Tyler: 18 Months

November 24-December 23, 2011 (17 to 18 months old)

His serious look

What's new with Tyler?

• Judging by the way he can kick a ball, we may have a soccer player on our hands.
• He started walking backwards.
• He's getting his 4th molar and he's oh so cranky!
• He loves peeling oranges.  I just barely start it for him and then he takes over from there.  He gets so into it... peels off all the peel, puts the peel in the sink, pulls the strings off, separates the wedges and then asks for another one to peel.
• He helps me unload the dishwasher by handing me all of the dishes.
• He's obsessed with the dish brush (of course it would be the one loaded with soap).  He loves to get ahold of it and scrub everything down, which leaves a trail of soap everywhere.
• He drags me all over the place by my pant leg or shirt bottom.  I've become his little rag doll, everywhere he goes, mama goes (whether she wants to or not).
• His obsession for Dyson continues.  We finally had to hide Dyson in a different location to keep our sanity.  A week later Tyler found Dyson upstairs and I can honestly say I've never seen this child so excited.  He went ballistic when I took him downstairs without Dyson.
• He intentionally farts to make me laugh.  
• He sucks in air and squeals when his mama or dada walks in the room.  Nothing better!
• He's developed a love for photos.  He loves looking at photos in frames, on phones, etc.  One night at Grammy's, he pointed to our picture on an ornament and giggled.  Then he kissed the phone when I texted him a pic of us.  We have a mouse pad with our family photos on it, he loves pointing to them, saying our names and kissing it.
• He's starting to like matchbox cars.  He runs them along tables and window sills and hums a car sound.

Language:

New sounds:

• Sheep
• Horse
• Car

New words:

• More (moah)
• Grandpa (pam-pa, pa-paw)
• Apple (ap-po)
• Matilda (til-da)
• Egg (agg)
• Juice
• Hat
• Elmo (eh-mo)
• Yes (yea)
• Applesauce (aaa-sauce, this one makes everyone laugh!)
• Milk (mal)
• Ball
• Horse (hor-say)
• Hi (ha)
• Tower
• Turtle (tur-toe)

New signs:

• Grandpa
• Amazing
• Juice
• Again
• Drink
• Cracker
• Horse
• Water
• Baby

And sooooo many more, I just can't quite understand the rest.

Little moments that made me smile:

• He's been asking for baba for awhile and we could not figure out what he wanted.  He hasn't had a bottle since he was 8m old.  Then one day he signed water while saying baba.  We had no idea where he came up with baba for water, but finally we knew he was asking for water.  Then one day we heard his baby Elmo say "Elmo wants baba" and you're supposed to stick the bottle in his mouth.  Mystery solved.
• He went to the fridge, tried to open it, looked at me and signed eat.  I've waited for this day when he would tell me he was hungry instead of just getting fussy.
• He hands me his fork and asks for ep (help).  I hand his fork back with eggs on it and he says/signs thank you.  This was his first time saying thank you on his own.  Proud mama!
• He says Mmmmmm Mmmmmmm Mmmmmmm while he eats his eggs.

Sleep:

Sleeping through the night... I jinxed myself.  It was great while it lasted!  On top of the 4th molar, Tyler caught an adenoviral cold that resulted in high fever (as high as 103.3) for 4 nights.  This resulted in no appetite and wanting to nurse around the clock.  He's been perfectly healthy for over a month now but still has not gone back to sleeping through the night.  I wish I wouldn't have gotten a taste of 8 consecutive hours of sleep because now I want it, really want it!

Travel:

If you remember my post on our trip to Gatlinburg, you may recall what a torturous drive it was with Tyler crying almost the entire trip.  I'm very very very happy to report that we now have a happy traveler!  We downloaded Tyler's Signing Time videos onto Kerry's iPad and mounted it to the rear headrest for Tyler to watch.  We then made the 7.5 hr trip to my SIL's house for Christmas.  We wore him out with books, games and snacks until he could no longer be entertained.  We then played his videos and what a happy camper we had!  I wasn't crazy about him watching 3 or 4 episodes in one sitting, but I figure he's strapped down unable to be active anyway.

Now for the first time ever, he gets in his car seat on his own instead of fighting us like crazy.  Before I can get him buckled in, he's signing/saying "Tine Time, Tine Time, Tine Time!!!!".

This month in photos:

Oh my has he grown!!!  Here he is at 3 months...

...and here he is 14 months later:

Thanksgiving

Brothers (18 yrs apart)

Our little raccoon enjoying the park

It's never a dull moment when these two chill on the couch.  Matilda was determined to hold his hand and he was having none of it.

The girl is confident and determined!

He would rather pick his toes!

The boy is such a lounger!

When he chills, he really chills!

Christmas in Alabama... Tyler still hates sand.

Tyler's 1st train ride

Yes, we tortured him with TWO Santa visits!

Cousins

This month in video:

Video:  One of my nannies took this video of our boys doing a hoe down.

Video:  Tyler starred in one of Kerry's business promo videos, I trimmed it to only show Tyler's part.

Video:  Tyler signing thank you, Signing Time and then please.

Video:  Tyler signing more, eat, mama, dada, grandpa and bye bye.

Video:  Tyler loves Jason's Deli and kept doing this over and over again!

Video:  The boy loves him some cottage cheese!

Video:  Tyler signing, sword fighting, karate chopping?  I'm not sure!  Then us trying to get him to do his new funny laugh, and lastly his squinty eye face.