18 Months

I think this is my new favorite picture of him, but he looks so grown up!

I try not to be one of those mothers who calculates their child's age in months until they are in college, but until age 2 or 3, a few months makes a HUGE difference in development. Matthew is a totally different child than he was just 6 short months ago when we celebrated his first birthday. I remember being conflicted about this 'stage' with Mason. It is so fun to watch them grow and discover the world around them. It is also so challenging because of the horrid 'terrible twos' (which really start around one). Matthew is proving to be even more of a challenge because he is VERY opinionated and VERY stubborn. And BOY, can he throw a tantrum! He's my fiery little redhead!!

A few 18 month stats:

• 96th percentile in weight (29 lbs) and 85th percentile in height. Still huge, but he actually lost a pound since his last visit.
• He's mixed in his sleeping habits. He's SUPER easy to get to bed or nap. When he's ready to sleep, he will let you know and he just wants to be left alone. We keep slipping up when he's sick or teething and getting him used to an overnight bottle again. We've sleep-trained him about 6 times now, but luckily he catches on pretty quick. He's also an early riser (6am on the DOT), but that's probably because we can never keep him up past 7pm.
• He sings all the time! And he's really good (for a one year old). ABC's and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star are his favorites. He can't quite say the words yet (but he's close), so he just grunts the tune. It's not uncommon to be woken up in the morning to him singing in his crib (which is much more pleasant than being woken up by him screaming in his crib :).
• He loves school and he's about to graduate to the next class (toddler's). I know he'll be fine, but I'm bummed because we love his teachers so much. And they love him too - his main teacher gets upset when I even mention him moving!
• He is very social (which I guess makes sense since he loves school so much). He loves getting out of the house and is always a flirt and makes friends anywhere we go.
• He's very smart and determined. He's already trying to do puzzles, 'read' books, climb on anything and do ANYTHING that brother does.
• He's started talking a lot lately. Not too many words, but he mumbles in what sounds like complete sentences. And he really thinks he's having a conversation with you. When it comes to actual words, 'Daddy' and 'Ball' are the two consistent ones. We also hear a lot of 'Mine'. Never 'Mommy'. Seriously. I'm pretty sure he and daddy are conspiring that to drive me crazy.
• As mentioned above, he has a TEMPER and he's not afraid to use it!! And I don't think that 'time-out' is going to work with this one.

It's a good thing I'm cute, because I can be TROUBLE!