18 Months. Plus 2.

My little boy is TWENTY months old today. Isn't that crazy? It almost sounds silly going by months at this point, although for some reason I got an email in my inbox titled Your 87-Week Old and I had to laugh. I guess in 4 short months his age will begin to be counted in years only...that kind of makes me sad!

I started working on this post when he was at the 18-month mark but time is kind of elusive these days. (total understatement, ha!) And then the next thing I knew it was two whole months later...oops. But better late than never, right? He's at such a fun (albeit exhausting) age right now and I wanted to document a few things that he's been up to lately before he's moved on to the next stage and the memories start to fade.

At his 18-month well visit he weighed 27 lbs, 10 oz. and was 32 3/4 inches tall. He loves to weigh himself on our scale every day and this morning he is up 29 lbs.

Vaccination time is getting much more traumatic for both of us the older he gets. It's so hard to hold down your scared, screaming baby knowing your scared, screaming baby realizes that he's being held down by his own mama. He kept screaming "bite! bite!" when the nurse gave him his shots (which is also what he says to our cat all the time). Sad, but cute! Thankfully, once the nurse gave him his Elmo sticker he was A-OK.

It's been a crazy few months with a lot of changes, but he's handled everything pretty well. He went through a phase where he was very angry with me when I was in the hospital. He wanted nothing to do with me and even started calling Rick "Mama." Which just about broke my heart, I'm not gonna lie. Now that we're back home he's really warmed back up to me. He loves to give hugs and kisses and I cannot get enough.


He's done great welcoming his sister into the family. He hasn't shown any jealously toward her other than wanting to sit in and play with all of her baby gear, and loves to give her hugs and kisses. He also likes to try to "play" with her, which usually means trying to poke her in the eye or ear or nose.



A few funny stories/things he's doing at this age that I want to remember:

Last month we were driving in Clear Lake and I didn't notice where we were until Harrison kept saying "Mama? Mama? Mama?" while he pointed out the window at...the hospital. Sad, right? I couldn't believe he recognized it and associated it with me over a month later. He is so observant when we are in the car and can tell us what we're about to drive by before we even turn on the street. His favorite to point out is the choo-choo.


He has become very curious about certain female anatomy involved in nursing his sister. He points and laughs and does this weird tweaking motion with both his hands like he's turning knobs or something (I seriously have NO idea where he came up with that!) and calls them "boo-boos". He points them out on anybody and everybody, men included, and often lifts up his shirt and tweaks his own boo-boos. He has also on several occasions (usually when he's in a shopping cart with easy access) tried to lift up my shirt looking for my boo-boo's, which is a story that is totally going to embarrass him when he's older. ha!


One day recently he noticed a mole I have on my temple and ever since I explained what it is he takes great pleasure in pointing at it and laughing, saying over and over, "mole? mole? mole!". He also finds it funny to point out other people's moles as well, which I have a feeling could turn into a very embarrassing situation for me in the future. I keep trying to tell him they're beauty marks but he's not buying it. :)


A couple of weeks ago we were playing with his farm set. I was asking him what sounds each of the animals make and he was answering me, and I randomly threw in there, "what sound does Harper make?"  His answer? "GRRRUUUUNNNTT." I about died laughing! But he's right; she really does grunt all the time. Ha!



What else?

His vocabulary is growing every day. Words that he uses regularly: juice, cat (but he calls ours "bite"), puppy/dog (arf-arf), shoe (goo), mine, why, go, no-no, ball, baseball (bay-ball), football (got-ball) baby (baba), apple, car, cracker (ca-ca), goldfish (ga-ba), uh oh, up, boo, boo-boo, bobo, uncle, bite, glasses (ga-ga), water (wa-wa), waffle (afwa), choo-choo, mole, banana (nana), Harper (ah-bul), bump, jump (da), mama, dada, mamaw, duck (da), bubbles, bird, boat, Elmo, Barney (Ba), hat, hot (and he blows on whatever is hot), cold, ice, and I'm sure there are some more that I'm forgetting. He's even starting to combine a few words together within the last couple of weeks. So far he's said "bay-ball hat," "apple juice," "Mamaw's car" and "baby, shhhh!"

-He's weaned off his bobo during the day and is only allowed to have it for naps and at bedtime. The transition went surprisingly well! One day I just told him that his stuffed monkey needed it while Harrison was away, and since then every day he tosses it back into the crib for the monkey to borrow. Hopefully we can wean him completely off pretty soon.


-He's a daredevil. He climbs on everything. I constantly catch him jumping off the couch and face planting into the carpet and laughing, no matter how many times we tell him not to. I recently caught him on top of the breakfast table, and I almost had a heart attack because I'm sure he was moments away from face planting into the tile.

-He is obsessed with balls. Especially baseballs. Many times "bay-ball" is the first word out of his mouth in the morning and he can't wait to get out of his crib to go grab his ball and glove.


-He is very dramatic. Not really sure where he gets that from. Ha! Lately when he doesn't get his way, he starts crying and yells, "Whhhhhyyyyyyyyy?!" 

-He loves cars, trucks, tractors, and anything else associated with transportation. It's funny how boys are naturally drawn to "boy stuff."


-He is so darn strong-willed and mischievous. We spend a lot of time trying to "learn and enforce boundaries." Which just sounds a little nicer than "time out" or "spanks," don't you think? I've read James Dobson's book and I'm afraid the chapter about what works for Harrison was missing. So if you have any pointers feel free to pass them along. Ha!


-While he's rough and tumble and generally has no fear, he is surprisingly afraid of the vacuum and my hair dryer. Ha!

-His favorite TV shows are Barney, Sesame Street, and Dinosaur Train.


-He's in mostly 18 mo. and 2T clothing and wears a size 5 diaper.

-He sleeps from about 7:30-8pm to 7:30-8am and takes a nap around 1 or 2.


-He brings such joy to our lives!



Comments

Tienna said…
Precious. Simply precious. Words seem so inadequate to describe how much joy I find in your blog posts about that little man and Harper. I know you mainly do it to document it for your own personal memories (uh - selfish much), but it's so awesome to experience them growing up with you via bloggyland even though I'm 9 hours away. :( I love you guys so much!!
Anonymous said…
he is my doll. he is my joy. he makes us laugh... he entertains us. miss him and will come see him soon.... love mamaw hello to harper
Unknown said…
I hate that they grow up. HATE. IT.

They're all doing it anyway, and so fast!

Miss you all!

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