18 months old. Oh little buddy.

Oh Little Buddy. Buster. Terrorist. Rascal. Bear. Big Willie. His list of nicknames go a mile long.  

He can be so sweet. 

He can be such a lover.  

He can be such a jerk. 

And saying he's a jerk is putting it mildly. There are days that he would end up at the fire station except you can only leave kids in safe zones for the first 30 days.  I wouldn't really leave him at the fire station rather I am emphasizing what a jerk he can be.  

He's not even two yet. The terrible twos.  

He's not even three yet. People talk about how awful three year olds are. 

Oh my. How are we going to make it. 

This is not an uncommon face. 

 Nor is this.

 But the comfort he finds in his (non) bottle of milk is insane and wonderful.

He recently had an ear infection which may have explained some of this craziness. The picture below is when I took him back in on a Friday b/c he had an exceptionally terrible Thursday and I couldn't live with knowing he still had an ear infection.  The doctor said his ears were beautiful and his throat was clear.  Therefore she confirmed he's just a terror at times.

His 18 month birthday fell on a Saturday and so we had a (very) small party for him.  I felt like he kind of got the shaft on his one year old birthday due to finding out the gender of baby #3 now known as Miss Cate.  Miss M and I made rice crispy treats for him and bought some party decorations at the dollar store.  He did not appreciate the rice crispy treats but Miss M and I did.

Miss Cate joined the festivities with a party hat.

Miss M thinks party hats and noise makers are party essentials.

Thankfully the party blowers at the dollar store don't make an awful noise. Actually they don't make any noise rather they just blow out. Best party blowers ever.

He even agreed to wear a party hat (for 4.6 seconds).

We went to the doctor for his 18 month check up and she seems to think he's doing quite well. He doesn't have very many words but neither did Miss M at 18 months.  He's getting a few more words all the time.

Here's what I think he can say (when he wants to)
noise of a monkey
step
momma
dadda
sissy
baba (bottle)
baby (maybe - he definitely says something when he sees Miss Cate)
all done
diaper (his own version)
duck
dog (again he screams something when he sees a dog)
Jack
Apple

So maybe he has more words than I realize.  He might have more. I should pay more attention but with all the noise that comes out of the kids' mouths just feels like screaming nonsense.

He loves to read. He only wants to read the books he wants to read. He will shake his head no until you come up with the book he wants.

He's trying more and more to copy the stuff his sister is doing. It's not a good thing b/c usually it requires some sort of climbing/jumping/running. Currently the latest fascination is climbing to the top of the toy box and sitting on it or standing if he's feeling really brave. It makes me nervous b/c if it topples over there is nothing but trouble to fall on/into

He isn't a great eater but the doctor assured me that it's normal for his age. She said some meals he will eat a pea and a bite of something else and be done. She just wants us to continue to offer him a well-balanced meal and not offer him his favorite foods.  I don't even know what his favorite foods are that's how minimal he eats. He does love pretzel flats to an insane degree but that's about it.

He measured in at 33 1/4 inches which is the 79% for height.  28 lbs and 12 oz which is the 94% for weight and the 75% for head circumference.

It baffles me that there are kids with bigger heads.  His head is huge.

He's a good kid with a big heart. He's also a determined kid with a loud scream to let you know when things aren't going quite the way he sees fit.