18 months

Because I am a terrible parent this post is a week late and I have no pictures with the “good” camera. But if you read you will be rewarded with video…

I always thought of myself as a “baby person” and the thought of having an actual kid scared me a little. As it turns out I didn’t enjoy the baby phase all the much (I loved my kid and all, but fun isn’t a word I would use to describe the first few months) but the toddler phase, this is awesome.

At 18 months we are well into the independent “I want what I want when I want it” and “I want whatever you have RIGHT THIS VERY SECOND” phases, which are trying. Toddler discipline is something we are working on. But all of the good stuff is so much fun.

At 18 months Simon is a walking, running, climbing, hiding, talking, playing BOY. He hasn’t tried climbing out of the crib yet (keeping my fingers crossed for this one) but he can get onto most of the furniture. We still have to watch him, but not for the same things… In November we moved the “office” into our bedroom, so we can close that door and Simon has his room and the living room where he can play. This makes our bedroom more crowded, but it is really nice to have two rooms for playing, and ALL of the toys can now be put away in Simon’s room, even if there are quite a few that tend to stay out for constant playing.

Favorites right now are things with wheels: trains, “car-cars,” trucks, airplanes, Batman and Joker (with the Bat cave with ramps) and wheelie pulls toys. He also likes balls and we have a few that are good for indoor use. O-balls are AMAZING and we have a hand-knit one that is also appropriate for indoor games of “tatch!”

He likes to color and at school he also gets to finger paint and use play-doh. I’m just not ready to deal with the mess at home. As per our parent teacher conference in December, Simon is on track with everything they are doing at school and this semester they are starting to talk about colors and letter & number identification. They sing a ton and Simon can sing all of “Twinkle Twinkle” and “Itsy-Bitsy Spider” in addition to parts of several other songs where he doesn’t always know the words but can sing the melody. He has at least 85 words (I keep remembering more) and has started with simple phrases.

Simon eats ok, I hear he eats a ton when I’m not around. When we are together he often chooses nursing instead and since I’m not planning to wean for at least a little longer, it’s ok. He will always eat bread, crackers, etc… and has quite the sweet tooth. We are working on offering these foods less – but it’s hard as I don’t want to stop eating them. He will usually eat egss, cheese, fruit and rice, and does ok with meat. Vegetables are a work in progress. But he now weighs 21 pounds 10 ounces. We will go back in 3 months for a weight check, but as long as he stays on his skinny 15ish% growth curve, we are doing ok.

Sleep has been a work in progress. Most nights he goes to bed around 8 and wakes up around 4 to nurse then back to sleep until about 7:30. The last two nights he’s slept until 5:30 / 8 which is awesome, but also possibly due to the tylenol I’ve been dosing him with to help with the teething and the screaming at 12:30, 2, 4, etc… He has four about to pop through. ***If anyone has a pain relief remedy for overnights that doesn’t involve tylenol, please share. Teething biscuits etc… haven’t worked but I don’t see those as an overnight help so much either.***

Simon is up to 12 teeth, the four front and two molars on top and bottom and singing “brush the teeth la la la” each night is a favorite part of the bedtime routine. We are dorky and make up songs for everything. But it works.

Toddlers really are fun. And when I take the time to slow down and let him walk and stop at every. single. tree/door/step on the way, you see what a fascinating place the world is.

And now for the video. This is morning of January 20. Simon gets a little camera shy and says cheese then wants to take it himself, so I am prompting him for his words. One of these days I will catch him in the unbridled chatter that happens when there is no camera. Until then, be thankful I’m not super annoying in this one.