18 Months

Can you believe this guy is a year and a half old today?!

He is growing up so fast. Here's some of the latest happenings. I've included a lot of details, so feel free to bypass if you wish.

HE'S A CLIMBER!

• Climbs onto our ottomans and onto the couch. He's able to get to the gas fireplace light switch, something we'll have to address before the weather turns cold.
• Stands on the furniture with a mischievous look most of the time. It's almost hard not to laugh.
• Uses the footstool to climb onto our bed.
• He throws himself down on the bed and likes to bounce. He hasn't totally got the hang of it yet.
• He's figured out an easy way to turn the printer off and on. The ottoman that was placed in front of it to keep him away...he's now using to climb and reach the button.
• Yes, he has taken a few tumbles, but nothing serious.

HERE'S WHAT HE'S SAYING:

• Babalu - Not sure what this means. He's been saying it for a long time. (I want to believe it means I love you, but I don't think it does).
• Me Me - I mentioned a couple months ago that he said this, but I didn't know what it meant. I figured it out soon after that post. It means, 'excuse me.' Apparently we say it a lot around here and he has picked up on it. He'll even say it to us sometimes when he's trying to squeeze by something. What a polite boy!
• Dat do - He continues to say this for thank you. He will often bring us things and say, 'dat do.' This morning I heard him in his crib saying 'dat do, dat do, dat do..." over and over. I have no idea who or what he was thanking. HA!
• Be lou - I'm pretty sure this means balloon.
• Vo = vacuum
• Boo = broom
• Ba lou = blue
• Bup - means broken. A couple weeks ago, when Rob went to the store, Maximus & and I stayed home. Soon after Rob left, we heard this horrendous noise and the house shook. Too terrified to find out what it was, we waited until Rob got home. He discovered that the spring on the garage door broke, which caused the door to come crashing down. Maximus still "talks" about it all the time, saying, 'bup' and uses his hand to motion the door coming down.
• Me = me.
• Bobby - don't know why he says this, or what it means.
• Bow = bowl

FOOD & BEVERAGES:

• Continues to eat oatmeal for breakfast, although some days he's more interested in drinking the milk and not eating much of the rest.
• Likes his Cliff Z bars as well as dried fruit veggie & fiber bars for snacks.
• Joe's O's - likes snacking on these, but usually they end up on the floor.
• Still gets excited over cucumbers, and will eat tomatoes if they aren't super cold. You have to peel the skin and cut it into small pieces.
• Recently tried jicama and LOVES it! Glad this kid likes healthy food.
• Bananas & peanut butter together = mmmm!
• He does enjoy other foods though, like most kids: mac n' cheese, hot dogs, hamburgers, fries, pizza, etc. But we don't feed him these things all the time.
• The past month he is wanting to eat more and more baby food. We get the Plum Brand that comes in packets. He's been downing about 5 of them a day. He goes nuts for this stuff. At least it's good for him and sometimes that's the only thing he wants to eat.
• Likes stir fried red bell peppers & mushrooms.
• Still prefers water over milk.
• He's been spitting out whatever he's drinking onto his shirt or onto the carpet. We're working on trying to get him to stop that by taking his bottle with a straw away when it happens.
• He doesn't drink juice.
• Enjoys blueberry smoothies with Greek yogurt & whole milk.

SLEEP PATTERNS:

• So happy to report that for the last couple of months he is FINALLY sleeping through the night. On occasion we'll hear him, but it's usually a short cry and then he's back to sleep.
• He goes to bed between 7:30 & 8:00 pm.
• When Papa leaves M's room at bedtime, Maximus waves night night.
• When I leave M's room, him and I blow kisses and say "Maah."
• In the mornings he usually wakes up around 6:30 am but will go back to sleep if we leave him in his crib. Most of the time I get him up between 7:00 & 8:00 am.
• The one nap a day is working beautifully!
• He goes down around 1:30 pm and sleeps between 1.5 - 3 hrs. On days we go swimming, he usually naps the best.

ACTIVITIES:

• We both enjoyed swim class so much that we are taking the class again. It goes through the end of this month.

• Library days are on one of the days that he goes swimming, so we haven't made it consistently to story time. Sometimes it's a bit too much activity for him all in one day.

• Likes to go on the swing at the playground after swimming.

• When we're outside, he wants to get down and walk/run/explore!

• Does great riding in the car. Very content (most of the time) just looking around and observing things.

• GREAT SHOPPER! Couldn't ask for a better shopping buddy.

• His favorite song these days is "Splish Splash" by Bobby Darin. When he hears it play on the iPod via slacker.com, he gets all excited and starts dancing, spinning around and waving his arms. Other times he wants me to pick him up and we dance together.

• Enjoys playing with blocks, balls, cardboard boxes, stuffed animals, shoes, shoe trees, toilet paper (constantly trying to keep him away from this in the bathroom). Also likes his Fisher Price Corn Popper, putting Papa's old business cards into containers.

• Grabs his blankets (a.k.a. old burp cloths/blankets) out of a basket, one right after the other. It's not uncommon to find several of these strewn across the floor.

• The last couple of days, he's discovered how to "zerbert" (if you remember the days of the Cosby Show). He will put his lips on my arm and will blow, causing a funny type sound to escape from his mouth. (Yes, THAT sound)...SUCH A BOY!

OTHER STUFF:

• If he sees a dog, he'll blow kisses and say, 'Maah.' He'll do this with babies sometimes too. He'll also reach his hand towards our face so we can kiss it. So sweet. I'm always saying 'Maah' now too!

• When I read to him, sometimes he tries to pick up objects (pictures) in the book. He also does this with fabrics if he notices a car or something interesting on it that he wants. I explain to him that it's just a picture, that he can't pick it up. It must be frustrating at times learning all of these new things.

• We've just started doing time outs, where we'll put him in his crib for a short period. It seems that our "NO's" are not always taken seriously. The time outs are done sparingly.

Mr. Maximus,

Your Papa & Mama love you SO much!

I am linking up with This or That Thursday over at debduty.com - Come check it out!

Happy day!

hi-d