Eighteen-Month Kid Update

First shopping mall ride - He chose the cop car!

Kiddo's Size

• At 18 months, he weighed about 26 lb. 13 oz. (83rd percentile), and he was 33 inches tall (75th percentile). To me, he looks stocky but in a cute way.

Kiddo's Favorite Things

• Activity - He loves going for walks. If he sees his stroller, he will go to it and demonstrate that he wants to go for a walk with the stroller. He also loves feeding his pets snacks and meals. I think he likes the feeling of taking care of other living things.
• Animal - He loves his pets (dog and cat) and can now say "dog" and "cat." He also loves to point out other dogs, everywhere, so I think it's safe to say that his favorite animal is dogs.
• Book - He is not as interested in reading books as he once was. He still likes his "My First Colors Books" (book 1 and book 2) a lot, particularly the purple page, and also Goodnight Moon.
• Color - He likes to wear the color orange best (which is ironic because his dad does not like the color orange). To draw with, he also prefers orange, but also light metallic blue, and purple. I think part of his disinterest in drawing with his former favorite color, yellow, is that it does not show up well on white paper. Gramps gave the Kiddo an amazing Easter gift, a full set of 152 Crayola Crayons! This set is awesome because it gives him a lot of colors to choose from. These are also the normal-size crayons, not the big chunky ones for little kids - since the Kiddo likes them, I'm very happy.
• Morning Naps - He only reliably takes one nap, which is in the morning at about 10:30 a.m. He sometimes takes an afternoon nap too around 3 p.m., but not always.
• Security Item - He loves his fuzzy green lion blanket.
• Toys - Since the arrival of the crayons, the Kiddo has not shown as much interest in his other toys. He has a little green truck he is rather fond of, and he likes his toy soccer ball. He can now say the word "ball."

Serious Kiddo

Kiddo's Abilities

• Words - He can say the following words, in order starting with the ones he says most frequently: dog, dad, mama, cat (more often than not he says it twice, "cat-cat"), wow, yeah, bottle (although it sounds like "baba"), mine (usually said emphatically), ball, no, more (although it sounds like "mo"), uh-oh, go (and "go up"), milk (although it sounds like "miii") and hi. He can also nod his head "yes" and shake his head "no."
• Sentences - His first sentence was "Hi dog." He has also said "No, mine."
• Questions - He can answer questions such as "Do you want to feed the dog?" or "Do you need changing?" (as in a diaper change) or "Do you want to go to bed?"
• Commands - He can follow commands such as "Go show dad" and "Put that in the recycling." He can point to his mouth, eyes, ears, nose, feet and hands on command. He can reliably give high-fives if you ask him for one, but he still seldom waves goodbye.
• At the Playground - He can now run, which he does frequently. He can also go down a slide by himself. He can climb some of the stairs at a playground by himself, depending on how high they are (which he does so that he can go down the slide again).

Kiddo's Personality

• It's a little hard to tell at this point. He loves coloring, which is a good thing, and he seems to have good fine motor skills for his age, so hopefully he continues to enjoy art. He loves animals, which is also a good thing. And he loves us, which of course makes me very happy. He seems to be pretty easygoing and happy most of the time.

Major Life Events, Age 12 Months to 18 Months

• Tragically, the Kiddo's other cat (the black and white one) died. At first I thought the Kiddo did not notice, but then when his remaining cat (the orange one) was boarded at the vet for a couple of days, he freaked out. I think he was worried that now the orange one was gone too. Of course his orange cat returned... I think the Kiddo thinks his black and white cat will come back some day too.
• The kiddo went on his first plane ride - he did not cry on the flight, and slept a lot. I was very proud of him.

On the Plane Ride Home

What I've Learned About Parenthood So Far

• The most surprising thing is how much I'm enjoying parenthood. Not everything is fun (the gross parts like dirty diapers are especially un-fun) and it does take a lot of energy. But comparing parenthood as it is now to how I thought it would be, it's more fun than I thought it would be. I thought I'd be secretly counting down the days until my kids are old enough to move out, but instead I'm cherishing all of the time we have and clinging onto every moment of it. Although I want to encourage my kids to be independent, and spending alone time with my husband is still something I like doing, I am also going to find it really hard on those inevitable days when my kids start to go off and do their own things and leave me behind. As an older parent, I know I'm not going to have as many years to spend with my kids or grandkids as I'd like to. I guess what I'm trying to say is that parenthood is a lot a sweeter than I expected.