18 Month Check-Up

Well, here are Anthony's stats from last month's checkup...



Weight 19-8 (less than 3%)

Height 31 3/4 inches (45%)

Head 45 1/2 cm (5%)



I think he's had a growth spurt lately. He's always managed to stay on the growth chart for his height, but he just seems taller now...maybe just because he's looking more like a big boy. He still is not on the growth chart for his weight, but he made a major jump up back toward the bottom of the chart, so Dr. Goebel was very pleased with his progress.



Anthony is definitely starting to push the rules and limits more and more. I know this is a normal part of growing up, but some days he just wears me out! Mario and I are doing our best to stay very consistent with consequences for disobedience. He's just too darn cute because he absolutely knows when he's doing something wrong..he just gets this little look on his face! He's been very clingy toward me and very needy (i.e. not wanting to play by himself) over the past few months. Just recently over the past few weeks he has been very attached to Mario again and prefers him over me. And usually when we pick him up from the church nursery lately, he's almost always snuggling in someone's lap!



His mind is just exploding with new things he's learning. Some of his newest words include "potty", "bunny" (or "bu-ee" without the "n" sound), "green", "yellow" (although he doesn't always know the difference), "night-night", "book", "baby", "knee", "apple", "pumpkin", "juice", "shoe", and TONS of animal sounds! He LOVES for me to sing songs with motions, so we're doing alot of "Wheels on the Bus", "Itsy-Bitsy Spider", "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "Jesus Loves Me". "Jesus Loves Me" is our newest one, but with the other three songs he will do motions with me most of the time. He enjoys dancing as you may have seen from my previous post, but he also enjoys being held and just moving to the music. He always wants to go outside, and will point and say "outside" and grab my hand and lead me to the front door.



Anthony is still a great sleeper, usually sleeping 12 hours at night and a good 2 hour nap in the afternoon. I am so spoiled by him--he always goes down great and most always wakes up so happy! I can't believe I'm going to have to go back to the "night shift" here soon with the new baby!!! We try to explain that there is a baby in mommy's tummy, but it still just goes right over his head! We plan to transition him to a toddler bed in the upcoming weeks.



He is still a mover and a shaker...he just can't sit still! He runs more than walks these days, and sometimes just runs back and forth across the house, getting some energy out. He loves to "help" mommy clean by sweeping floors, pushing the wet clothes into the dryer, wiping the floors or highchair with a wet cloth, and bringing me clothes to fold. I've found that if I designate a task for him to do while I'm doing chores, he's much more likely to me content with my attention being divided.

Anthony loves to "talk" on the phone. Almost anything and everything can be a phone these days...a banana, a piece of plastic, a big lego, etc. He always says "goo-goo" when he answers his phone...I guess that means "hello" in toddler language. He will carry on a conversation that always has some good laughs in it...just wonder who he's talking to. He also "puts on eye makeup" with mommy and pretends to put lotion on his legs. He's into make believe and pretend now. He'll stir an empty pot and give us a "taste" or bring an upside down lego for us to 'drink" from. We've seen him sitting in his carseat picking up pretend food from the door of the car and "eating" it, not knowing that anyone was watching.

He still has this amazing joy about him that is simply contagious. Even on frustrating days he's full of smiles. He truly is the love of our lives and is just getting to that age where he says and does so many funny things--you just can't help but to laugh when you're around him! We're trying to cherish every moment of these few remaining months of Anthony being an "only child". I thank God every night for the blessing he is in our lives.