Eli - 18 months (ok, almost 20 months)

 

I'm behind blogging about Eli.  I meant to get his 18 month check up done on time, I was a month late.  I also meant to write about him when he was 18 months old, but now he's 2 months past it, he's changed already since then.  I wrote down a list of things he says and a couple weeks went by and I added 6 things to the list.  I can't keep up with this kid! Any of the kids, for that matter.  :P

Anyway.  I am now finally doing this so I can take it off my to-do list.

I really do love blogging.  I love reading posts from the past and remembering life when it was different.  But lately blogging has felt more like a chore because I can't pack it in to my day.  As I sit here, the living room has a trail of 20 books across it that Vanessa created so she "wouldn't step in the lava" from one room to the couch.  They're not put away yet.  There is laundry to flip around, dishes to wash, and tons of papers to file.  Dave is also out of town and school was canceled today so its been a "stuck in the house" feeling kind of day.  Not sure what all this has to do with Eli being a year and a half old but anyway, I digress...

Eli is quickly growing out of "being a baby" and into a full blown toddler (ok not true...he's totally NOT a baby anymore and IS a toddler...c'mon mama...admit it).  He runs constantly from place to place, unless he is strapped to the high chair or in my arms.  He's still sleeping in the crib in Calvin's room.  I should start calling it "the boy's room" because that's what it is now.  He still loves his paci and his blankies.  He's chewed up the tips of three pacis in the last week though, I think he's finding the powers of his new sharp canine teeth.  Funny timing.  All I could find a few months ago were pink pacifiers from when Vanessa was a baby and Dave was tired of seeing his little boy suck on a pink paci (I really didn't care!) so on a run to Target around Christmas time we picked up a couple new packages of blue ones.  This meant I had 4 new pacis for Eli.  And now I'm down to one new blue one and a pink one floating around the house again...just can't win that battle I guess.

He seems to have a growing sense of humor.  He loves any game that involves hiding and then suddenly appearing.  Peek a boo with hands/blankets/doors/boxes...anything goes in that department.  He likes when I say "I'm going to get you!" he will immediately run away laughing. The other kids picked up on this and do it to Eli too.  Sometimes he gets trampled.  Violet tends to "mother him" by picking him up and hugging him if he gets upset.  He tries to communicate with words but a lot of what he says is mumbo-jumbo, but he is very expressive and points and babbles all at the same time so most of the time its possible to figure out what he wants.

I still put him right in bed with a dark room and a fan and he generally goes to sleep before the other 3 kids, then Calvin slips in quietly and goes to bed after we finish up reading stories/Bible.  Eli has started to protest the bedtime a little by standing up and bouncing in his crib or purposely dropping his stuff on the floor.  But overall he goes to bed well.  Sometimes he cries in the night.  Sometimes we hear him, sometimes we help him, sometimes we let him be.  If he goes on long enough we do so Calvin doesn't get woken up.

He's moved to one nap a day now.  I try get him to sleep by either 11 after a snack or if he's not ready then, definitely by 12 or 12:30 after his lunch.

Here's his list of verbals:

- Wat dis! (watch this!)
- one, two, twee
- what dat? (what's that?)
- no
- what?
- der mom (there mom)  --> usually said after he gives me something
- done (said when high chair when he's done eating)
- more
- tanks mom (thanks mom)
- mouw (milk)
- Eyi (his name)
- dada (says this sometimes when wanting me to hold him, don't know why)
- owie
- ba-dee (blankee)
- gumbee (gummy)
- he mumbles what he thinks are letters when he hears the alphabet song
- BIOLET! (Violet!) ---> he yells for her all the time!  He doesn't have words for Calvin or Vanessa (yet).  **update a week later. He can now say "calbin!"

- a-doo-doo!
- he'll copy "oh-trotro" somehow - like "oh-tow-tow"

He likes:

- when I count to three and toss him in the air.
- playing with circular magnets when I change his diaper. He knows that its time to put them back when diaper changing time is over.
- turning off and on light switches when I hold him (he notices that stuff now)
- putting hot wheels cars on a little hot wheels track if Calvin is kind enough to let him play with it
- playing with cups in the kitchen cabinet where kid cups are stored.
- spinning on bounce n spin zebra
- climbing up on chairs and finding markers to pull caps off of
- climbing up on chairs by legos and playing with them
- being tickled.  His little grunty giggle is great!
- tromping around with my shoes on
- oatmeal, eggs/toast, cold cereal with milk, peanut butter and jelly, raisins (have to cut him off of these), cheese sticks, steamed carrots, pancakes with peanut butter
- taco soup
- cut up chicken nuggets
- cheese crackers
- smoothies (this is when I sneak in a banana)
- white string cheese sticks
- noodles
- nutrigrain bars (I save these for Sunday morning)

 He does not like:
- bread
- bananas
- burritos
- shredded cheese or cheese cut off a block.  Apparently he likes only string cheese sticks that are individually wrapped.

I know!  He won't just eat a hunk of bread like a dinner roll or something like that.  Toast with stuff on it all cut up, maybe.  But not a piece of soft bread.

At his doctor check up, he got one shot (second Hep A).  He weighs 28 lbs 12 oz, 33" tall and 19 1/2" head.
I was surprised to have Vanessa weighed at that same visit and she was only 33.  I thought they were closer in weight.