The last 6 months have gone by in an absolute blur. Yes, there has been a lot going on, but my, oh my! I never imagined that the second year would go so fast!
So, what's the little man been up to? Well, his sense of humor is really developing. He's doing more and more things for effect, and he's really watching for our reactions. If he gets a laugh, he doesn't stop doing whatever it was that engendered said laugh until... well, until he gets distracted by something bigger and better, I suppose. So, while this is really cute and funny most of the time, we have to be really careful about laughing when he does something naughty.
He's also talking. A LOT! I'd heard about an 18-month language explosion, but I never imagined it would be like this. He's picking up at least one, and sometimes two or three words every single day! And he's retaining them, for the most part, as he learns new ones. I'll have to sit down and really try to put together a comprehensive list, but here are some of our favorites from this past week: "dattie" (daddy), "mamoo" (animals), "noonuh" (noodles), "ba-pa" (backpack), "yebow" (stroller and/or lawn mower), "bike" (um, I think you got that one). The list goes on and on. It's so much fun! And again, having to watch what comes out of our mouths more than ever before, because he's really into repeating stuff. Yeah. Mommy's working hard on that one!
And then there's "Yeah!" and "no". "Yeah!" is sooooo cute - he says it a lot, but when he's excited, he'll yell it with a tone of wonder in his voice. It's hard to explain. I suppose I'll have to attempt to capture it on video. "No", up until the last couple of days was actually "oh" while shaking his head. He does use it at appropriate times, and is not yet using it in the "terrible twos" kind of way. Did I say yet? Yeah, I know, I know;
yet. Just tonight at dinner he said "no, no, no, no, no" and laughed, though. Hopefully he was just happy he got the "n" sound down. Heehee!
Let's see, what else? Well, he's doing really well at self-feeding with a spoon. He still eats mostly with his hands (70-ish% of the time, I'd say), but he can and does use a spoon quite well, and he is adamant about having one at mealtimes. Very cute!
He's also very cutely wanting to hold our hands when we're walking together, and if he wants to show us something, he'll come and get us by the hand and lead us to see it. Who knew it could be so heartwarming having a toddler take you by the hand and drag you over to check out a leaf or bug?
Oh, and he's also completely obsessed with busses, trains, large trucks of any sort, RVs, and airplanes. Whenever he sees or hears one he will yell "buh, buh, buh" for busses, trucks and/or RVs, "tchuh, tchuh, tchu" for trains, and "affwa" for airplanes and/or helicopters. (Incidentally, "affwa" also sounds like his words for outside and other side - as in when he's nursing. Heehee!)
And shoes - how can I forget shoes? He is so funny about wanting to put on his shoes. We think it's because at school they don't wear shoes until it's time to go outside, so whenever he wants to go out and play, he'll bring his shoes over and say "shuss? Yeah, yeah!". He also is really into trying on our shoes now. Which, as you can imagine, is hilarious! And he'll also bring our shoes to us if we ask for them or if he wants us to go somewhere. And if a shoe obsession is not proof-positive that he's his mother's son, then I don't know what is! :)
So that's about it for the 18 month update. All in all, he's just a cool little dude. Our well-baby visit is next week, so I'll post some stats afterwards. He's been standing on our scale at home and it says 24.5lbs, but it tends to be pretty inaccurate, so I'm guessing 23.5-ish, and he's 31" on our growth chart. So we'll see!
Yep... that's how he rolls... heehee!
We had a lot fun - we'll have to get together again to take the kids on the Polar Express train ride at Christmas time!
