Eli is 18 months!

I can not believe that he is 18 months old already.  It honestly does feel like we brought him home a week ago.  He has brought so much joy into our lives and looking back, we often comment on how bored we must have been pre-Eli.  What did we do with all of our time?

Weight:  29 lbs (at his 15 month appointment in October)
Height:  At last check I think he was almost 36"

He's still holding steady in a 2T but just about to tip over to a 3T.  He is wearing a size 7.5 shoe.  Yes, a size 7.5.  I could not believe it when I realized how quick his foot was growing, but I think we're good with 7.5 for a bit. 

Development:  He doesn't walk, he runs everywhere!  He has also learned how to use a chair to climb up on our couch.  He will carry the chair right up to the couch and in one swoop, he's bouncing on the couch.  His new favorite game is to run and hide from us after we undress him for bathtime.  He runs his naked little booty around the house and giggles uncontrollably. 

He has learned a lot of words over the past few weeks.  I haven't counted lately, but he is really interested in knowing what things are and repeating words that he hears.  He has started putting phrases together, like "daddy's car" and "mama's shoe".  He can also tell you what a horse, cow, dog, duck, and cat say.  You may not understand it, but he'll try to tell you.  When he wakes up in the mornings, he'll lay in bed and rattle off his favorite words from the day before, or start naming things that he sees around his room:  momma, daddy, dog, orsey (horsey), scup (Scout, his stuffed dog), book, light, up, ball, at (hat).  Yesterday morning he was just rattling through his usual list and Payton went in to get him and said he was laid on his back with his left leg up on the crib and his right leg crossed over it.  Like he was just relaxing, waiting for us all to start our days. 

Foods:  He's been a little picky lately with what he will and will NOT eat.  He went through a phase recently where we were lucky if we added anything to his daily intake outside of crackers, fruit, and milk.  Sometimes I think it has something to do with teething, other times I think he's just being stubborn.  I couldn't even tell you what his favorite food is, it changes daily, but he does love dipping his food in things.  He'll dip bread into olive oil, anything into ketchup, and chips into salsa.  Last night he wasn't interested in his chicken nuggets, so he just dipped his thumb in the ketchup and licked it off, over and over again.  Regardless of what is on his plate in the morning, he always wants Payton's "cookies" which is really granola cereal.  He'll just sit there with his mouth open until Payton gives him a bite.

Favorite toys:  His top two toys are his cars and anything that is round.  I couldn't even tell you what exactly he does with the cars that keeps him entertained for so long, but when he plays with them, he says "vroom, vroom, vroom".  He loves his basketball and his hoop.  And if you ask him to throw you a ball, he gets so excited and says "ready, set, set, set, set, set, set, GO" and almost looses control throwing the ball because he can't contain how excited he is.  He also loves his Sesame Street guitar.  He calls it a g-tar, and will sit down with it wherever he finds it and strum the strings.

Discipline:  Ha!  We're working on this, and will definitely be discussing it with the pediatrician at his appointment in a few weeks.  I find myself saying "no" more often, and trying to find other ways to say it so I don't sound like a broken record.  I've switched to "stop" and lately Eli has been telling me to stop.  He tells us "no" all the time too.  "Can mommy have a kiss?"  "No!" (while he shakes his head).  "Eli, will you please eat your breakfast?"  "No".  "Eli, will you give mommy her toothbrush back?"  "No".

Here's a recent video of him loving on his Scout dog.