18 Months!

Micah turned 18 months on Tuesday, so I thought I'd write some things down. I think this is my favorite time. He's so fun and interactive, but still a cuddle bug every now and then.

~ The biting has stopped - well mostly - there have been 2 out of anger, but they are rare! A few time outs in the crib without his bear sobered him up quickly. I'm no longer worried when he comes up behind me that I will be bit.

~ He's finally talking! Micah was always more concerned with moving than he was with talking. Finally, he's acquiring more language. It seems like in the last month he has exploded with words. He says the normal stuff: no, ma, da, ba (ball), be (bear), uh oh and baby. And then the not so normal stuff: roun roun (which means round round and there are many things that go round round, but his favorite is the fan), be-er (blender) and ba-bu (vacuum) among other things. For a few days he would emphatically yell DA DO! We had no clue what it was or meant. I asked him to bring me a da do, show me a da do, all the questions I could think of, but I'm still not positive. Gramma thinks he means, "What does that do?" because she asks him that a lot.

~ Speaking of grandmothers, Micah's have taught him a TON. Seriously, it seems like everyday he has a new trick that surprises me. I was so shocked that he knew the letter E. He will actually point to it and say E. It wasn't until a few days later that I found out his Gramma talks to him about the letter E each week because he so enjoys the elephants that are pictured with the letter E. I hate to admit this, but I wonder if he's better off with me working. I'm not sure if he would get the same amount of undivided attention from me each day that he gets from his grandmothers and aunt. I had pretty much given up on him ever learning to sign. I figured, I wasn't there to provide consistency and it would probably never happen - it was just a casualty of my job. Sure enough, they worked with him and he signs: please, thank you, all done, and more. Granted, I'm not altogether sure he gets the concept of all done, but he can sign it if I ask him if he's all done.

~ Micah is still very cautious when it comes to new things. Often he will stay super close in new places and does not like new things forced upon him. I love that he still clings to me when he's unsure of things. It makes me feel needed and loved.




~ He knows a ton of body parts: ears, eyes, nose, hand, mouth, hair and of course belly button!

~ Daddy is still the absolute favorite! Even though in this picture it doesn't look like it. That's because Micah had just gotten hurt right before bath time.

~ He loves the blender and will often open the cabinet and caress his favorite kitchen appliance. I'm sure the fact that, it too, goes roun roun makes him love it all the more. The vacuum cleaner and Roomba are also a big hit. In fact, I let Micah stay up late each Friday so he can watch me vacuum.

~ Just like his mom, he loves the garbage truck, street sweeper and gardeners. When I was little I would stare out the window of our house and watch these things go by (well not the gardener, my dad had mowing skills of his own). Gramma has a busy day each Wednesday holding him up to the window so he can see all of these things. In fact Micah knows the sound of the gardeners and will get her attention to make sure he doesn't miss them. They tap on the window and say hi to him and it's big fun for Micah. I think I will have to tip the gardeners more this Christmas (I'd better factor that into the budget). And I'm going to have to get in the game this summer. I usually just close all the blinds and hide out when the gardeners are here, but I'm sure Micah won't allow that.

~ He still prefers pureed veggies. Other than that, we're pretty much off baby food. I would rather him eat the veggies, so I still puree them and feed them to him. When given peas, he just squishes them.

~ He knows the "no no" things so well that he will utter the words no no when he touches them. This doesn't prevent him from touching them though.

~ Micah is a helper; he helps me with dishes and laundry. He likes to pull the silverware out and hand it to me to put in the drawer. This becomes a problem when the dishwasher is dirty since he doesn't quite get that concept yet. He also will put the clothes I hand him into the dryer.

~ He still loves his bear and his thumb. Micah would rather spend all day in his crib with his bear, than spend time without bear. To go to sleep, Micah insists on smashing his head up against the corner of his crib. I've tried putting him to sleep on the opposite side of the crib; he just hurls himself to the correct spot and cuddles up to go to sleep. It's precious!

I LOVE THIS BOY!