Sunday, January 9, 2011

18 months




What? Tomorrow my child will be a year and a half. If you round up, that means he is basically two. Which means that soon he will be driving. And then he'll go off to college. Yikes.

This is what he's been up to:

He has words. This is a big one because I was getting a little worried that he wasn't really saying anything. He can say:

  • Ba ma ma ma (banana)


  • Ba-ooooo (ball)


  • Ba-euuuuu (balloon, not to be confused with ba-ooooo. Said frequently during grocery store visits)


  • Baaaaa (bath, accompanied by frantic knocking on the bathroom door)


  • Bak (Milk)


  • Busssss (toothbrush. said with a slight lisp)


  • Turtle (said only once to point out a, yes, turtle)


  • Ei (the German word for egg, pronounced like "I")


  • Oy Vey

  • Apple


  • Po-ta-to (used to ask for: potato, clementine, blueberries, and kiwi. Sometimes also used for banana)
He says "brrrr" when we say "It's cold out" and shakes his little body.
He climbs up and into everything. I can't keep up!

He loves Ernie on Sesame Street and gets super excited when one of his diapers has Ernie on it.

He still loves to clean. He loves to look at books and can turn the pages himself. He loves to point out dogs and balloons in books. And Ernie. He still loves to tackle mommy and daddy and slobber all over our faces.

When he nods "yes", his whole body moves, not just his head. But mostly, he shakes his head when asked any kind of question. When he truly means "no", he scrunches his nose, turns the head sideways and makes a whiny sound.

I love this age because he is still super cute but not a baby anymore. He can walk, but I still get to carry him. He is getting more independent, but will still do what I say (sometimes).

We still have two big issues.

One is the tantrums. He's been having fits every since he came home, but somehow they have changed. Sometimes I can really tell that it is a temper tantrum because he isn't getting his way. But other times I wonder how many of these tantrums are still adoption/attachment related. When he just can calm down and it takes an hour of me walking him in the Beco, I think it's not just normal toddler behavior.

The other one is napping. He will nap - thank goodness - but I still have him nap in our bed with me next to him. I don't necessarily mind because I know that this way he will sleep and I will get a break, but I know that one day I will have to train him to nap in his bed. Or will I?



13 comments:

  1. He is such a cutie!!! Love those pictures !!

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  2. He's too cute! Ryan goes crazy at the grocery store when he sees all the balloons a.k.a (Beeee-aaaaaa)

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  3. 18 months?! Wild! I LOOOVE the second photo - super cute.
    And can I just say that I adore that he says "oy vey?!" HA!

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  4. Cute! This is totally Kellan at 18 mo. as well, I was nodding my head through everything in your post! As for the tantrums, we have those here too (not that take quite an hour to calm though)and I too think that they are adoption related. Patty Cogan mentions that these will take about a year to disappear ~ and I think that she states that they are basically a coping mechanism. Hope this helps!

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  5. those cheeks!!! too cute :) i can't wait to hear all his words -- especially "oy vey"! hilarious!

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  6. Happy 18 months! I love love love those pics!

    I unfortunately have no advice on the tantrums or naps... but ugh, I wish you luck - those are tough!

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  7. So cute! Love the scrunched up nose!

    The rule of thumb for words (for a child who has only been exposed to one language for his/her whole life) is 20 words by 2. I think he'll do that, but to help you - remember that it's completely normal to be a bit slower to speak when languages are switched just a couple of months before he would have started speaking!

    Tantrums and naps can be tough. Good luck!

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  8. Ben you are so handsome! and at one and a half you are basically dating...Mom's going to fenbd off the ladies. I know what you mean about speaking, little girls the same age as Parker use three words together! As for the naps, I would slowly transition him, if he sleep sin his own bed. You DO NEED that time!

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  9. Oy Vey?! Now that is simply hilarious! Great update.

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  10. happy 18 months! he just gets cuter and cuter and compared to bethany, he is saying so much. bethany is 21 months and barely saying 2-3 words.

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  11. Happy 18! Time flys doesn't it? Love all the chatter of words, it's only the beginning, trust me. If your gut says some of the tantrums are adoption related, they probably are. I am here if you need to chat.

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  12. Happy 18 months Ben! I have to see a video of this cutie:-) I especially want to hear him say "Oy Vey!"

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  13. Oy Vey! Great update. Happy 18 months Ben!

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