Last Thursday our little guy turned 18 months old! Crazy! He is such a blast and is always cracking us up. Some things are so much easier (like eating and being on such a predictable routine) and some things are getting more challenging (like him throwing fits and us learning the most effective way of disciplining him), but it's all part of this awesome journey. :)
Always Learning Something New
He was really slow to start talking - only saying a couple words when he turned one and only gaining a couple words a month for a while after that - but his language has really taken off these last couple months. He says about 70 words now and can make the noises for a sheep, cat, horse, cow, duck, snake, bee, lion, monkey, and bird. Besides thank you and all done, he isn't combining two words yet but we're sure it'll happen soon.
Our Quirky Little Guy
He's still a huge climber and he loves jumping from the couch to the ottoman and back.
When he gets mad about something he runs to the other side of the room and slams his hands into the wall. It's actually kinda hard not to laugh. ;) He also covers his mouth with his hands when he's hurt or upset and it's absolutely heart-breaking and adorable at the same time.
He's obsessed with the washing machine ("ash ee") and asks multiple times a day for me to hold him up so he can look inside it, especially when I'm doing a load of laundry. Last week we had to take our big comforter to the laundromat to use the commercial front loading washer and he was in heaven getting to see all the cycles through its glass door!
Reading is still one of his favorite things. He still brings a book and blanket over and makes himself comfortable in your lap, no matter what you're doing. His favorite book right now is "Happy Valentine's Day, Mouse!" that he recently got from Grandma Dee and Papa Johnie and he claps every time we get to the last page.
He hollers "Mommy, Mommy" whenever he's looking for me in the house, and then I holler back "Weston, Weston" and he just giggles and hollers my name some more and then I holler is, and so on. It sounds weird but it's one of those little things that make me smile and that I don't want to forget.
He loves spotting dogs, cats, birds, trucks, and school buses from the windows and car.
He can close doors now by pulling them closed with the door knob. He also locks them, which has led to him being locked in rooms a couple times now. Thankfully the house came with a little pin thing on top of each door frame to unlock the doors. :)
He pretends to sleep by snoring and laying still (though he keeps his eyes open) and then he'll pop up and "wake up."
Growing!
West had his 18 mo check up yesterday and the dr said he looks great. He is 32 inches tall (25-50th percentile - same as the last couple appts) and weighs 22 lbs 12 oz (25-50th percentile, which is a jump from last time!). It was so awesome to see that he's in a new percentile range. At his smallest, which was about a year ago, he was down to the 5th percentile, and he's just been slowly but surely climbing the charts since then. It's taken a lot of time and patience but it's so relieving to have those rough days behind us!
His favorite foods are waffles (with butter, yogurt, or cream cheese), Grapenuts, all types of berries, apples with peanut butter, yogurt, corn, green beans, carrots, pasta, black bean and cheese quesadillas, pretzels, Goldfish, and Spaghettios with meat balls. He eats best at breakfast and lunch but usually not so great at dinner, though I hear that's pretty usual for a toddler. Not only is he eating better, but he's also increasingly open to trying new things. We can't wait for summer when fresh produce will be cheaper and we can start grilling out again! He loves his milk and typically drinks 24-30 oz a day. I talked to his dr about cutting back on milk but she said that as long as he doesn't often drink more than 32 oz a day, he should be ok and that whatever we're doing seems to be working for him to gain weight so keep at it.
For the most part he's wearing size 18 mo shirts and 12 mo pants (and some of those are still big around his itty bitty waist). He's now in size 4 off-brand diapers during the day and size 5 Pampers Baby Dry diapers at night, but he's soaking through those most nights so we're going to have to try some heavier duty overnight diapers and hope that helps.
Ever since he went down to one nap a day (maybe when he was 13 months??) he would sleep from about 7pm-7am and take about an 1.5 hr nap. Just last week he started waking up earlier. We held our breath and hoped the time change would straighten it out or that maybe he was waking up hungry because he had a little stomach bug for a few days. It's hard to say if this week has been better since he's had some soaked diapers that may have been the culprit, so we'll see. I think his schedule will also change a bit because we'll probably be keeping him up a little later now that since it's light out so late. We're hoping he'll either sleep in a bit (fat chance since he's pretty much always woken up a 7) or nap a little longer to make up for it.
Weston John, we love the joy you take in being a big helper and love how adventurous you are. You think you're a big boy and that you can do all the things that we can and there's no slowing you down, even when we want to. ;) Your smile, kisses, and pats on our backs while giving us hugs melt our hearts. We love you to pieces and thank God for you daily!!
