Noah is 18 Months Old!

Noah turned 18 months old yesterday. We celebrated his 1/2 birthday by going out to lunch with Daddy. That boy can tear up some cheese pizza at Johnny's!

He destroyed an entire piece by himself!

Eighteen months meant that it was time to make a visit to the doctor's office for a well-check. So, that is where we spent our morning today! He weighed in this month at 21 lbs 8 oz (staying around the 5th percentile), up exactly one pound from his 15-month check. He measured up at 33 inches (up to just shy of the 75th percentile), up 1.5 inches from October! This puts him under the 3rd percentile for height-to-weight ratio now. I swear he doesn't look that skinny and he really does eat a lot!! :/ His head was measured at 48.75 cm (right around the 75th percentile). He looked good overall, except that the doctor found that the poor little guy has an ear infection (it was red, with fluid), so he'll be taking an antibiotic for the next 10 days to try to make it better, and we'll follow-up to see how it looks.

Coloring at the doctor's office while we waited!

Noah is still doing great sleeping through the night. He is still sleeping around 11 to 12 hours at night. For almost the past month, he's been down to just one nap a day most days (anywhere from 1.5 hours, up to a record 3.5 hours, but normally around 2 hours). It can be a bit difficult on preschool days, trying to keep him up until almost 2 pm, but it has been mostly successful...

Morning rest time. Phasing out that morning nap is hard! :/

He is still pretty good about eating most things, but has started to become a bit pickier now. He is unfortunately more wary of trying new things I make now. He has continued to avoid most green veggies, too, but will eat the others. He has a never-ending hunger (I'm starting to wonder if he has worms?!?) and lets me know it by climbing up in his booster seat (he started using one right after Christmas) and buckling himself in when he wants to eat! Haha! He has weaned himself from nursing except for first thing in the morning. About a month ago he decided he didn't want to nurse before going to sleep anymore.

He really loves buckling his seat, even after he gets out of it. :)

New accomplishments the past 3 months:

• Teeth 10-11 made their appearance
• Saying "Grandpa," "Grandma," "baby," "Daisy," "cheese," "pizza," "cookie," "TV" (and others I am probably forgetting)
• Identifying lots of body parts

He has continued to teethe the past 3 months, with a couple more gradually making their appearances (another top canine, and bottom one, too). I can tell when it's happening now, because he tends to gnaw on his hands when he has one coming in. Poor guy. I'm pretty sure more are coming soon.

He is starting to say more words now! When my parents were here for Christmas, he called my dad "Grandpa" for the first time! My mom said she heard "Grandma" from him too, but I haven't witnessed that one myself yet. He says "baby" all the time when he sees pictures of babies. It's super cute. He'll call Daisy by name. He'll say "cheese" for pictures, and sometimes when he is eating it. He'll say "pizza" and "cookie" when he is eating those, too. :) When we get in the van, he'll often say "TV" because he really loves watching Cars 2 while he's riding. I've unfortunately gotten into the habit of letting him watch more than I probably should, but it's great for keeping him either a) happy (he's still not a fan of riding in vehicles), or b) awake (on preschool days), and happy, awake (i.e., not ruining his nap) babies make happy mommies! ;) He tries to say lots of other stuff, too, but nothing we can clearly identify yet. He appears to be getting an earlier start than Ethan did in the speech department though, which is promising.

He has gotten really good at identifying the major body parts/facial features when I name them. Nose, eyes, ears, mouth/teeth, toes, fingers, belly button, etc. His favorite is his belly button. He loves pulling up his shirt to give me a peek. :)

He's growing up so quickly now! I feel like I blinked and he went from just a little baby to a full-blown toddler!