Lynden Rucker - 18 months

Lynden Rucker, you are now 18 months old {really almost 19 because I'm so super slow at posting this!!}.

At your 18mo well child check-up you were 28lbs, 33" long, and had a head circumference of 19". At 18months you were still riding rear-facing in the car. It is now recommended to ride rear-facing until two years of age or until the child reaches the top height or weight limit allowed by the car seat’s manufacturer. I thought your car seat stated it was safe to ride rear-facing until 30lbs, but when I re-read it the other day I realized it says TWENTY pounds!! Oops. You were TWENTY pounds at SIX months old! I should have bought a different car seat for you at six months so you could continue facing backwards. That said, I have turned you around. I can't tell that you like it any better. You were very content when rear-facing.

I tried to get your "18month" picture with you seated in my recliner, but you're a bit more active than you were at 12 months.

You have really started to slim up and don't have as many rolls as you once did. I placed your horse blanket in the picture as I did in the past, but didn't dare spell out "18 months" with your wooden blocks as I did every month through 12 months. That was just disaster waiting to happen.

Speaking of horse blanket, that is definitely your safety blanket. You LOVE that thing and take it with you all over the house. We've started referring to you as Linus from the Peanuts gang.

You have a few other faves as well...your "Florida Gator" your Aunt Euna gave you, Raegen's soft dog "Christy" that he sometimes calls "Pepsi", the Horton elephant, the hungry caterpillar, and any other random toy that you want at the moment. And of course your pacifier is still key in getting you to sleep. And oh how I despise that thing and love it at the same time. It brings you great comfort.

Not comforting to you, is being awoken from your slumber.

There better be a good reason or you will make us PAY!!!

You are a typical 18-month old and constantly on the move.

You have so many words...SOOOOO many more than Raegen had at this age. And you mimic most sounds so you are jabbering ALL the time. Here are the words I can think of right now that you say often:

momma

dadda

ball

hey

hi

bye-bye

what that?

nana

more

please

thank you

go-go

no!

uh-oh

baby

dog

mmm-mmm

You can also hum your A-B-C's. That's one of the songs Raegen would always sing to you to help calm you down. You obviously like the tune.

You also now have HAIR!!!! It's still an odd, orange-red-brown color. And it's also an odd, wiry, coarse type of hair.

You absolutely LOVE all your sister's fun toys and I often find you in my room enjoying them all!

You adore your big brother Raegen and can out-eat him two plates to one at the dinner table. He should really start working out because you're going to be a lot to handle! You wear mostly size 18-24mo clothing and some 24mo/2T.

You are a great big brother. If you see a burp cloth ANYWHERE, you bring it to Ellison. If you see her pacifier ANYWHERE, you also bring it to her and try your best to cram it in her mouth. haha

You still have the biggest, sweetest smile and Bro. Tim at church just loves for you to smile for him. He also now enjoys head-butting you. He's going to need a helmet before long!

As big as your grin, you have an equally big frown and TEMPER. It can be quite exhausting to deal with, but I'm trying my best to curb it now because otherwise you'll be overpowering me when you're THREE!

You are currently cutting your second year molars so there's lots of drool, fever, and waking in the middle of the night to find you walking around crying and screaming. You're in a toddler bed full-time now, but it's a lot of work to keep you in there. I've learned that if I will lay down with you, you're usually asleep within ten or fifteen minutes. However, there are some days and nights where that doesn't work. I set up the pack-n-play in your room and that's where you end up if you simply will not stay in bed.

You're a sweet, sweet baby growing into a sweet, sweet boy.