18 Months!!

Oh my lawd.  How in the world did this little dude go from this:

to this???????? 

Crazy.

Anyway, yeah so 18 months.  Wyatt has completely transformed from a baby into a little boy.  It is fun to see the new things he learns each day and how much he knows already!  He is SUCH  a little busy body -- has zero time to sit still for anything.  Not to get dressed, not to get a diaper change, not to take a picture, not even really to eat.  I am really disappointed in myself for not documenting specifics in the past, so I'm going to try to cover everything with this update.  I'm probably the only person who will want to read this but I know at some point I'll want to look back and see detailed info about what he was doing at 18 months.  You can just look at pictures if that bores you :)

Nevermind the rosy cheeks ... he was cranky and had been crying!

- He now knows everything that we tell him, and follows our commands (if and when he wants to - but it is obvious that he knows the things we are telling/asking him)
- He is VERY good at shaking his head "no" when he doesn't want to do something you ask him to.  I've now learned to re-phrase things that I need him to do. (for instance, instead of "are you ready to get out of the bath?" i say "its time to get out")
- Currently, his favorite thing in the world is playing outside in the leaves.  He loves to stomp on them, collect them in his bucket, look at them, etc.
- He is really becoming a good "helper" and quickly realizes the pattern of chores and pitches in.  I was outside raking leaves the other day, and he kept walking over and putting leaves in the bag for me -- one at a time, but still the point is that he recognized a pattern of behavior and followed it.
- He has a lot of words (more every day) but seems to recognize a lot more than he can actually say.
- If you laugh around him (even if it isn't at him) he will start laughing.  I guess he knows something is funny and wants to be "in" on the joke!
- His favorite word is "NO" ... says it all the time both to us and to things that he knows he isn't supposed to do/touch/play with
- Other words: hey, dog, ball, duck, bagel, mama, dada, no, bite, three, eight, four, ten, elmo (eeeh), airplane, eye, hot (ta)

copycats!

Likes
- playing outside
- leaves (if he sees one on the ground he'll point to it and talk all about it)
- airplanes
- Elmo (he doesn't even watch TV, so he knows him only from books and from his toys, but every time he sees him he'll point and say "eeeehhh")
- counting -- he LOVES when we count with him and its cute when we find him 'counting' by himself.  (he definitley knows how and when to say 'eight' and will sometimes say 'three')
- singing -- he really prefers for us to sing to him, but sometimes after you finish a song he'll sing in response.  (fave songs: ones that say his name, Ba Ba Black Sheep, Twinkle Twinkle, and ABC's)
- his paci - i dread the day we have to break this habit ....

Thanksgiving 2011

Dislikes
- vacuum cleaner or any other loud (foreign) noise
- washing machine
- being woken up in the mornings
- being told "no" (usually in response he'll either throw something or hit you ... we're working to correct this)

driving the Gator!

Schedule
- on weekdays I have to wake him about 6:30 and he DOES NOT want to get out of bed.  I usually rub his back for a few minutes and get him up and a diaper change.  He'll have his milk and a 'fake' breakfast with me before I turn him over to Ben to get dressed and to school.  He usually eats a 'real' breakfast about 8:30 (on weekends he wakes up on his own at about 7 or 7:15 and we go downstairs and he will slowly eat bits and pieces of his breakfast all morning)
- he eats lunch about 11 or 11:30 am ... and if you happen to miss this window of opportunity he WILL. NOT. EAT.
-  he goes down for nap right after lunch.  on weekdays its usually 12pm on weekends sometimes (if he is cranky) its 11:30 or 11:45
- he usually wakes up from nap about 2 or 2:30.  sometimes when he's super tired, he'll sleep until 3 or so.
- he gets a snack about 3 or so
- by 5:00 he is HUNGRY and if we're downstairs I can't keep him out of the pantry so usually he gets dinner about 5:30 or 5:45.   Again, if you miss this window he'll become too cranky and just won't eat dinner.
- bath happens right after dinner
- he goes down at 7 - and sometimes even that is pushing it (as of late)

Mr. Serious

Food
This is a funny category because his likes/dislikes are constantly changing.  He'll be obsessed with something one day and the next he wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole.  This makes grocery-shopping/meal-planning very tough.

Favorites: cheese sticks, yogurt, fruit squeezies, gummies/candy (of course), raspberries, kiwi, banana, cheese/spinach quesadilla, carrot sticks, noodles, bread, waffles, cereal, goldfish

Things he will rarely turn down: cheese sticks, yogurt, crackers, fruit squeezies, gummies, yogurt melts.  (So when we have those nights where he wont' eat anything else, he eats a cheese stick, yogurt, a fruit squeezie, and crackers.)

Dislikes: most meats.  he'll eat ground beef in spaghetti or something and a hamburger patty but generally speaking he's an omnivore.

I've talked about this before, but I am constantly searching for new (nutritious) recipes that I think he'll eat.

Stats
clothes: 18-24 months, and 2T's mostly
shoes: that's a tough one ... some of his are 5's but when buying them these days i go for a 6
diapers: 5
weight: 26 lbs  (50th percentile)
height: 33 inches (70th percentile)