18 months!

My baby is a year and a half already...and still a blessing each and every day! We went to J's 18 month check-up last week and he is doing great, praise the Lord! He weighs 27.5 pounds and is 34 inches tall. And, he cried the entire visit. Two reasons for such a fuss: 1. His stranger anxiety (especially to men) gets greater by the day and 2. He is way too smart and remember that this was the place of "shots" as soon as we walked in the exam room. So sad. Thankfully, I learned from last visit and brought M&M's. Let me tell you, I was his favorite person again once I pulled those out! :) Here's a pic of our precious little man...

 A couple of 18 month highlights:

• J is a little parrot and can repeat most anything he hears. It is outstanding to hear him try to say new words and associate their meaning. We also have become keenly aware of what we say. Some things just don't sound right coming out of an 18 month old!
• He loves to play "dress up"! (In boy fashion, of course. His Dad wouldn't have it any other way.) He thinks all hats are hysterical,  and he loves wearing coats, mittens and his new "pack pack". Yesterday morning, he wanted to wear his tie... 

 His favorite hat!

• Thanks to these fridge letters, his ABC Book and Elmo's ABC song, J can correctly identify 20 of the 26 alphabet letters. It is so fun to see him spot letters everywhere. His favorite is O!

•  He adores all of his stuff animals and treats each one as his best friend. Ok, Mickey Mouse and "Ditty", a blue monkey, are his best friends, but the others are all a close second. Above he is watching Elmo on his couch with Pooh and "lovie". He will actually come close to carrying on a full conversation with his stuffed friends!

•  He has the best smile and laughs in the whole world! And yes, we are still wearing bibs. He is currently getting in 4 new teeth and we earn each one by drooling at least 100 gallons of drool per tooth. After talking to Scott's Mom & Grandmom over the holidays, I learned that this may be genetic (can drooling be genetic?). His granddad had to wear bibs until he was 3 and his Dad wasn't far from that. I guess we are halfway there?

•  He loves to hide and be found or pop out at you. We play this game EVERY single day, sometimes for hours.

•  See how happy he is when he is found or returns?! Also, he loves his Batman shirt and can hum the tune for you!

•  His biggest fascination is still cars, trucks, tractors, diggers, bulldozers, airplanes, helicopter, trains or anything that moves! Bigdaddy and Nanny have a great collection of cars from over the years, and he always has the best time playing at their house. I think they enjoy it too!

•  He really enjoys "drawing" and "writing" and breaking the crayons. We still owe ChaCha a new box!

• He does not like the snow, but he sure looked cute in all of his snow day attire!
• Oh, and my favorite, J SINGS! Not whole songs, but words and phrases from his favorites. It is the sweetest thing in the world and makes me cry every single time! I am blessed!

I could write about J forever, but I'll stop there for now. Love you all!