18 Months Old

At 18 months, here is where Noah is at:

-He is about 27lbs.  This shocked me this month.

-He is about 35 inches tall.

-He is in size 4 diapers during the day and night.

-He wears size 2T and 3T clothing.

-He wears size 6 shoes.

-He nurses on demand, 5-7 times a day.  When he nurses he is constantly playing with my face and ears, especially when he's nursing to sleep.  He will be sleeping, but he is reaching up with an open palm that just gently strokes my ear and earring, over and over.

-He exclusively feeds himself, either with his hands or with a spoon and fork. If he is given a utensil, he will always use it.

-He's cooperative about drinking from a sippy cup early in the day, but once the afternoon and evening hits he wants to drink from a regular CUP, darnit, just like Mama.

-He has 16 full teeth. The only ones left are his 2 year molars, which I think he is actually already starting to work on (although I am mostly in denial about this).

-He has one nap a day, usually about an hour long.

-This month he's been sleeping 11 to 11.5 hours at night, getting up to nurse once, sometime after 5am. Bedtime is after 8:30pm most nights, and we've been sleeping in until about 8am or later every morning.

-He still signs for water and to eat, even though he says the words just as easily.  He almost never signs to nurse anymore.  He said asks "Nurse?"

-At 15 months Noah was saying 18 words. At 16 months he was saying 42 words. At 17 months he was saying 79 words.  At 18 months he is saying 137 words.

His old words that he's still saying are: Mama, Dada, uh oh, more, this, that, cat, night night, hot, up, yes, woof woof ("what does a dog say?"), baa ("what does a sheep/goat say?"), moo ("what does a cow say?"), car, ball, shoes, cracker, Noah, water, orange, clock, blech, hi, done, dirt, Bert, puff, swish, fluff, book, buzz, Papa, Nana, boo, fish, phone, again, home, sunglasses, Gramper, sit, stretch, glasses, food, laptop, love, hair, quack, bye, tshirt, shirt, aunt, poop, slide, cheese, Colton, danger, banana, feet, please, clock, cold, toes, ooo-ooo-ahh-ahh (monkey sound), bad, burger, boo-boo (as in, an owie), nurse, block, fly, stuck, chalk, out, fit, hat, bye-bye, and shit (yeah, I'm not proud of that).

His new words are: pool, eyes, nose, rice, pour, no, apple, bath, heck, help, eat, T.V., pup, corn, cook, moon, sun, on, off, mouse, brush, ice, neigh, push, yay, peach, buddy, you, hi, mess, flip, hose, toast, home, see you, pieces, pear, foot, me, tape, open, meat, ok, out, street, outside, keys, bits, pee, flies, away, whoa, cheerios, cut, gas, wet, hey, bless.

-After he poops (and sometimes beforehand) he will inform us by saying "Poop! Poop! Poop!" He still doesn't really care if you change his diaper or not, though. I think he might actually be content with a poopy bum all day long.

-I'm pretty sure he knows exactly what pee is, and he knows it goes in the toilet.  He'll open any bathroom door, point to the toilet, and exclaim "Pee!!!"

-Noah still loves to point out things that are hot. He waves his hands around saying "Hot! Hot!" and then blows air out his mouth like he's trying to cool something down. He really pronounces the "t", and the way he says it is sooo cute. He looks so proud of himself for knowing everything that is hot.

-His verbal comprehension continues to be amazing.  He understands everything we say to him.  We can even reason with him.

-He still wants gets into everything, but he is continuing to obey the word "no" more consistently.

-He hardly ever plays with his toys.  Currently, his favourite "toys" are our Dyson vacuum cleaner, anything electronic that isn't meant to be played with, any cleaning implement (like Swiffers), or kitchen/bathroom gadgets.

-He loves to run, climb, swim... anything active.

-Time outs are still wildly successful around here.  They've been so successful, we don't need to use them that often anymore.

-One mild illness for Noah this month.  The count is at 13.

-He still has a thing for pretty blonde women:)

-He is such a cuddly, affectionate little monkey. He loves to hug and be hugged, loves to get and give kisses, loves to sit in our laps. He such a sweet little boy.

18 months old!  I just can't believe my little guy is a year and a half!  I still think of him as my baby, even though he is such a toddler.  The nursing, cuddling, and snuggling him as he falls asleep in my arms really helps us both ease this transition.  Everyday he does something that just makes my mouth hang open, because, "Oh my gosh, he is a little boy now!"

I think this might be my favourite age so far, at least since he has become a toddler.  He is so incredibly entertaining.  I love watching him do such grown up things.  I love listening to him talk and learn new words.  I love his long gibberish sentences.  I love observing him as he assimilates new information into his existing knowledge base so quickly and easily.  I love how he is just so darned silly.

I am not going nearly as crazy as I was a few months ago.  Noah is much more obedient now.  He still does things I don't want him to do, of course.  But it's no longer only going from one restricted activity to another restricted activity.  There are a lot of things he will stay away from now.  And when he's not listening, times outs really work for both him and me.  I rarely end up at the point where I want to bang my head against the wall, because a quick time out stops me from having to stop him from doing the same thing 200 times in a row.

Everybody is telling me I should be buying Noah a potty.  He is showing so much interest in poop, pee, the toilet, and seems to be grasping the whole concept.  He definitely grasps that we use the toilet for poop and pee, anyway.  And he'll wipe his diapered crotch with toilet paper.  This made me laugh so hard.  I am in no rush for this.  Potty training was something I wasn't even thinking about until sometime after he turns 2.  Next summer seemed like a good time to try, because he could run around outside all day with no clothes on.  Maybe if a good potty goes on sale I will pick one up and see what happens.  I'm not convinced, even though all his aunts, uncles, and grandparents seem to be.

I'm looking forward to what this next month will bring.  I am constantly reminded that my Mom and sister in law both had their second babies when their first was 19 months old (my mom actually did that 4 times in a row).  I just can't even imagine having a newborn in a month.  I'm happy to be able to concentrate on Noah for awhile longer.

17 Months Old

At 17 months, here is where Noah is at:

-He is probably about 24lbs.

-He is about 34.5 inches tall.

-He is in size 4 diapers during the day and night.

-He wears 24 month clothing, for the most part.  He still fits into 9 month shorts, but they have gotten pretty snug.  I'm trying to get through the rest of the summer with what I have, though.

-He nurses on demand, 7-8 times a day.

-He pretty much exclusively feeds himself.  Using a spoon and fork has become less messy this month, and he really enjoys it.  I can get him to eat pretty much any vegetable if I give him a spoon or fork to eat it with.

-He has 16 full teeth.  The only ones left are his 2 year molars.

-He has one nap a day, usually about an hour long.
-This month he's been sleeping 11.5-12 hours at night, getting up to nurse once. Bedtime is after 8:30pm most nights, and we've been sleeping in until at least 8:15am every morning.


-He still gets up to nurse once a night, but he seems to be consistently pushing this later for the past week and a half.  Almost every night he has slept 10 hours straight before getting up, sometimes sleeping until 7:30 (and then going back to sleep until 9:30!).  I'd like to think he is maybe night-weaning himself, but I know better than to think this will last.  Over a year ago he was consistently sleeping 10 hours straight before nursing, and that didn't last!

-He still does just three signs: nurse (the sign for milk), water (waves his hand up and down), and eat (sticks his finger in his mouth).  I don't do any other signs, because he picks up language easy enough.

-At 15 months Noah was saying 18 words. At 16 months he was saying 42 words.  At 17 months he is saying 79 words.

His old words that he's still saying are: Mama, Dada, uh oh, more, this, that, cat, night night, hot, up, yes, woof woof ("what does a dog say?"), baa ("what does a sheep/goat say?"), moo ("what does a cow say?"), car, ball, shoes, cracker, Noah, water, orange, clock, blech, hi, done, dirt, Bert, puff, swish, fluff, book, buzz, Papa, Nana, boo, fish, phone, again, home, sunglasses, Gramper, sit.

His new words are: stretch, glasses, food, laptop, love, hair, quack, bye, tshirt, shirt, aunt, poop, slide, cheese, Colton, danger, banana, feet, please, clock, cold, toes, ooo-ooo-ahh-ahh (monkey sound), bad, burger, boo-boo (as in, an owie), nurse,  block, fly, stuck, chalk, out, fit, hat, bye-bye, and shit (yeah, I'm not proud of that).

-After he poops (and sometimes beforehand) he will inform us by saying "Poop!  Poop!  Poop!"  He still doesn't really care if you change his diaper or not, though.  I think he might actually be content with a poopy bum all day long.

-Noah still loves to point out things that are hot.  He waves his hands around saying "Hot!  Hot!" and then blows air out his mouth like he's trying to cool something down.  He really pronounces the "t", and the way he says it is sooo cute.  He looks so proud of himself for knowing everything that is hot.

-His verbal comprehension continues to be above average.

-He still gets into everything and anything, but he is starting to obey the word "no" more often (up until the past few days, he seemed to think it was optional).


-He is a super-climber.  He wishes our entire house was his jungle gym.

-He loves pools!  He loves to swim.

-We started doing time outs this month.  Just 1 minute in his crib when he's been disobedient.  I resisted this for awhile because I didn't want him to have bad associations with his crib.  But then I figured it was much better for both of us if I did it anyway, rather than letting my frustration turn to anger and build to a boiling point.  The time outs are working, and I stay very calm.  I've felt much more 'in control' for the past month than I did before.

-Every month Noah gets better with strangers and with separation from Mommy.  He's much better when it's on his own terms, though.  He's still not okay with being left in the church nursery, but we're working on it.  For now, I'm spending most of the church service in there with him.  I'm not going to force it and make him scream for an hour and a half.  It will come.

-No more illnesses this month!  The count is still at 12.

-He has a thing for pretty blonde women.  I'm sure it's because I am blonde.  It's really funny though, how he'll warm up to a blonde who is about my age in about 30 seconds, and want to sit with them and cuddle with them.  Actually, come to think of it, we have a gorgeous model friend who is a brunette, and he has a thing for her, too.  What can I say, my boy has discerning taste;)

-He is such a cuddly, affectionate little monkey.  He loves to hug and be hugged, loves to get and give kisses, loves to sit in our laps.  He such a sweet little boy.

My Little Mischief Maker

This month Noah has been especially mischievous.  He's always been a boundary pusher, and I've posted somewhat recently about his penchant for doing everything I don't want him to do.  This picture somewhat represents what Noah might like to do at any given moment:

I'll break it down for you.  He is holding a large, sharp fork, which he snagged from a kitchen drawer.  He has taken our bathroom garbage can, emptied it, and although you can't see it in this picture, it now contains my alarm clock.  He had put said garbage can and alarm clock into his car, and is attempting to join them, while holding the large, sharp fork.

This is very tame.  It is just the only picture I have of him engaging in activities with things I'd rather he didn't play with.

Moving along. 

Lately Noah has continued to push boundaries like crazy, both in 'secret' (when he thinks we're not watching) and for attention.  There have been a few particular instances lately that were hilariously funny after the fact, and I don't want to forget them. 

The following events are in chronological order.  They happened over the span of about a week and a half.  And they get better as they go along.


Number 1:

I was sitting at the kitchen table eating lunch and reading.  Noah had been playing with his toys independently (hooray!  a rare occasion), and all was very quiet.  After a few minutes I realized I'd been hearing a swishing noise for quite awhile, and it occured to me that I had no idea what he might be swishing around.  I figured he had reached up onto the bar-height dining room table and taken down a sheet or two of paper, and was playing with them on the hardwood floors.

Um, no.  I went into the dining room, where I saw Noah sitting in the middle of this:

That would be a wallet with approximately $3500 in cash spilling all over the floor.  Noah had climbed up onto the bar-height chairs, gotten the wallet from the middle of the table, and taken most of it out.  He apparently wanted to know what it felt like to be 'rollin in the dough.'



Number 2:

Noah went into my closet, opened the zipper of my purse, and got my deoderant out.  I told him to bring it to Mommy, and he started walking away from me.  I then told him very sternly to bring it to Mommy.  Amazingly, he started walking toward me to obey my command.  However, on the way he took the lid off of the deoderant and proceeded to shred it all over my carpet.

The bright side is, now when I turn on my dustbuster, it smells like Cool Breeze.


Number 3:

I stepped out onto the deck, leaving Noah inside, because I needed to start the barbeque.  When I tried to return to the house, I discovered that Noah had locked the patio door.

I'm locked out on the deck.  Noah is in the house.  Alone.  Smiling sneakily at me through the glass.

I did not realize he knew how to lock the door.  I am pretty sure he just realized it himself in that 30 seconds.

I had a small panic attack, until I realized that Justin was training in the garage, and therefore that door would be unlocked.  However, I did manage to get Noah to unlock the door and let me back in. 

I will be hiding a spare key outside my house in the very near future.


Number 4:

This one happened yesterday.  I left my dear angel for about 30 seconds in order to check my email.  I was sitting on my bed.  Suddenly Noah walks into my room and hoists a 2lb leaky bag of raw, bloody ground beef over his head and onto my comforter. 

"Here Mom.  I thought you should start dinner." 

There was a huge puddle of blood in the fridge (where the beef was originally in a bowl), and a trail of beef blood all through the kitchen, down the hallway, and through my bedroom, which is carpeted.  Not to mention the enormous blood stain on my comforter.  My king size comforter which does not fit in my enormous washing machine or dryer.

~~~~~~~

I'm not going to lie, two of these four events made me flip my lid.  They occured after a several hour long spurt of constantly interfering and refereeing his activities, saying no about 2347 times, and giving several time outs.  I wonder if you can guess which two.

He is awfully cute, though.