18 Month Stats

Okay, I'm a little embarrassed how little I'm posting! If only the weekend was three days long, a lot would be easier. I did want to report Liam's newest stats at 18 months, a

Michael took him to the doctor's office for his appointment this morning. The doctor had high praise for him, saying he was one of the best 18 month old's he's ever seen. I don't know if he says this to every family, but of course we like to agree ;-) His growth curves look great. He's still around average height at 32 inches, and he weighs 24 lb 6.5 oz. He had the last of the shots he is going to get for awhile too I believe too.

More than ever before he's turned into the type of toddler who is a real handful! Sweet and friendly, but he has his Daddy's intensity and his Mommy's perserverence. He's also a little problem-solver like both his parents, and has recently discovered how to make a variety of random objects into stools and to move any chair around a room in order to reach light switches or other things he wants. Some of the more recent things he has turned into stools include his rocking horse (which he otherwise loves to rock on and go "weeee"), overturned plastic toy bins and a basket, boxes, or any other toy he is able to stand on even if it is not particularly sturdy. He also will climb up on his booster chair, that is strapped to a regular, and stand up to get things on the counter! He still loves taking things apart, I guess trying to learn how stuff works. Earlier today Michael said Liam was a little pick pocket, after he came and snatched his wallet out of his pants. He also loves phones, and pretending things are phones.

He regularly attempts to escape from the church nursery to run down the hall, and wears out the volunteers. He went through a semi-shy phase that has seemed to wear off a little. Generally he has only shown shyness to adults, he loves other kids. He goes around saying "baby" whenever he sees infants or sometimes other toddlers. He's been practicing walking down stairs, with Mommy or Daddy holding his hand of course (though if I say "let's go down for breakfast" he'll often run to the stairs, grab the rail and try to step down before I get there if I'm not fast enough... so I always have to be on my toes). He's also picking up more and more new words. Tonight when I was making dinner, he picked up the word "burrito." Only when he says it, it sounds more like "dee-doe." He also recently started saying "Mommy" very clearly, and it just melts my heart! He also says "Daddy" too. He's a ton of fun. Most of the time. ;-)

Here is a video of Liam showing how much he loves noodles. This particular time he happened to come up and steal some of my ramen noodles I wasn't intending to give him, but at least Michael makes them in a way with a lot less sodium than the normally have (they still aren't the healthiest food.... I know, for any of you other moms that might be out there gasping). He loves our homemade pasta just as much!