18 months!

Okay, so I'm a little late with this. It's been a busy week since he turned 18 months. I still can't get over that — 18 months. My baby is a year and a half. Amazing.

This month: The three of us have been sick on and off all month, so we've been lying low. Mostly just for the sake of making the purchase of his costume worthwhile, for Halloween we took Andrew to a trick-or-treating event put on by the businesses on the picturesque strip of Main Street in a neighbouring town. Unfortunately we had to carry him and he sucked his thumb the whole time. I'm sure he'll enjoy it more next year! (See adorable costume pics in post below.)

In other news, he started going to daycare two days a week. Actually, he returned after a two-month hiatus — long story, but we were thrilled that they were able to take him back. He adapts so well. They have nothing but praise for him. He eats and sleeps for them far better than he does for me.

Food: My boy is officially a terrible eater. He likes something one day and won't touch it the next. Sometimes he won't even eat his favourites (e.g., grilled cheese, pasta, berries). Often he eats very little. There was one weekend when he ate only a bit of cereal and a small yogurt cup. All weekend. I was beside myself with worry. My parenting books all reassure me that this is normal toddler stuff, that even though he might sometimes seem to be subsisting on air, he will not starve himself. It is my job to continue to offer a variety of foods and not to attempt to force-feed him, thereby giving him food-related issues that might haunt him for the rest of his life. Oy.

Sleep schedule: I thought Andrew was settled into a terrific pattern, but this month has been erratic. He often woke up at 5:00-5:30 a.m. and as a result needed two naps during the day. On the rare occasion when he slept in until a much more reasonable 7:00 a.m., he was able to have one nap, but that nap was never longer than an hour. He's also been waking and needing to be held at least once in the night, but like I said, he's sick and teething, and at his 18-month checkup the doctor found the beginnings of ear infections on both sides. Poor monkey. Things have been getting better this past week.

Loves: Any Youtube videos that involves animal sounds or trucks. My boy loves his trucks. He also loves playing in his crib: we're supposed to throw balls in to him and he tosses them back out. This will go on for quite some time.

Vocabulary: We have definitely experienced the vocabulary explosion people keep talking about (see list in post below). He has new words every day. Sometimes he'll say something, and we'll wonder where the heck he picked that up. He's very entertaining. He likes to say "knock knock" but doesn't yet know how to finish the joke. We'll say "Who's there?" and he'll either just say "knock knock" again or he'll say "Wherzeee?" (Where is it/he/she?) Funny boy.

New Tricks: I know he has no idea what he's saying, but after a great deal of encouragement from me he now says "I love you!" He follows it up with a "muah" kiss that is entirely his own idea, so maybe he does understand a little. He also gives hugs by leaning his head on us and saying "awww." Mommy is soaking up the affection.