18 Month Well Visit

Friday, Eli and I went to see Dr. R for his 18 month well visit. I'm a little sad though because we won't see her again, barring sickness, until after he is 2 years old. I love going to these well visits with him. It's so much fun for me to see how much he has grown and changed over the months.

Here are his 18 month stats:

Height: 32 3/4"(50th percentile)
Weight: 25 lbs. (25th-50th percentile)
Head Circumference: 19" (50th percentile)

I forgot to mention in his 18 month post from me what size clothes he's wearing now. I'm sure this is something I'll forget later, so I better "write" it down now. For the most part, my skinny minny is wearing 12-18 month shirts and 12 month shorts. He needs 18 month pants for the length, but 12 for the waist; so far, he hasn't worn any pants this summer though because it's just way too hot! He wears a 5/6 shoe. I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm not going to have a stocky, solid kid. Josh and I were both teeny tiny when we were little kids, so Eli has it in his genes to be on the small side, which is perfectly fine! The important thing is that he's very happy and healthy!

Getting weighed and measured like a big boy :)

Passing the time in Mommy's shades

Doing a little bit of light reading. He loves lift the flap books.
In this one, he always rubs the purple spots on the mouse and says "dir-dle" (circle)

Reading one of his all time favorite books...Polar Bear, Polar Bear

Playing with the beads

Dr. R said Eli looked wonderful and was a cutie patootie! She asked how eating and sleeping were going, wanted to know how he was doing physically, and how his verbal skills were progressing. I told her that Eli has become a talking machine. He knows so many words and loves to talk and just recently sing. It's precious! I told her Eli's favorite things to say now are 2-3 word sentences using the words Mama and Dada. "C'mon, Mama/Dada", "Let's go, Mama/Dada", "Get up, Mama/Dada" "Sit down, Mama/Dada". Of course, he leaves out a couple consonants when he says these words, but if you've been around him long enough you quickly pick up on what he's trying to say. I love the fact that he's talking now and can tell you exactly what he wants and exactly what he's thinking. I've labeled our house, so I'm hoping the labels will help him learn more words and increase his ever expanding vocabulary. All in all, Dr. R was very impressed with his verbal skills.

She was also impressed with his physical skills. Like I mentioned in the post from me, he's running everywhere, climbing everything, hitting balls off a batting tee, throwing and catching balls, kicking balls, hitting balls with the golf club, using his stool to "dunk" basketballs, and so much more. I think he's going to be an athlete just like his Daddy!

After all the fun stuff with Dr. Ru, he had to get his finger pricked to check his iron levels-they were great-and he didn't even cry. But he did shed at least 2 tears when they gave him his vaccine for when he goes to school this year. Yes, my baby is going to go to a toddler program 3 days a week next year. I'm so excited about it! He's going to learn so much! Anyway, Nurse J was sweet enough to let him pick out some Winnie the Pooh stickers and get a sucker. Eli was perfectly fine after that!

Choosing his treats for being such a big boy at the doctor's office!

18 Months Old

I hope this isn't a sign of things to come, but you are almost 19 months old and I am just now posting your 18 month updates. I will say this is only the second time that I've been late posting a monthly update on you, so overall I've done pretty well :)

Eli you are a joy to be around! I thank God every day for placing you in our care. You are so sweet, so rambunctious, so energetic, so funny! You make every day better just by being in it! I love this stage that you are in right now. I can see your little wheels in your brain turning all the time. You are soaking new information up like a little sponge. This summer together is probably going to be one of my favorites of all time.

Personality: You like to be in control. Your favorite word now is "No!". In fact, you will say "No" to just about anything someone asks you, even when you really mean "Yes". I guess it's your way of asserting some control over your little life. You are still a very very happy child. You love to play and you are constantly on the go. You remind us of the Energizer bunny because you keep going and going and going and going....You definitely keep us on our toes! You are very independent. You want to do things on your own now without help from your Daddy and me; yet another sign that you're growing up!

Likes:
1.) Your favorite activity in the whole entire world is to be outside. Sweet boy, I think you could live outside the rest of your life and you would be completely fine. Every afternoon when I pick you up from Mrs. Dara's house, you turn your little head to the side and say "Side? Pop-pop?" It's the sweetest thing ever! And 9 times out of 10 I indulge your little wish and we go outside until the mosquitoes start swarming, which living where we do isn't very long! You don't seem to mind though. Any time you get to spend outside is better than none at all.

2.) Spending time with family members. You love your Mamaw Chandler, Grammy, Pop, and Zue-Zue so much! In fact, you have now spent the night wth Mamaw Chandler and Grammy and Pop on your own. I was so surprised when it happened the first time. I couldn't believe that my little boy was already going to a sleepover! I love watching you interact with your family. They love and adore you and will do anything for you. You usually grab them by the hand and lead them exactly where you want to go, which is usually outside :)

3.) You love playing with any kind of ball-baseball, basketball, golf, soccer. I think you're probably going to play them all! I can already tell that my Mom's Activity Calendar is mostly going to be filled with ball practices and games. I can't wait to see you in those precious little uniforms :) Oh, and to the delight of your Grammy, Grandpa E, and your Daddy, who is thinking college scholarship one day, you do everything left-handed. We haven't had a lefty in the family for a very long time, maybe it's going to be you!

4.) You love being around Molly. You two have been playmates for about 8 months now and I think you're going to miss her this summer. Good thing she lives just down the street! We'll still be seeing her a lot even if it won't be at her house.

5.) You love watching old videos of yourself. If I need you to sit still for a few minutes, I can always find an old video of you as a little baby and you will sit and watch it so entranced. I think I need to put them all on a DVD so it will be easier to play them for you.

6.) You love eating pop-pops (popsicles). Most of the time you don't even eat the entire thing, but you love to hold onto it. I only buy the sugar free ones since you love them so much. We'd like you to keep your teeth for awhile :)

7.) You love wearing other people's shoes. You've done this for awhile, but now you even know whose shoes belong to who. You're good at matching pairs of shoes, too! You can bring Daddy one of his shoes and he'll ask you to go get the other one and you'll pull the right one out of the basket the majority of the time.

8.) You like to pretend everything is a car or a phone. The other day you were talking to your Papaw with your package of instant oatmeal. It was pretty funny! You also take any random object and zoom it around the floor or up the side of furniture and make a vroom-vroom noise.

9.) You like dirt and water. Your favorite thing is to drink water out of the hose outside. Your Daddy showed you how to do this once and now it's the only thing you want to do when you see a water hose. Your Daddy and I are thinking of getting you a dirt pile for the backyard soon, too. Anytime you play in dirt, you like to pick it up in your hands and rub it into your skin. You're our own Little Pigpen!

10.) You love playing hide and go seek. You, Grammy, and Pop played this alot last weekend in Shreveport. You cheat though :) You don't keep your hands over your eyes the entire time, but it's kind of cute so no one says anything. This week you've been playing hide and go seek with your Daddy. I love hearing your sweet little laugh every time you find Daddy hiding somewhere. It's precious!

Dislikes:
1.) Having to come inside after being outside all day.

2.) Having to stop playing to eat.

3.) Sometimes you fuss when you have to get dressed or get your diaper change, but mst of the time you're a happy camper.

Eating: Your eating habits haven't really changed that much. Your daily diet looks something like this:
Breakfast: Cup of milk, package of instant oatmeal or a scrambled egg
Snack: Cup of cereal or a Yo-Baby yogurt
Lunch: Gerber Graduate meal, string cheese, fruit cup, milk
Snack: Goldfish, fruit snacks, or a popsicle
Dinner:Whatever we're eating usually. If it's too spicy for him though, I'll fix him a Gerber graduate meal or some chicken nuggets.

Here are some other things you like to eat: turkey dogs, mashed potatoes, green beans (LOVE these, which is odd because you always hated green bean baby food), lima beans, peanut butter and jelly, all fruit, all cheese, chocolate milk, cereal bars, pudding.

Sleeping: I wish you would sleep through the night, but for some reason you wake up all by yourself and you feel the need to let Mama know about it. I can usually pat you back to sleep, but especially during the school year it was sometimes just easier to put you in the big bed. Oh well, my mom said I slept in the bed with them and eventually learned to sleep by myself. I'm sure you will, too. In fact, I plan to work really hard on your sleeping issues this summer. You only take 1 nap a day now, but it's usually for at least 2 hours. Sometimes you'll even go 2 1/2 hours! WOO HOO! All in all I think you're getting about 10 hours of sleep at night and about 2 during the day. You obviously are getting enough because you're always in a GREAT mood when you wake up in the morning.

I can't believe that you're now closer to 2 years old than you are to 1 year old. I can't wait to spend my summer with you. I know we're going to have so much fun!