18 Months Old!

February 15, 2012

Jack's half birthday was yesterday.  He's such a big boy!  He's in the ballpark of 30 pounds and about 35" tall.  Biggest developments over the past few months are teeth and talking.  He now sports a whopping 16 teeth!  His new chompers are giving him the ability to chew different kinds of food, and he's also getting to be somewhat of an expert with a fork and spoon.  He loves to sit at the kitchen table with us. 

Most of Jack's waking hours are filled with chatter.  He talks nonstop, especially when we're at home.  Much of his babbling is unintelligible, but he does have an ever-growing vocabulary of actual words and an even larger number of words that only the trained ear can understand.  His sharpest words (anyone would know what he's saying) include mama, da (dad), shoe, yes, ball, and guitar - he says "gee-tah!"  Other consistent words that have a distinct resemblance to the actual pronunciation include broom, moon, star, strawberry, please, more, no, ice, cheese, yuck, dryer, dog, toast, apple, banana, basketball, bird and snow.  Words he tries to say, but don't sound much like the real word: vacuum (day-wah = same as dryer... we're still not past this, although he somes times says "va va va" after "day-wah," because we always say, "no, vacuum.  Va-va-va-vacuum.", octopus, flower, truck, car and tree.  Animal sounds he knows and says: "moo", "ba", "meow," and "woof" although he just says "fff, fff, fff."  And although it's not an animal, he also says "choo-choo" for a train.  He understands so many words that I can hardly believe it.  He is constantly surprising me with new things he knows... colors, animals, foods and other objects.  For example, I don't remember teaching him what a pig looks like, but one days I asked if he saw a pink pig in the book we were reading, and sure enough, he pointed to the pig.

Jack still loves music and dancing.  Obsessed with dogs and "gee-tahs."  When he wears his pajamas with guitars on them, he will point to them and repeat "gee-tah" until I acknowledge that I see the guitars.  He loves reading books and playing with boyish things like balls, trains, trucks and cars.  He loves climbing, swinging and running.  He likes to squeeze our noses to hear us say "honk."  He loves brooms and vacuums more than ever.  He is also really into moons and stars.  He points them out everywhere... in the sky, in books, on food packages... everywhere he sees one, he is likely to tell you about it.  He likes playing in the sand.  He loves taking showers.  Whenever I sit down to put my shoes and socks on, he plops down right in the middle of my legs. 

On the non-so-fun side, the little stinker has certainly begun forming his own opinions.  He started saying no (usually just shaking his head rather emphatically) to almost everything.  Do you want to take a bath?... No.  Do you need a diaper change?... No.  Do you want lunch?... No.  Pick up a book he doesn't want to read... No, no, no.  Take out a toy he doesn't want to play with... No.  Oh wait, you're offering cheese and fruit for lunch?... OK, yes.  He has also started swinging his arms around in protest when he doesn't get his way... sometimes he hits me.  It's bad.  I hate it.  At least for now, he always looks like he feels bad about it immediately afterward.  I give my words of disapproval, he puts on his best regretful face, points to me and says "mama" and sometimes gives me an apologetic kiss.  Hmm... OK, I guess I accept. 

I bought Jack a couple toy cars for his half-birthday.  He was so excited and he knew just what to do with them.

Overall, our little bean is just as sweet as ever.