon. You feed yourself yogurt in the morning every morning.

You are VERY talkative! I am going to try and remember what you say. "Cookie", "Bye Bye", "Dada", "RiRi", "Mama", "Hannah", "hot", "choo choo", "shoe", "juice", "Elmo", "diaper", "fish", "ball", "turtle", "thank you", "baby", "eye", "no", "cheese", "Uh Oh", "Papa". When you are asked if Riley is a good girl or a bad girl, you will say, "Good Girl!" You know a few animal sounds: pig, monkey, dog, cat (my FAVORITE), dinosaur, cow, bumble bee, duck, frog. You seriously understand everything we say. If we say, bring us your shoe, here it comes. You like to help clean up when you are done playing, and you are recently obsessed with Elmo. You love to pull a diaper out of the trash and shout "diaper" and "elmo" or "lalala" since that is his theme song. ;) The funniest thing is when you see something you really like, or even sometimes as the waitress sets down our food, you say this very expressive and LOUD, "OOOOOOOHHHH!!!" It always tickles me! At the same time, you will also yell "EWWWWW" if you see something that is gross. You say this a lot when I am changing a dirty diaper. You are starting to come to me and say "diaper" and tap the front of it when you have gone #2. It tickles me. You will sometimes count with me. You're really good at up until the number 3.

Your little personality comes out more and more all the time. You go to the church nursery every Sunday now and love it! You jump right in with all of the kids no matter where we go. You are not shy at all and see everyone's toys as your own, haha. You will start preschool at a church near our house in September. There are times where you want me more than anyone. It is funny to me, because you have never really been too choosy. But sometimes you will just cry if I leave, even if I am leaving you with Nana or even Dada! Your favorite characters are Mickey Mouse and Elmo. You also love Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Doc McStuffins, Sofia the First, and Thomas. You LOVE to dance. Anytime you hear music, you start it up. You love pulling all of the tupperware out of the cabinet. Sometimes you even GET IN the cabinet and we can't find you!! You are very good about helping me pick your messes up, thank goodness. You are still my patient boy when it comes to shopping, and you LOVE a grocery store or Target. I think you are a people watcher like your Mama. ;) You are a big helper with unloading the dishwasher as well. You love to hand me things, and as I take them, YOU say "thank you". It tickles me. You've almost got it, sweet thing.We have had to do a little disciplining lately. You will throw a tantrum if we are at home or somewhere where you can get to the floor. You lay straight out and cry. So dramatic. But in a restaurant, once I have carried you out and talked to you. I know you really don't understand it, but I like for you to be accountable for your actions in some way. Lately it has been about the phone. And we have a talk about how you eat first, THEN play on the phone. So you take ONE bite, and then start looking again. Until we talk again, then you take another bite, and so on. You are a tricky thing!!

We are SO thankful that you have been such a healthy boy. You have had a couple of minor colds, and that is it! Until this week. You have had a fever since Saturday night. We finally went to the doctor this week and you have hand, foot, and mouth disease. Which sounds totally gross!! But it is just a virus and you have a very mild case and it should be on it's way out so we can have fun with our Easter activities this weekend! 

We visited the circus this year; your first time. I was worried you wouldn't really be interested, but you LOVED it! I was shocked, because it was long. But you alternated sitting in mine, Dada's, and Hannah's lap and just clapped, laughed, and pointed the entire time. Everything is just so exciting to you.

Unfortunately, you attended your first funeral on Valentine's Day. Stephanie's daddy, your Great Papa, passed away. Y'all were great friends. He just loved you so. You would clap at each other, and you were just starting to say "Great Papa" when he would walk in. The most amazing thing is, even at your young age, to this day, when Stephanie meets us in a restaurant, you keep looking and pointing for her dad. It brings tears to our eyes that you can still remember him.

You are a very busy boy! You run now, and it is hilarious. You love bathtime, and love to shoot hoops in there and show me the ball, fish, and turtle.  You will pull all of the books off your bookshelf in a matter of minutes. That is your favorite activity. You entertain yourself so well downstairs with all of your toys. You love to swing at the park! You are becoming a daredevil! You climb into your train table, and stand ON your mega bloks table! You love the iPhone! Nana downloaded an Old MacDonald app for you, and every time you see her, you are constantly asking for "EIEIO". You repeat that over and over. And then mimic each animal sound as the animal comes up. You are also just as happy to flip through all the photos on the phone. We have to be careful, because you have mastered unlocking the phone, and finding your apps. As soon as you see my phone, you start saying "CHEEEEEESE" and squinting your eyes into the sweetest smile! You only do it when you see my phone though, hmmm. ;) Have I mentioned how much you love Riley? And she is very tolerant of you! It surprises me. You love to help me take her outside to the bathroom, give her a treat, and just lay all over her and give her kisses. Your favorite though, is for her to chase you. You go and get her ball and make sure she sees it, and then take off! You keep looking behind you and laughing as she tries to get you! I love when you give kisses! You say "mwahhh" and lean in. So sweet. You can find the tiniest scrap of paper or hair on the floor and bring it to me and put it in my hand. So funny!

You will still usually take two naps a day. Sometimes, you only want one, and on very rare occasions, you want neither. Those days are rough, because by dinner time you are wearing down! You started sleeping with a blanket and 2 stuffed animals last month. This was a huge step for your SIDS-freak Mama. I was so nervous! But you love it! You are turned around in the car seat now, and love it. We did that around 14.5 months. You were screaming anytime we went anywhere. Now you love to be turned around and see what we are doing! You are very much a thinker. I love when you are concentrating on something, or someone says something that you have to process, and you do this cute little frown. It is hilarious. You love to group things. The other day, Dada sent me a picture of your shopping cart. You had put all of your trains in the cart, and only trains! You constantly bring us books to read to you and LOVE to "read" also. You spent your first night away from Mama this month. I missed you so, but you will realize one day how important it is for your Mama and Dada to get away. You were in great hands with Nana and Hannah and probably didn't miss us a bit! You love to help brush your teeth or your hair. You are also very good at wiping your mouth or the table when you are finished eating! You can point out your hand, feet, toes, mouth, nose, hair, ears, and eyes. You cover your face if you hear "Where's William", and love to duck under a shirt or blanket to hide also. In the shoe store, the people always laugh because as soon as they go toward you with a shoe to try on, you thrust your foot into the air. You know what to do baby.

I just can't even tell you how blessed I feel to be your mama. I LOVE having a little boy and you are just such a special little thing. We have such a great time together and I just cannot tell you enough how much you mean to us. When things seem overwhelming, I can always count on your for a kiss or a hug. You are just an angel baby.

"Every good and perfect gift is from above" James 1:17