18 Months

I can't believe my little man is 18 months old (...er actually almost 19 as procrastination got the best of me)

So what is Owen up to these days?

• Loves building with blocks – makes tall towers
• Loves to try to figure out how things work – figured out how to unscrew the toothpaste top when getting ready for bed the other night!
• Loves to throw a ball - puts his hand/arm way behind his head then launches is!
• Is amazing at putting together puzzles - he has one with about 8 different shapes and colors - and can find the right places for each piece immediately
• Loves to draw - every time he sees me write something, he says draw draw draw and he gets so into it - concentrates so hard - puts his head down and makes small little marks then goes crazy with big marks and circles

Here he is drawing with Papa...

• The kid loves music - loves dancing, stomping, clapping (even claps to the beat) - he especially loves piano music
• When you start saying the alphabet, he'll shout out 'X' then start laughing!
• He's definitely testing his ground and asserting his independence, we've started counting to three with him after we tell him not to do something - but once we say one - he'll say two and by then we're laughing too hard to be upset with him (kinda defeats the purpose of trying to teach him anything, so we're exploring other options! :))
• Loves to be a 'helper' if he won't do something and you preface it with, 'can you be a helper' he'll almost always comply
• He'll push a chair in under the table
• Throws away his own trash
• Likes to help put away laundry
• Lately this 'helperness' has come in handy for all the times there is something on the floor that big old pregnant mama doesn't feel like bending over to pick up
• His vocab is amazing - our guess is he can say well over 100 words
• Favorite words lately are big truck, oh my my, bite (when he wants a bite of whatever we are eating), frog, juice, more, ni night, mickey, hello when the phone rings, etc. he is starting to put words together more an more every day air-go mama - is there you go mama - he'll say this when he brings me something
• Started saying love you "La Ya" on Dec 18, the sweetest thing EVER!
• Is saying words with multiple syllables – umbrella, applesauce, octopus, horseshoe
• Loves to give high fives and 'knuckles'
• Tells us when he's tired by saing ni-night
• His likely answer to most questions is 'yah' with a little Norweigan twist - so - we call him Hans for fun
• Eats very well with a fork and/or spoon
• Has a bit of a mullet
• Discovered ketchup recently and will eat it with his hands
• Enjoys climbing on to everything
• Only recently would he let who ever is with him, out of his sight - but now we can go into the other room and leave him to play for a few minutes and he doesn't have to follow us
• Over Christmas break, he started giving kisses and hugs on command or just when he wants some lovin!

Here he is giving some lovin to his mama and sitting on his favorite perch (his little sister)...

• Loves mickey mouse - got some jammies for christmas and cries soemtimes when he has to take them off - or prefers to carry them with him everywhere
• Loves to read, can sit forever reading and can name most of the things in his favorite books

Here he is being pretty serious about his truck book....

Until mama interrupted him and told him to say cheese (what a goober)...

• Loves trucks - "big truck, wow" is a common phrase. He shouts it out in the car and practically scares you! He loves to stand with me in the parking lot at daycare every morning and stare at the highway and watch big trucks go by!
• The highlight of his Christmas vacation was when we had a freezer delivered and he was in absolute awe of the delivery truck in the driveway, and literally stood in one spot at our front window, starting at the truck the entire time it was there (about 30 min or so by the time they got the freezer downstairs) and point and say big truck - Scott and I think maybe we should just pay someone to park their truck in the driveway a few times a week for some cheap entertainment?!
• Recently got a potty chair, is not terribly interested, he put his juice and toy in the bowl and pushed it into the other room like it was a truck when we first showed it to him. He will sit on it - and he does love to say potty so that is some interest at least and when soemone is in the bathroom he has to announce 'papa potty' or 'mama potty'. When he goes poop he does announce it, so thats a start too.
• Our bed time routine is a bath every other night and just a 'clean up' in the sink on the off nights, the highlight for him is brushing his teeth.
• He still takes a bottle every night (but we transitioned to a 'baby' slow flow bottle and only like 2 oz or so - hoping that would turn him off to his 'ba' (yeah, not so much) - bedtime ritual begins around 7 every night and he is in bed and usually sleeping by 730/745. He sleeps til 715 on week days and around 8 or 830 on weekends (last sunday he slept until 930!)
• Still can't sleep without froggy! BUT WE FOUND A BACKUP! Grandma scored one on Ebay recently! (thanks Grandma!!)
• Wears 18-24 mo old clothes, and some 2T
• Is in size 4 diapers
• At his 18 mo appt - he was 28 lbs 14 oz - 80th percentile / 33" tall - 75th percentile / 51.3 cm head circumfrence - 97th+ percentile - he has been off the charts here at every other appointment

And of course what milestone update would be complete without a Froggy Buddy picture or two?

I haven't done one since he turned one - since I figured taking one every month at this point was getting a little ridiculous - my plan after 18 mo is to do one every year....

So this time around the photo op didn't go quite as well as it had in the past (and if you recall, Owen was requiring more distractions in order to pose with the last few pics we took - remember the 11 mo and one year pics? Yes those are both a '20 questions game' and a pair of tongs in his hand...

Well this time around, here he is without any distractions....

Yeah, dind't work so well...round two was a couple nights later where I bribed him with some food (yes his mouth is full and he is in mid-chew when this pic was snapped)....


Well thats it for now! Hope to post soon about baby girl's new bedroom! :)