18 Months Old!

18 WONDERFUL months!  I am so excited to celebrate this milestone with you.  On the one hand, the past 18 months have flown by.  But on the other, you have changed and grown so much it's hard to believe you're not already older than you are.  In the past few months you have learned so much you blow me away with all that you know and understand.  This month....

Two more teeth came in.  The bottom two canines came in at the end of August.  You are now up to 16 teeth!

You had your first (and second) visit to the library.  I'm actually not sure why we haven't done this sooner.  You love books.  We went to the library in the Pacific Palisades and it is really nice.  There's a great little nook with the books for little kids stored in baskets so you can dig through them and lots of space for us to curl up and read while we're there.  There are fun things painted on the walls and ceiling and funky lights hanging from the ceiling that you love.  Both times we've been there have been volunteers there to read to children (at this point you seem to prefer if I would just read to you instead, but I've tried to get you interested and listening to at least part of a story or two).  I'm so excited that you enjoy it so much and plan to keep visiting at least once every 2 or 3 weeks.

Your favorite word is hat.  Everything is a hat.

You have, however, said a number of new words this month.  The ones I remembered to write down are baby, up, yummy, hot, hook, hug, and hi.  You can see H is quite popular.

You learned how to blow raspberries on Daddy and I and you think it's wildly funny.

Thanks to Daddy you discovered Reese's Pieces.  Then I had to hide the jar because you became obsessed with them.  Can't blame you.  They're one of our favorites too.

You've started mimicking things that we do more and more.  You pretend to wash your face in the bathtub because you see me do it and when I give you your own wash cloth after meals you clean your high chair tray.  This means I also catch myself doing things that I don't want you to do and have to remind myself that if I'm doing it that's setting an example that it's okay for you to do, too.  (Not that I'm doing anything all that bad, I'm thinking of things like sticking something in my mouth when my hands are full or when I climbed on the dryer to put something in the cabinet above and then turned around to find you standing below watching me.)

On the subject of climbing, you have become quite the climber.  It's sort of killing us.  We've had to rearrange the living room so the couch is now against a wall.  We put things on both ends to break your fall should you topple over one of the arms.  The coffee table had to get moved way out in the center of the room with lots of space around it in case you fell off the front of the couch.  Then the coffee table became a jungle gym, so it has been turned into your own personal play space.  As long as we keep it covered with toys you don't climb on it.  Not the look I prefer in my living room, but it works.  It's actually kind of cute because it's the perfect height for you to stand and play.  Still, you find things to climb on anyway.  And it's not just a matter of climbing up to sit.  You climb and stand or climb and launch yourself in all directions.  I'm honestly surprised you haven't had more falls than you have.

You have become very interested in all the noises you hear outside, and as a result, you are obsessed with helicopters and airplanes.  Living by the beach, we get a constant stream of helicopters and a fair number of planes flying by the apartment all day.  Now every time you hear one you point and go look out the windows to see if you can find it.

This has also resulted in a lot more time that we spend going out on the balcony to look at the things you're hearing.  Which means you see a lot more birds, and have now developed a liking for them too.  Now you listen for birds too and point every time you see one go by.  You know to look for them on the tops of the light poles and Daddy even tried to attract some by throwing bread out on the roof in front of our balcony.  It didn't really work, but a few days later, you and I saw the neighbors doing the same thing and they drew about 15 seagulls right there outside our window.  You loved it!

All in all you've become very aware of all the noises we hear.  On the back side of the apartment we hear lots of big trucks, like the trash trucks and some construction vehicles from the work going on across the highway.  You like me to pick you up so you can see them out the windows.  You always notice motorcycle engines too, though I'm not sure if you know what those are since we usually can't see them.  One day recently you were playing under my desk and heard a motorcycle go by.  Without interrupting what you were doing, you leaned back and stuck your arm out from under the desk to wave in the general direction of the windows, then went right back to your business.  It was hilarious and adorable.

We've made a habit of going out on the balcony every night before bed to see if we can find the moon.  The first night I pointed it out to you, but very soon (either the second or third night) I instead asked you where the moon was and now you point it out to me every night.  You love this.  In fact, if I'm taking too long cleaning up after your bath you become very frustrated and insistent that we go outside immediately.  You point to the balcony and bring shoes to me.  I love that you look forward to it so much, but you could cut me a little slack too, Kid!  For the past several days the moon hasn't been visible from the balcony at the time we go out, so instead we look for stars and count the airplanes and check to see how busy traffic is.

I've been trying to make a conscious effort to let you make more decisions.  When we get dressed every morning I choose two outfits and let you pick which one you want to wear.  Often for snacks I do the same thing.

You finally learned how to push your hair out of your face, which is both adorable and functional.  It came at a good time because it was right when you would no longer leave your hair alone when I pulled it up so now you can get it out of your way on your own rather than having it hang in your eyes.  It is one of those things that make you seem so grown up.

I've been trying to play more music for you during the day.  Music has never been a big part of my life so I can go all day sitting in silence and it doesn't bother me at all.  Or really, in our case, I get to listen to the ocean, which is sort of better than music anyway.  But I still think it would be good for you to listen to more music so we've been doing more of that and you definitely enjoy it.  Now when you hear music start playing you pump your little fist in the air with the beat and it's really stinking cute.  Sometimes you also come to have me pick you up so we can "dance."

You have always loved shoes.  You recently decided it was fun to start wearing my shoes around the house, which I don't mind, but it's kind of funny since they are mostly flip flops and you don't like the piece between your toes so you kind of just shuffle around with a strap up against your ankle.

I've been hesitant to say anything because I don't want to speak too soon or somehow curse myself, but I have to give you some credit because over the past few months you have finally been sleeping better.  You go to bed around 8-8:30 and most nights you make it in your crib until around 4 or 5 without waking.  At that point I go ahead and bring you in our bed because we can usually get another hour or two of sleep out of you that way, whereas we wouldn't if I tried to get you back to sleep in the crib.  You have been fighting sleep like mad lately, but at least once I get you to sleep it seems to last.

Finally, we had your 18 month doctor appointment last week.  Everything was great.  Dr. Nourmand was really happy with you in every way.  You met all the developmental milestones she asked about and seem to be healthy in every way.  You got 3 shots and took them like a champ.  Not a tear or a whimper, you barely even flinched.  Even the nurse commented at how well you took them.  You measured in at 32 lbs 8 oz, 36 inches tall, and 50 cm head circumference.