18 months

My sweet son is 18 months old today.

Can you believe the time has flown? Our itty bitty 6-lb-12-oz baby is now a whopping 23 lbs 4 oz and more energy than we can handle!

Here are some of my favorite pics from the last couple months:

(at Lake Goodwin with some friends from our childbirthing class)

(a literary master)

(what a killer smile)

(sitting, chewing a teething ring, and looking like a real little boy)

(investigating the fridge)

Here are some updates:

• His weight is in the 17% percentile, his height (32.5 in.) is 57%, and his head (18.5 in) is 28%.

• Shane's new nickname for him is Taz or Tasmanian Devil. He tends to wreck havoc through our living room -- daily -- and he loves to spout gibberish and he shakes his head like a looney toon. We just love him!
  
  
• He is a great sleeper, taking 3+-hour naps and sleeping 12+ hours a night. He is into sleeping in waaaaay late (think 10 am), then skipping his nap. I appreciate the sleeping in... but the skipping of the nap is tough. He goes to bed well but usually plays for awhile until he actually falls asleep. It got to the point where he beat on the wall too much (after throwing all his stuffed animals out of the crib) that we moved his crib into the middle of the room.
  
  
• He's a good eater, but sometimes very picky. He has to be in the mood to eat, and when he is, the kid can pack it away. His newest obsession is freeze-dried fruit. Hey, it's healthy. We have three meals and two snacks every day. Other favorites are raisins, cinnamon apples, yogurt, graham crackers, and of course, cheerios. We've just introduced mozzarella cheese sticks, pomegranate seeds, and peanut butter (acceptable in granola bars, so/so on English muffins).
  
  
• He remains a handsome socialite. We still make friends everywhere we go.
  
  
• He has all 16 teeth, and has for a few months now, but he still drools like he's teething and sticks everything in his mouth.
  
  
• He loves walking (and running), and tends to dart into traffic. WHOA. I'm working hard on promoting rational thinking ("Wesley, no! The street is for cars and trucks and buses and bicycles, not Wesleys!") but it usually goes in one toddler ear and out the other.
  
  
• His favorite toys are his wooden blocks, his wooden mallet, his trucks, and his links. He totes them around the house like they are his "lovey" toys. Once we let him go to bed with a couple blocks, but he dropped one on the floor and wailed for 10 minutes. That was the last time a block went to bed :-)
  
  
• He hasn't said many words, but he does a few animal noises ("ooh ooh ahh ahh" of a monkey and "wowr" of a lion/tiger) and "hi da-dee." He is good at mimicking our sounds, but we're not sure he has his own real words yet. We're actually going to a speech therapist who teaches us things to promote speech.
  
  
• He is officially OFF the pacifier (woo hoo!).
  
  
• He's had a sinus infection for the last couple weeks and he figured out (I didn't show him!) to use his sleeve to wipe his nose. Oh geez. He hated getting his nose wiped at first, but he does tolerate it much more now. Thank goodness for ultra-lotion and Vicks tissues.
  
  
• He loves loves loves Gabby the cat. He loves to lay down and rub his head all over her. He will sometimes jump on her and ride her like a pony. I can't believe it! She tolerates A LOT. Good kitty. (I have some funny videos I'll have to post.)
  
  
• We've been working on baby signing, but it still hasn't happened. Lately, I'll do the sign more (putting my two hands together with my fingers pointed and meeting each other) and will ask him, "more? more?" Instead of HIM doing the sign... he'll reach out his hands, grab my hands, and push my hands together. It's crazy! He refuses to do it himself.
  
  
• Sunday is his first day in the nursery at Church. If you had asked me a couple months ago how I thought he would do, I would say, "fine! He won't even care and he'll wander off and have fun." But as of a couple weeks ago, I change my story. Once I left him with the young women at Church to go to the bathroom and he had a complete meltdown. He's very pro-Mom at the moment.
  
  
• He LOVES to free reign, and doesn't like sitting for too long... so the more we can get that energy out, the better. We enjoy going to toddler storytime (a step up from baby storytime), plus there are some baby gyms in the area we need to check out. When all else fails, we get on our coats and hats and mittens and just toddle outside. Awesome.

I could talk all day! I'm a boasting momma. Shane and I so many times are falling asleep at night and just laughing together at the hilarious things Wesley did that day. He is such a blessing to our lives. We are thrilled to be his parents and watch him grow.