18 Months

This post is about a month late, but better late than never! 

Barrett, you are officially a toddler.  Mommy's baby boy is growing up, and now you're 18 months old!  You are still my bubby though; my little snuggle bug.  You cling tightly to me and lay your head on my shoulder any time you are upset or tired.  Now that it's getting cold, you like to rub my scarves between your fingers while you snuggle with me too. When I am carrying you from the car to g inside school, the store, or church, you also snuggle your head against my body.  I love that. 

You are starting to say a few words, but you understand many more than what you can say.  We can ask you to do something, and you understand what we're saying to be able to do it.  If you have something you are not supposed to have, you'll scream and throw a fit if we take it away from you.  If instead we ask you to put it away or give it to one of us or your sister, you comply obligingly.  You are also starting to understand that you can have on impact on the running of our household; you want to help out with chores.  When we're cleaning, we give you a paper towel, and you walk around wiping the tables and chairs with it.  Your favorite chore is feeding the dogs.  Any time you see that their bowls are empty, you take them to the door of the pantry where we keep the dog food.  We are trying to help you understand they only eat twice a day, but at least you take the bowls back to where they go when we ask you to do so. 

Each day you surprise us with the new words you are learning to say.  We made it until about 2 weeks ago before you learned "No."  At this point it sounds more like "nay," but the shaking head and waving arms make it clear what that means.  This past week, your new word was "happy."  One evening, we were playing in the living room with an empty box, and you just kept repeating, "Happy.  Happy.  Happy."  It made my heart smile. 

You are also learning the words for your body.  You know how to identify your head, belly, toes, feet and nose, although the only word you can actually say is toes.  You are extremely interested in dressing and undressing yourself.  You love putting your hat on or taking it off when we get home and have learned to unzip your coat.  You get mad if I take your socks off at night; you wants to do it.  One morning, I went to get you out of bed, and you had managed to get your head out of your pajama shirt, but your arms were still in it.  You were just saying, "Oh no...Mama...help."  Oh, and every time you say "oh no," I can't help but laugh.  You say it in a sing-songy voice with a certain rhythm, and you scrunch your brow and make this concerned face that is too adorable not to chuckle.  Much of the time, you don't even need to use words because your facial expressions say it all.  You are extremely expressive.  Here are a few shots of some of your different expressions.

Proud:  You got your sock off!

Mischievous:  You stole the mouse off of the computer desk. 

 

 

Concentrating hard:  Reading out loud to your sister. 

You are all boy, and sometimes when you play with the dogs, you start to get a little rough.  We remind you to use gentle touches, and you immediately start patting them lightly.  You have also started to get rougher with your sister, which sometimes includes hitting her when she is not doing what you want her to do.  We also remind you at those times to use gentle touches, which results in you patting your sister lightly on the back.  Too funny!

In our house, we can run in a circle by going down the hallway, into the kitchen, through the dining room and rounding the corner in the living room.  You and Audrey both love chasing each other around.  You are still learning to run, so your arms flail and you get lapped frequently, but that doesn't deter you one bit.  You just keep running, squealing at the top of your lungs, and laughing hysterically when one comes around the corner unexpectedly and startles you. Your Nana and Papa gave you a black truck that was Audrey's to play with. You and Audrey push each other around the house in it, while daddy and I chase close behind trying to keep you from banging into walls and doors. We sometimes spend an entire evening playing in that manner until all of our cheeks are red, and we're ready to fall into bed.

Speaking of bed, you must be one of the world's soundest sleepers.  For the 9 months that you didn't sleep more than a couple hours in a row, you now sleep from 7:30 pm until 6:30 am every night.   With all of the holiday events we've had lately, we've tried keeping you out later, but at 7:30 you know it is time for bed, and start sucking your thumb and wanting to snuggle.  I don't mind snuggling; I enjoy it more than you know.
 

Even though you are only 18 months, you already have a magnetic personality.  I think it's because you are so happy and so expressive. You smile constantly.  Even when you throw a fit, it doesn't take long afterwards before you are smiling again.  People just love being around you, including your sister, your daddy, and me. You have been such a blessing and a wonderful addition to our family.  We are so blessed that God chose you to be part of our family.  I love you bubby!