18 Months already come and gone!

My little lad - Isaiah - turned 18 months before I even knew it. I can't believe it's already been a couple weeks since that date. I wanted to give a little run down on what he's been up to lately (besides ER trips).

I don't know if I could ever fully express my joy and excitement over the privilege of being his mommy. Isaiah is everyday unfolding into such a fun and interesting little boy, always curious. He LOVES to talk, and LOVES to be challenged, and LOVES to be quizzed about words, people's names, animals, sounds, colors, shapes, types of trucks or types of sports equipment. You may think you're done asking him what this or that is, only for him to say 'more, more.'

He's a talker....(mommy and daddy apparently have this particular problem too...way back to childhood). I am sure that his list of words is getting close to 200 now,... I stopped counting at 100 over 2 months ago. He LOVES books. His favorite book is "Oh, the Places You'll Go" by Dr. Seuss, and he would have me read it a hundred times (mommy stops at 3...and at this point has the book memorized). When I ask him what book he wants me to read he simply says 'go, go.'

He's not much of an eater. Not that he is particularly picky, but he just doesn't eat that much. Which is fine. He is currently about 35% for weight...but we're not concerned, he is particularly active and he definitely lets me know when he is hungry. He even makes particular food requests, i.e. toast, crackers, cheese, milk, banana, berries (cranberries) etc....depending on his desire at the moment I suppose. He does love his eggs for breakfast (which mommy loves cause it's cheep, easy and great protein), and grilled cheese for lunch...but dinner is pretty hit or miss.

If Isaiah only had 2 toys right now, it would be a truck and a ball. Although the truck would see more playing time. He is a truck man, that is for sure. He spends about 80% of his day organizing, pushing and re-arranging his trucks (and after Christmas, pushing them around the track). It's basically the Skaggs Truck Stop in our living room. But he also loves to wrestle, 'snuggle' (another form of wrestling and tackling), running, jumping, and playing any sort of basketball. And if we're outside.....it's DIRT!!!! or rocks....those are pretty cool too. And he has discovered that he can keep his rock treasures in his pockets.

My favorite time of day with Isaiah, hands down, would have to be nap time/bed time. It's the only time of day that he actually stops moving and will sit and really snuggle with me (the real kind of snuggle, not the wrestling boy version). We read books before nap and bed time while sitting on the small couch in his room. He always looks forward to this, so it makes bed time very easy. Then when we finish books, I continue holding him, I pray with him and then sing him to sleep. He is the best audience, and sometimes if I finish singing, he'll tell me more. I love this part of my day. Yes, it takes longer than just putting him in his crib, and sometimes it takes him quite a bit longer to fall asleep than other days, but I wouldn't give up the last 1 1/2 years of reading, praying, singing and holding for anything. It has been the most amazing time. When he was 3 months old I tried for 1 week to do the 'cry it out' method of putting him to bed. Then I quit....and it's one of the best decisions of my life. Every night I cherish, knowing that he won't always be this size again. And the fear that he wouldn't be able to put himself to sleep has been totally de-bunked for us. Isaiah will some nights just point to his crib when he is ready to lay down, or he will tell us, 'nigh-nigh.' And we lay him down, and never hear a peep.

Well, that's Isaiah at 18 months in a nut shell. No longer my little monkey, or peanut....but now he's my little warrior. I love him so much and am thrilled day to day to see what new things he discovers.