18 Months!

Much of today's post is basically a baby-book entry for me to remember things! And....I'm desperate for my out-of-town family to feel like they know all the little joys about these two!

STATS:

Carter
33.75 inches tall, 90th percentile
25 pounds, 40th percentile

Nolan
32 inches tall, 50th percentile
21.5 pounds, 5th percentile








Hello Carter growth spurt! He grew 2.5 inches in only 3 months! Nolan grew an inch and did not gain any weight! Yep...that made me a little worried!  They actually weighed him a second time to double check!  I have to say though.....I remember our 15 month appointment, they said one number on the scale but wrote down a different number on the paper they always give us.  It has happened a couple of times and I don't think it is a big deal so I don't say anything. I think he actually gained a half a pound. Still, obviously, not much!  Nolan seriously runs everywhere and is very busy but he typically eats the same amount as Carter!  The doctor told us to butter up his foods but otherwise was not super concerned.  I wish someone would tell me to butter up my food!

MOVE IT:  Both boys run lots. I think Carter actually prefers to walk and has become a bit of a toe-walker....great. We keep telling him to stop because you know how those toe-walker people are! (kidding!) They both jump up and down, love jumping into the pool, off our ottoman onto the floor, and out of the van.  They don't exactly land on two feet though! Nolan has successfully done a somersault one time and not again since then. They kick balls and throw balls. Nolan still throws lots of other things, though he's toned it down quite a bit from several months ago.  They both definitely love to dance.

CHOW:  Carter and Nolan eat try to eat with spoons and forks though I think they still prefer their hands. Usually half way through every meal, they dump their bowls or plates out on their high chair trays and say "all done!"  I try to explain that they are not all done but I have to tell them, "thank you" for handing me the plate! They also still throw food from their high chairs.  Soooo annoying! Rarely, it is an accident; sometimes they are trying to feed Mallie; Most times they don't want what they are given or they really are all done.  Our only strategy here is to clear their tray of food for a few minutes...kind of like a food time-out.  When Nolan is so darn skinny, I hate the idea of ending his meal completely! They'll grow out of it soon I hope. 

Eating bananas with a fork is difficult!

At this point, my kids still like veggies most days. I'm thankful for that and am dreading the day they decide not to like them. That doesn't have t-o happen, right? Once I offered a piece of broccoli next to an animal cracker, I'm not lying, they both chose the broccoli!  Months ago, we started feeding veggies first (when they were nice and hungry) then added the rest of the meal to the tray. Eventually we started giving them the full plate of food for them to pick at and the veggies are usually all eaten. That's not to say we don't have any rough nights!  But they don't get to pick a different meal, that's for sure and if the veggies aren't eaten, they get the leftovers for their afternoon snack.  Hungry boys will devour some veggies for an afternoon snack!

DRESS:  They can both take their shoes off and their pants off if I pull them down a bit.  Carter has started trying to take his diaper off. He pushes the back down until a butt cheek starts to show. I mean, how cute is that?  No....it's not cute at all.  What if he decides to take a poopy diaper off while in his crib? Awesome.

definitely a little more than a butt cheek here!

READING: Carter looooooves books. He picks out a book and motions for you to get in the rocking chair and pull him up to read.  Often he'll open a book and babble like he is reading it on his own.  Nolan will sit on my lap and listen to me reading a book for a bit then slide his way down out of the chair, then come back to hear some more, then he's off again and so on. I can get him to sit through a book if there are lots of hands on things within the book.  And lately he is sitting through this zoo book.  We really only read at bed time when Nolan is practically begging to be put in his crib. Maybe he is too tired and I need to read more during the day.  I've read that even having books in your house can make a difference in encouraging a love of reading!

TV:  They watch only a bit of TV. We just started putting shows on in preparation to see if they'd watch DVDs on their recent flight (never used the DVD player on the flights anyway!).  Both boys check out whatever is going on with the show then they play some, then watch a bit then back to playing. They aren't so into it yet.  I guess that's good?

CHATTER:  We are finally starting to expand our word bank from da-da and dog.  Those two were it for way too long!

Both boys use these words:
uh-oh
oh-no
no (my personal favorite!)
dog
mallie dog (daahh dog)
all done (ahh daa)
go
shoes
hot (surprised? that's what happens when you have record breaking triple digit heat!)
da da,
please (tease)
thank you
cheers
banana (na na)

They also repeat many more words.  Nolan works on mimicking the tone rather than the letter sounds. For example, if I say, "Nolan, can you say trees?"  He might say "eee" using the same tone I did.  Carter works more on the letter sounds like bah, dah, cah, etc and pays no attention to the tone.

Carter loves trying to communicate. He will babble long stories to you. Nolan is more stubborn about talking. He has to be in the mood for it. They feel like such big boys when they follow instructions: Go get your shoes. Put the balls in the basket. Put your sippy cups in the fridge and close the door.  They love to go get the mail from the mailbox then help me throw most of it in the trash. =) And they love helping make a mess of the laundry!

They have finally started to know their body parts. They've got the ears, nose and tummy down. They haven't liked participating in that pointing game so once when they were not wanting me to clean their faces with a wet wipe, I instead gave them each a wipe and said, "clean your mouth, clean your nose, clean your ears, clean your tummy, clean your feet, clean your hair." They loved it and got most of them!

And here are a few random things these two boys do that just crack me up!