18 Months

I'm a little late posting this. I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that Jacob is 18 months old. Now that Bailey is here, I think (in my eyes) it has aged him so he seems older. He is soooo much fun these days, although the "terrible twos" are definitely coming to the surface. He can throw a temper-tantrum with the best of them! He is still big for his age. He is 34 inches long (88th percentile) and over 27 pounds (69th percentile). He still has a big noggin, but it is finally full of white-blonde hair!

His talking has come a long ways recently. He picks up new words each day and will surprise us with what he says. It is great to communicate with him now because he can tell us what he wants and we can ask him questions and he'll indicate an answer to us. We're having to spell some things out now, like "outside" because the minute he hears this word there is no going back! He surprised me a few days ago after pointing to Bailey and saying her name and then saying mine, that he pointed to himself and said "acob". That is the first time I've heard him say his own name. So cool!! He can point to and say all of his body parts and say the names of and make animal sounds. We're working on colors right now.

Jacob loves being outside. He has learned to climb our playground structure and go down the slide all by himself. I didn't expect this until next year. He has this one toy that he likes to pull/push around the yard that has a rolling chimes in it. He has also taken a liking to bubbles and chalk. We have little chalk lines all over now! We broke out the sand/water table (garage sale find) this weekend and filled it with water for him to play with. He loved it! I take the kids and Rascal on a walk just about every night and he likes to point to things and say what they are. He also "helps" by holding onto Rascal's leash which is pretty cute.

Jacob has now been sleeping in his new room for over a month now and is doing lots better about staying on his mattress, although we do still find him asleep in various parts of his room. His teacher at daycare said that he has a tendency to roll off his cot there and sleep walk and then curl up on the floor. We'll have to really watch him for this as he gets older and can get out of his room! I painted his room on Memorial Day and we hope to make the finishing touches on his room sometime in the next few weeks. I'll post pictures once it is done!

A lot of people ask how he is with Bailey. He is sweet and rough at the same time. He gives her kisses which is cute. We do have to watch him though because he is unintentionally rough with her. He does pat her too hard and if she is on the floor, she gets bumped with things, so we really have to watch him with her. The other day he took my sling and put it arond his neck like I do and then he literally tried to scoop her up and put her in it, although I stopped him quickly! I don't think that he is jealous of her, which is such a relief.

We attempted to take 18-month pictures of him, but wow, it was near impossible to get him to stay put and look at the camera, let alone get a smile. Here is a slideshow of Jacob pics at 18 months!

Jacob - 18 Months