18 Months

A year and a half.  Really?!?!  Wow.  I am a little slow in getting this up, but he hasn't changed too much in the last week and a half. :)  Here's what he can do...

-  He has added several words to his vocabulary.  He can say Mommy, Daddy, Rudy, doggie, bird, ball, Bible, car, moon, choo-choo (for train), Uh-oh, poo-poo, tee-tee, something that means milk but does not sound like it at all, cheese (both the food and smile at the camera variety), bye-bye (he gets very excited and into it), hi (which he likes to say over and over), keys, shoes, hop, helicopter (pronounced ha-cop), and cheetah (I know, random).

-  He knows several body parts... belly button (his first to learn), eyes, ears, nose, mouth, teeth, head, hair, feet, toes, hands, fingers, and I think arm.  We are working on knees.

-  He loves to make animal sounds.  He can do dog, cow, horse, elephant, monkey, owl, snake, sheep, bird, chicken (sort of), and lion.  I think he is starting to do cat now too, but it doesn't really sound like a cat.  

-  He is still not much of a climber.  He loves to be on the couch/bed, but never tries to get on them himself.  

-  He is somewhat of a picky eater.  He eats A LOT of the foods he likes, but doesn't like to branch out to much.  He loves cheese, cheese quesadillas, mac n cheese (are you seeing a trend?), spaghetti, most fruit, and is pretty good with vegetables now, at least with green beans, peas and lima beans.  He is not a big fan of meat and he doesn't always like sweets.  Sometimes he eats them, sometimes he doesn't.  Weird.  He is a very suspicious eater.  He won't try new things if we just give them to him.  We have to leave them on his plate on the fork for him to examine and study before trying them.  You would think we were trying to poison him with the way he carries on when we are trying to get him to try new foods.  His two favorite foods right now would probably be mac n cheese (which he can eat an entire box in one setting if given the opportunity) and amazingly enough, lima beans.  He can put away some lima beans!  This picture makes me laugh because there used to be peas and carrots on his tray.  He ate every single pea and left every single carrot.

-  He is still a good sleeper.  He usually goes to bed around 8:30 and wakes up about 7:30ish.  He just recently transitioned to one nap a day and it is usually 2.5-3 hours.  Fantastic!

-  He has been getting his molars in now for about a month.  They have come one at a time, just drawing out the agony and crankiness.  I barely knew when he was getting his other teeth, but the molars have been a different story.  Awful!  

-  He has started becoming a little awnry at times.  He likes to scream, an act that we are trying to discourage, so if you see us and he is screaming, please don't laugh.  I know it is funny, but please don't egg him on.  He doesn't need any encouragement.  He also likes to hit when he doesn't get his way, another act we are trying to discourage.

-  He still bites some, but not as much as before.  Still only Brian and I and only when he is wrestling with Brian or really tired.  

-  He absolutely LOVES Rudy.  They are pretty much best friends.  They play together, wrestle together, sometimes eat together when Noah sneaks into the kitchen to get a handful of Rudy's food.  Noah loves to get a goldfish in his hand, show it to Rudy, and then run away as fast as he can holding it out taunting Rudy and laughing hysterically the whole time.  His other favorite thing to do is walk Rudy.  When we go for walks, he always has to be holding the leash.  Sometimes if Noah is driving us crazy, we make Rudy "take one for the team," leash him up and let Noah walk him around the house.  Sometimes I worry that Noah is driving Rudy crazy, but Rudy seems to enjoy the playmate and is very protective of him when strangers are around. 

-   He loves the show Handy Manny.  He has the toolbox and tools and he carries them around with him all the time.  Everytime the tools sing on the show, he starts dancing.  His other favorite toy would definitely be his trains.  He plays with his train table almost all day long.  I can't figure out why kids like trains so much.  It's not like they see them a whole lot in real life.  It is a mystery to me.  He always tries to put the cars on the train track.  They fit, but they don't have magnets to hold them to the other cars and he gets really frustrated when they get left behind.  He still loves to play with all his Little People animals from Noah's ark and the barn.  He knows the names of all the animals.  He can't say them, but if you ask him for a particular animal, he usually gets it right and brings it to you. 

-  He loves music and loves to dance.  

-  He loves to give kisses.  They are open mouthed, slobbery kisses.  When he does, there is always the fear that he is going to bite down as hard as he can on your cheek.  He rarely does though. :)

-  He loves to read.  He will go back into his room by himself and just read books.  His favorite books right now are "Before I Go to Sleep," which he got from my mom and "My Very Own Name" from Aunt Beth.

We love you Noah and have so much fun with you!  I am so grateful that God has given us the chance to be your parents.  Although everyday is not always fun and easy, we treasure every moment we have with you.  Thank you for being our son.  

After I wrote this, I realized that all the pictures were in his high chair.  I don't think it is because we spend that much time eating, although he is no lightweight.  I think it is becaue that is the only time I can get him still long enough to take a picture.  One of these days I will actually take him to the doctor for his check-up and get some stats on height and weight, but we have just been so busy lately.