18 Months

I swore I wouldn't do it again, and yet here it is, three months later without an update. It's a good thing I keep close tabs on all his accomplishments because otherwise I'd never remember. So once again, some of these things he's been doing for months, but they are new since the last update and I want to keep a record of them.

Here are his stats from his 18 mo check-up:

Head: 19 in. (50th percentile)
Length: 33 in. (75th percentile)
Weight: 25 lbs. (35th percentile; his weight stayed exactly the same from his 15 mo. appointment. He is getting taller and leaner, which is apparent when I look at pictures from three months ago).

Eating: Owen really likes spicy food - salsa, hot and sour soup, etc. But he most especially *LOVES* mint and cannot get enough of it. He's still pretty hit or miss on how much and what he'll eat. One minute he loves something, the next he can't stand it; one day he devours everything in sight, the next he hardly picks at his food. It's kind of frustrating trying to feed him, but I just keep reminding myself...so long as he's healthy, that's all that matters.

Here he is doing his recent strange behavior of trying to lift his cup while in a bowl to drink from it.
He also loves to stick his fingers in olive holes.
Sleeping: For about a week plus, he was sleeping up to 14 hours at night. It was amazing. Now he sleeps anywhere from 10-12 hours. Naps have extended and are typically 2-3 hours, sometimes 4. In the past month or so, he has become so easy to put to sleep. We just go through our routine, I lay him down, and he doesn't fuss, whine, or make a peep. It is blissful being able to put him to bed and not have to wonder if I'll be going back again (or multiple times) to get him to sleep. He also prefers to sleep with one of his "blankies" under his arm and I cover him with the other.Language: He has started saying a lot more words. For a while he would say "Wow" (and draw it out) in a whisper as though he's in awe of something. He can do the sign for please (which he learned in one day and it made me wish we had done more signing with him) and says, "ease." He says "boo boo" for peek-a-boo, "gah" for car, "bay-ah" for bear, "pay-ah" for pear, "yee-yee-oh" for cheerio, "pooh" for spoon, "mo" for more, bye bye, etc.

He also knows the sounds for bee, snake, cat, tiger, lion, sheep, cow, bear, rooster, horse, dog.

Knows where his nose, tongue, teeth, mouth, head, cheeks, eyes, ears, neck, belly, belly-button, arms, legs, hands and feet are.

When Miles kisses him goodbye in the morning, Owen waves and says, "bye bye." He also does this when he sees Miles kiss me (thinking he's leaving) and often any other time he gets a random kiss from him even if he's not going anywhere.

Amazingly, I can still get him to sit/stay in his bouncy chair while I shower in the morning. Although I think this is quickly coming to an end and I should enjoy it while I can. However, he's pretty funny cause sometimes he'll just choose to sit in the chair on his own, or drag it from our bedroom into the hall and lay in it.

One day we came home from a long day of playing at Thanksgiving Point. He was so tired, but I wanted him to eat something for lunch before his nap. This was his pathetic, sleepy attempt at lunch while hugging his blankie.

He pats your back when you hold him. I love feeling that gentle, tiny, hand on my shoulder.

He loves to carry things around, especially if they hang, dangle, or have a handle.

He knows where we "hide" the remote and will get it and give it to you to watch TV. He also yells and points at the TV when he wants to watch. Now he says "ee, ee!"

After he's been changed, he loves to hold his dirty diaper and throw it away.He has recently started climbing up the back of the couch to look out the window. He's quite the little monkey.
However...sometimes the monkey gets stuck....

He knows where his shoes go and will put them away if they are out or get them to go outside.

He also loves to wear adult shoes and will put them on and walk around any chance he gets.

Loves peeking slowly around corners to look at you and make eye contact. Then he laughs and quickly retreats around the corner (or under the table) and repeats. He also likes to shut me out of his room and cracks up when I open the door and say, "Hey! Let me in!" while he pushes the door shut in my face.

One day I had his old bath seat out to put in storage. He decided to climb inside. He enjoyed it for a while, until he got stuck and decided it wasn't as much fun as he thought.He can step up and down stairs by himself while holding onto the railing and can also step up and down curbs without assistance if they aren't super high.

Owen laughs hysterically at other people's pain. If he hears the word, "Ow," he automatically cracks up. This is obviously a "problem" we need to work on. Although for now, sometimes it's nice to get him out of a grumpy mood by pretending I hurt myself. He also likes funny or extreme facial expressions (ie; when I scrunch my face when opening a jar). There are also two shows he always laughs at because of this. One is when Cailou is drinking lemonade without sugar and says, "ew." Another is in a Kipper show when a squirrel drops an acorn on Arnold's head and he flinches. Again...he loves seeing people in pain. Oh dear...do I have a little sadist on my hands? ;)One time we were out grocery shopping, we grabbed an avocado. Owen wanted to hold it. Next we see, he's sunk his teeth into it. I'm not sure he was such a fan.

Here is Owen, our "super hero"!

Sometimes the super hero will attack bad guys...or maybe just any body that is on the ground he can climb on...

He *LOVES* to be outside. He will take my hand and walk me to the door and put it on the door knob.

Our neighbors have a dog and he will yell down the stairs toward their window where the dog pokes his head out and do a high-pitched yipping noise at the dog.

I loved this day. We were outside playing when a storm came upon us suddenly. It started raining hard and was really windy. He was so cute to watch him fight the wind and rain while running around the corner back to our home.

He dances to everything - the washing machine and dryer, the tub draining, drumming on the counter, beating eggs and of course music. He just loves a good beat.

Loves to read books and be read to. I sometimes read to him up to 2 hours each day.

He loves, loves, loves bath time. Some of the things he recently has enjoyed doing in the bath are: filling cups with the running bath water and dumping it on his head, biting the faucet, laying down/floating on his back, and stacking or placing his cups in a line on the edge of the tub.

He is still a mama's boy and let's be honest...the feeling is mutual.