Monday, February 17, 2014

18 Months Old

Happy 18 months, Sweet Pea and Little Man!  At this point, we've been the parents of three children longer than we were ever the parents of just one, and CC has lived longer with siblings than without.  Our family is complete and happy! 

I know what you're thinking when you see this picture: they aren't all that different in size! But this is only because Sweet Pea has a long torso and excellent posture.


This picture is more realistic, and gives you a better idea of their sizes.


Sweet Pea's recent developmental leaps have continued.  She surprises us frequently with a new word or skill.  The other day MJ handed her a goldfish cracker, and she clearly said "thank you" before toddling away with it.  She understands a great deal of what we say to her, and is nodding her head for "yes" and shaking it vehemently for "no."  She says Daddy, Mommy, more, no, bye bye, good-night, book, water, eat, banana, bow (for her hair) and -- impressively -- bumblebee.


Her great passion in life is putting things inside other things.  Her second great passion in life is socks.  Clean, dirty, adult, child, it matters not.  And she always finds a way to combine her two passions.  She is drawn to our laundry basket like a heat-seeking missile, and I later find MJ's dirty socks tucked into all sorts of interesting places.


Sweet Pea is getting more opinionated by the day. She throws her own version of tantrums quite frequently -- laying down on her tummy and fake-crying like a champ. Her appetite has increased dramatically over the last few months (a side-effect of coming off the Propranalol, perhaps?), and now she often eats more than Little Man. Her favorite foods are bananas ("Nana! NANA!") and yogurt, for which she opens her mouth so wide it seems her jaw will crack.


She is definitely our most affectionate child.  She loves snuggling and giving hugs and kisses.  She would be content to be held all day, every day.


She's wearing 12-month clothing now, and Size 4 diapers. All this recent eating has given her a bit of a tummy for the very first time!



Little Man is my happy man.  Except when he isn't, which is often.  He is an extremely mercurial baby!  The smallest things frustrate him, and when he gets frustrated, he throws a tantrum.  His tantrums look much different than Sweet Pea's -- he screams and runs as fast as he can in the opposite direction of whatever made him mad.  MJ and I try not to laugh, but it's pretty ridiculous.

Fortunately his tantrums blow over quickly, and then he's back to being my sunshine.  His smile could melt an iceberg.  He's very social and will flirt with anyone when we're out in public.  Just like CC at his age, he's much happier when we are out of the house.

Little Man's great passion in life is climbing on things.  And he is just starting to learn how to climb down from things, which is making my life a lot easier.  I used to spend a good portion of my day getting him down from whatever he was climbing on (a stool, a chair, a step, our bathroom scale) because he'd get up there and realize he couldn't get down.


Daddy is his favorite word.  He says it constantly, whether or not MJ is around.  During weekdays, his yells of "Daddy!" are immediately followed by CC saying, "No, Daddy's at work."  He also says Mommy, water, uh oh, and "zit."  We aren't really sure what zit means, but I suspect it's his version of "What is it?" because he almost always points at something while saying it.


It's hard to tell what Little Man's favorite food is, because he eats just about everything.  His tummy is epic.  I adore his sturdy little body, always running everywhere ... and constantly tripping.  I fear MJ's dream of having a son who was a natural athlete (like him) might be going up in smoke!


Little Man is wearing 18-24 month clothing and Size 5 diapers.

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