18 Months old!

Jayden is 18 months old today! This past year and a half has flown by and I am sure it is going to continue to keep on passing quickly. We have so much to look forward to in the coming months. I can't believe our baby will be 2 in six short months!

1. Jayden weighs 21 lbs and 14 oz. This is only 4 more ounces than he was last month. He eats a lot but he runs off almost all of calories everyday! He is 31.25 inches long. It seems like his legs are growing longer because his jeans are getting too short. Thank goodness. I hope he has long legs like his momma.

2. He is wearing size 4 diapers and sometimes a 5 (when needed) and wears 18-24 month clothing. I have tried to sit him on his potty chair, but he wants nothing to do with that. We will try again next month. When he is ready, which will be around next year at this time, he will use it. He has had 3 haircuts and I can see number 4 around the corner.

3. He still loves to climb and his love for that will never die. He can now successfully go down the stairs on his own. We do give him the opportunity to go up and down while we are watching almost everyday. I decided it was important for him to know how to able to go down safely rather than have an accident. However, last night while on the bottom stairs he fell straight on his face. He had a little bloody nose and he has a HUGE goose egg on his forehead. Poor baby. We are still keeping the gate up, but maybe by this summer, we will be able to eliminate it at least at the bottom of the stairs.

4. He loves to play with all of his toys from Christmas. He especially loves his farm and Mickey train. He goes down his slide at least once a day and we brought his basketball hoop back out of storage. He loves to play ball and hide and seek.

5. J is still picky with the foods he will eat and will not eat. I still have not been very successful when it comes to serving him veggies. He has eaten ham, bologna, and turkey for lunch which is a great change to just chicken, mac n' cheese, and pizza! Sometimes he doesn't care to eat dinner, but I know he has eaten breakfast and lunch so I do not force it.

6. He is still drinking milk and formula. He doesn't prefer one over the other or turn one down for something else as long as it is warm. I think he will always be a milk drinker!

7. MORE teeth! I am not sure when he is going to stop getting teeth, but another is trying to cut through.

8. Jayden is really starting to test us when it comes to sitting in a high chair at a restaurant, sitting in a shopping cart, and even sitting in his stroller. He likes to scream until he gets his way. I try to keep him in the cart as long as possible or until I get enough looks from people at the store. We left a restaurant for the first time last week because he wouldn't stop screaming. We hadn't even sat down yet. Of course, as soon as we left he was fine. He was acting just like babycenter.com told me he would.

9. I have been impressed with his sleeping the past month. We haven't had many night of him waking up. Maybe it is due to routine or maybe he is figuring out we are not going to come and get him. Whatever it is, I hope it continues. He is still napping well during the day too. He sleeps around 3 hours on most days.

10. As always, Jayden is growing intellectually. He will finally point to his head, eyes, nose, ears, mouth, teeth, and belly when we ask him. Before it was all just his head or eyes. He has been counting like crazy and loves numbers--especially 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. He has been "talking" a lot more than he did last month and will go on and on and on. We have been encouraging him to use his words rather than screaming when we wants something. However, he is only 1 and a half and that is what you do when you are 18 months. Which reminds me, when you are 18 months old, you get in trouble. Jayden had his first time out on Friday at the sitters. I guess he was ready for summer and started splashing in the dog water bowl thinking it was his pool. Hopefully he learned his lesson.....

Happy 18 Month Birthday to our little man!! We love you more than you will ever know!!