18 Months

Well Elijah is actually 19 months now, but I took these pics when he was 18 months and wanted to jot down a few things he has been doing.  I’m mostly still disconnected online so haven’t been able to update this family blog at all, but still wanted to include this update with my other ones. 

Personality:  Elijah continues to be a bit reserved and generally very calm in social settings.  Tonight we went to a carnival and put him on a trampoline with kids 2 and under.  Although he was the oldest and biggest, two of the younger boys where going wild running and jumping.  Elijah sat carefully and explored some balls and checked out the springs of the trampoline.  Once the other kids left and the trampoline was still, he started to crawl around more.  We thought he wasn’t enjoying himself until it was time to take him off…he was quite upset!  Although he is reserved, Elijah is very kind and pleasant to other people.  If someone drops something, he often picks it up and hands it to them, even if he doesn’t know the person.  He also has gotten bullied around by more aggressive kids a few times, but he never hits back.  He also still enjoys being held in new settings, like the nursery.  When Elijah is tired though, a new side comes out!  He gets energetic and wild…sometimes fun wild and sometimes tantrums!  In our home though, Elijah always is much more outgoing.  He loves to have fun and goes crazy having fun in the bathtub, even by himself.

Loves: Cars, trucks, bikes, trains…anything with wheels this boy is obsessed!!!  He constantly makes engine noises when he sees anything that has wheels and even when he rides in the backseat of our car!  The joy of his life is when we let him sit our parked car and pretend to drive.  He loves to play with toy automobiles and point them out in books too.  And as of the past few days he has even been distinguishing trains as having “toot” noise.  This kid’s getting smart!  He also LOVES Curious George episodes.  He has even watched the whole hour plus Curious George movie when we were in a meeting and didn’t move!  He also loves reading books, is starting to understand wooden puzzles, playing in his kid pool, pancakes (he ate 3 ½ of them for breakfast the other day before we cut him off!), “helping” to cook by stiring, coloring (including coloring on the walls of our house!!!), his green frog blanket “pickles”, riding his trike, our cat, and riding/jumping on Jeyson’s belly like a horse.

New: Finally saying a few things – uh oh, quack, and “ba” for both me and Jeyson.  Occasionally he will also say moo or toot for a train.  Can’t blame the guy with some many languages to learn!  Having a few mini conversations, such as the other day he heard a car drive near our house.  He said to me “Ba?” asking if Jeyson was arriving.  I said, no, it’s not Ba.  He looked at me insisting and made a car noise to show that he had heard a car and who else could it be??  Very fun!  He can also now get himself into the car and into his seat and back out again.  I still have to buckle, but what a help!  He can now match up pieces of a wooden puzzle to where the go (when the picture is the same under), though he can’t put them in yet.  He can put matching shapes into a shape toy if I show him which whole they go in.  He can peddle his trike forward and pack using his feet on the ground.  He eats really well with a fork or spoon and often does it with his booster seat at the table.  He can understand when we tell him to help clean up his toys or get something and bring it (when we use gestures), he uses his snack cup, loves his music table (even loads snacks into it himself and pushes it around the whole house so he can eat his snack while he plays!) and he even ate a banana out of the peel the other day.  He’s really becoming fun and interactive, a little buddy to have around as I go shopping or do things around the house.

Struggles: Temper tantrums when he wants something and we say no to it.  The need to get Elijah involved in some activities.  Not wanting to hold hands in settings where he needs to for safety.

Routine: Wakes up at 8 eats breakfast, plays till about 10:30.  10:30-11:30 I try to give him a table activity like coloring and spend time reading and coloring with him.  11:30-12:00 lunch.  12-1 play, sometimes some Curious George.  1-4 nap 4 – snack, blanket time, play 5 Curious Goerge if he didn’t watch before while I cook dinner.  5:30 Jeyson arrives and they play together.  6-7 dinner 7-7:30 bath, books, 7:30 bed