18 Months

At the end of January SS became 18 months old. My baby boy.

SS has curls. When he gets out of the bath at night, his wet locks ringlet - by morning, they have mostly turned to fuzz, except for the hairs above his ears. Those half-circle up into the air, defying gravity and testifying to his curls.

Curls turned to fuzz - I need to try another curl photoshoot

SS speaks. His words include "Mah mik" (more milk), "Naa" (Nacky), "lie/luh" (with point) (light), "Nuh" (Jonah), "Bow" (Belle), "Bah" (ball), "Baah" (bath), - yes, all of these b-words are distinguishable - "Boo" (book - another b!), "ka-kuh" (cracker), "nana" (banana), "tee" (teeth), recently he added the "bruh/buh" for "Bruh tee" (brush teeth), "aawl/ah duh" (all done), "die-psadkjfka" (diaper - this one is a little less consistent), "Papa", "naa" (nap - sounds like Nacky, but context people). And of course Dada and Mama.

SS walks. J and I had started to get concerned. SS had taken his first steps around 14 months. He would toddle a single step or two, but he wasn't interested - crawling was much more efficient. Then SS added a couple more steps, so he would take three or four in a row, but SS only wanted to walk if he was really, really encouraged, or silly-tired. Otherwise, he would cruise on furniture, stand independently, and then steadily squat down and resume the speedy-crawl, which he had more than perfected. So J and I started talking about how at SS's upcoming 18 month appointment next week, I would (once again) bring up the lack of walking to Dr. Bean, and see if Dr. Bean would recommend something more drastic, like Physical Therapy, now that SS was 18 months old and still not really walking much.

A day or two after that conversation, suddenly, out of the corner of our eyes, J and I both started spotting SS scaling across entire rooms. It was like SS overheard J and I and understood he needed to do some cramming for the big exam next week.

First, SS would only attempt walking if J or I wasn't looking - if we so much as glanced his way, he would just sit down. Forget it, Mama - you saw nothing. And if we asked or encouraged him to walk? Not a chance. But then SS gained confidence, and within the week he was walking as an actual mode of transportation. Sure, he was still a little wobbly-bobbly, but we went to SS's 18-month appointment with a bonafide walker (not the Walking Dead kind, just a toddler). And he is getting steadier each week.



SS eats. Oh, how he eats. His favorite foods? A banana every day at breakfast. Milk. Bread. Peanut butter and jelly. Crackers. He loves himself a bowl of oatmeal. Most fruit. Greens are exiled (usually to the floor :/ ) but he does like steamed carrots - and peas! SS loves peas in spite of their greenness.
(Facebook Status Update: "So we gave SS some bites of cherry cobbler and homemade vanilla ice cream for dessert - he has been sitting in his crib since Justin put him down for bed, squealing and screeching as loud as he can, for the past 20 minutes. :)" )


I hope he's putting food and not wood chips in his mouth in this picture

SS is such a good eater that he is now weighing in at 23 lbs 10 oz  which lands him in the 50th percentile. Remember when he dropped down to the 3rd percentile? And remember when, at his one-year check up I was overjoyed he was 10th percentile? And the 25th percentile at his 15-month checkup? Dr. Bean's exact words were, "What are you feeding him?"
"He just likes to eat!"

And he is 32 inches long, also 50th percentile.

SS teeths. Unpleasant. Waking up multiple times a night for a couple weeks :/ (Haven't done that since he was a newborn!) Thankfully he is sleeping through the night again, but he has 3 molars that have already cut, and I can feel a couple more teeth that are on their way in. His mouth is a little drool faucet right now.
(Facebook Status Update:  "Great news! I figured out how to get SS to nap in the afternoon - turns out if he fusses and wakes up 5-6 times at night, he will totally take a nice long afternoon nap. #notworthit " )


You can see some of his teeth here. The tops are adorably crooked.

SS naps. Just once a day usually. Now that BB has quit napping (oh, the humanity), SS likes to nap around 11 until 1-2. And that is that. Fuss buckets around 5 when he gets hungry, but trying to nap him then proves futile, so it's snackies until dinnertime.

Which brings us to SS's very favorite part of any day - the "baah". SS giggles and points and kicks his legs and shouts "Baah! Baah!" from the moment you start wiping his hands after dinner until he is plunged into the lukewarm tub next to his brother. There, the boys proceed to bathe and play and systematically transfer every drop of bath water from the tub to the bathroom floor, at which point bathtime is over and it's time for SS's other favorite activity. "Tee! Tee! Tee!" SS cries until he is clasping his toothbrush and sucking all of the toothpaste off the bristles, giggling and watching Nuh in the mirror.

 SS plays. His favorite game involves transferring items from one container to another. He is also a fan of throwing toys under or behind couches. This weekend Tada found a pizza crust SS had been chewing on hidden in her slipper. Sneaky little thing. And he loves to stick his hands in water - running faucets and water fountains make him wiggle and exclaim until he gets to plunge his hands in.