Austin 17-18 Months

Austin - I love you darling. This past month seems to have flown by in a haze - and I didn't keep track of things like I should have. It makes me a little sad because I want to take a snapshot of you just how you are right now and remember it in my mind forever, but I know that time will fade these memories. I think that's why I write such detailed blog posts each month. I just have so much love and I don't want to forget a minute of it. But, more than anything I hope I remember how sweet and funny you are and how happy you make me as your mama. 

(I'm writing this a week late but back posting it for ease of searching later. It's how I pretend to be caught up on my life.)

Stats: 

Weight: 20 lbs 10 oz
Length: 31.25 in
Head circ: 47 cm 

Moving his way to size 4 diapers. Size 4 shoes. 12 month clothes fit great. 18 month pants drowwwwwwn him. 

Things I want to remember: 

--Austin loooves to play peekaboo. He'll cover his eyes with his hands or more often than not, he'll dive to the ground and bury his head in the carpet/blanket/couch. If you say "Where's Austinnnnn?" He'll giggle and giggle and keep his face hidden until you tickle him. Then he'll bury his face again and laugh or make noise until you "look" for him again.

--He likes to hide places. His favorite, favorite place to hide is in our closet. Lydia likes to hide beneath my shirts hanging in the closet. One day I could hear him back there so I started saying "Where's Austin?". I heard him laughing and so I pulled back the shirts to surprise him saying "There he is!" But... he wasn't there! So then I really started looking and honestly couldn't find him. Then I heard him giggle again and realized that he had crawled behind my white bin of drawers that I have set up in the closet. There's just enough space between the bin and the wall that if you crawl under the shirts you can scoot behind the bin. (And by you, I mean an 18 month old body can crawl and scoot.) He loves it back there! He pushes the drawers out and laughs, and loves for you to try to find him there. I love it about him.  

--When I'm snuggling him as he's just waking up in the morning or just falling asleep at night, he likes to hold my hand. His hand searches mine out and disturbs him until I find his hand and hold it. Then he calms right down. Sometimes he plays with my thumb - but mostly he just likes to have a hold on me. 

--He's learning to say more words. I read a book tonight and at the end it said "Hooray!" He repeated back his own little version of Hooray! Something like "Ho-ay". I loved it. 

--He loves books. He loves to read them, and he loves to look through them. Whenever I put him down, whether for a nap or for bedtime, I always set a book propped open in the crib with him. (His head on the pillow turned sideways and then he plays with the pages while he goes to sleep.) One of his very favorite things to find in books are the fish. It's a funny thing, but he can pick them out and likes to look at them (specifically, we have a book of first words with a whole school of colorful fish and he loves them).

-He's a pretty good eater and will eat most things that we give to him. Unless he sees a bottle of ranch/ketchup/sauce. Then he will refuse to eat another bite of food until the sauce has been added to his plate. He then proceeds to dip his food in the sauce and happily eat away. He's not like some who just want to lick the sauce off of the food, because he actually eats the food. He just likes to dip it first.

--He also loves to use utensils. If I give him his food and forget to give him a spoon or fork he sits and points until I get it for him. He's eaten with utensils for a long time now and is really good at it - so much so that I don't even really notice anymore. But other people always comment on it when they see it and that reminds me that it's not normal for such a little boy to eat so well with a spoon and fork. (We were at Del Taco the other day burning time while our tires were rotate on our car at the Les Schwab nearby and I got him a bean and cheese cup with a spoon. He ate nearly the entire cup without dropping almost any of it. I wasn't really thinking about it, but finally a lady sitting nearby came over to talk to me about it because she was so amazed he was doing so well. He's just really methodical about getting it to balance and making sure it makes it to his mouth. 

--He likes to play ring around the rosies, and then after we've fallen on the ground laughing, he stands up and pulls on your hand saying "again" until you stand up to do it again. 

--Austin and Emily are good friends. However, frequently Austin steals her pacifier right out of her mouth and Emily hugs him until he cries. But they do love each other very much.

Some pictures from this month:

I know there are a hundred more things that I will be sad to forget but just can't remember enough to write down at this exact moment. 18 months is such a fun age. I am often surprised at how small Austin is, when all I could think about Lydia was how big she was. But I certainly love experiencing life with this little one and watching him learn and grow. 

Love you darling baby boy!