Jay is 18 months today- holy camoly!!!  I am pretty sure that we have hit the 2’s early with this kiddo and as much as this phase makes me want to pull my hair out from time to time, there are times when I just sit back in awe of how wonderful he is.  Jamie and I find ourselves frequently stopping to watch as he learns something new, plants a sweet kiss on one of the animals or runs into your arms to give you a massive hug and wet kiss for no reason.

Since I haven’t officially posted an update in quite sometime I figured we were due, so here you go!

Stats:

22.4 lbs (today was the first time he stood on the scale by himself- such a big boy!)

31 1/2 inches long

14 teeth- SO happy to finally be able to say more than 12, those last two took 2.5 months to come in and we are still waiting on the other two eye teeth!

Likes:

*CARS!!  Pretty much anything with at least two wheels right now is a car; whether it be a car, truck, van, mack truck etc.  However, he does not discriminate and loves them all.  It makes riding in the car especially fun, specifically when we get to pass a big one on the road.  He will play with his matchbox cars (and his other cars too) for the longest time- they are constantly everywhere throughout the house and he is always making car noises.  Jay has also taken to the Pixar Cars movie (Cars 1- we are not taking an 18 month old to the theater.) We will sit mesmerized by it if it is on.  This is also a great time to get some snuggles in!

*Water- Jay loves water in all forms.  He loves the pool (the small one out front and any big one), the sprinkler, the hose (which he drinks from) and the bath tub too. It’s not an infrequent occurrence that Jamie will call to me from the bath to show me one of their new bath games or tricks.

*Playing outside.  Regardless of the heat, Jay loves to be outside.  He will trek around the backyard or courtyard for what seems like hours and usually is none too happy about having to come in again.

*Chores- haha, had you going here but honestly Jay loves feeding Piper in the morning and at night and is a great help when picking up his toys.  To watch him with Piper is pretty hysterical. He tells her to “sit” along with a hand motion that vaguely resembles the hand motion that we use with her, carefully carries the cup of food (that Mommy or Daddy fill) to her bowl, and pours it in. He usually drops a few pieces so he picks them up one at a time and puts them in her bowl and then tells her “ok” which usually needs to be repeated by me or Jamie since it doesn’t really sound anything like “ok”.

*Laundry baskets, empty plastic buckets or random boxes.  He will push them all over the house- empty or full- and has a blast doing it.  This makes folding the laundry more difficult, since the basket is NEVER where I leave it, but it amuses him and that’s what counts.

*Shoes.  He loves to wear his shoes and frequently we find him putting ours on (remember the pink shoes?).  He will walk around the house with ours quite a bit and he usually gets them on the right feet :)

*1, 2, 3 GO!  Frequently, Jay is running… he is on the move constantly and doesn’t like to sit still.  This being said, one of his favorite games is “1, 2, 3, GO”.  Which is when he says 1,2,3, go and then runs to the other side of the room.  The funny part… he usually starts counting at 2 and has already started running by the time he says go.

*Buckles.  He loves to clip buckles these days- especially the ones on the changing table, on his car seat and Pipers’ collar.  Fortunately for us he is satisfied with simply buckling them and has yet to try to unbuckle anything but bless us the day he learns that…

*The word NO.  I know that this comes with the age but man do I hate it.  We were pretty lucky to avoid the word for so long (thank heavens for creative ways of telling him no) but now since he is testing every boundary imaginable we have had to use it more often and therefore are hearing it more often.  Oh well, this too shall pass- right??

Other things of Note:

* Jay mimics just about every word out of our mouths right now.  It is great but we also really need to watch what he is able to hear these days ;)  One of my favorites is when he declares “MEN!” (amen) then smiles a huge smile at the end of the blessing at dinner time.  He is also stringing a few words together from time to time- usually only three at a time (Mommy, juice please) but it’s a start!

*He doesn’t sit still- AT ALL!  He is constantly on the move and usually running some place.  It makes the days long and exhausting for me but I was warned that little boys were usually this way.  Not sure what I am going to do with two to chase…

* His little manners are so sweet!  He has started to “say” (sign) thank you and he usually uses please (especially since he knows it will get him things he wants).