All Grown Up

Michael turned 18 months this week. I swear in the last month, he has turned into a such a little boy. I gave him a real hair cut, not just a trim over the ears and mullet control and he looks SO grown up. He went from 9 month clothes to 18 month clothes overnight, grew out of his soft bottom shoes and and now he looks like a boy. This is kind of long, so read on if you really want to know, but I've been shocked how often I've referred back to Isabelle blogs to see when she was doing things and what she loves, etc.

He loves basketball. We've been watching the NBA playoffs so basketball has been on alot. He wants to watch it and brings me the remote, "Bah Ball." He's adorable. He even noticed the folded up backboard in the cultural hall in sacrament meeting and then started yelling "Bah Ball" of course right when it was dead silent. He was in the 3rd percentile for height and 10th for weight. Poor kid needs to start loving hockey or soccer. He does love any kind of ball and loves to throw things and jump off of things.

I have loved watching the gender difference. At this age Isabelle was the perfect little mommy. Michael has a sound effect for everything. Isabelle STILL can't make a gun noise, but Michael sure can. He is intense. He loves to head butt and even when giving a hug doesn't just give you a hug, he goes crazy. I can't even describe it. Rocks, cars, puddles and balls. I love watching my little boy.

He recently has become quite the daddy's boy. He will just randomly start saying "Da-deee."

He gets sad when Mike leaves and comes to me "Da-deee?" After explaining he will be back, he brightens up. Mike now gets attacked by both kids and Jake when he walks in the door. You think I exaggerate with attacked...you haven't seen it.

He had to help Dad change the brakes on the car.

He sticks his tongue out just like Dad when he concentrates (you can see it in the picture above).

He's obsessed with Toy Story. Woody and Buzz action figures are his best friends. He plays with them ALL the time and carries them around. If you look in the collage (click on it to make it bigger), he even uses Buzz to scratch his ears for him. He can spot Buzz a mile away in stores. Then he screams "Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!" and is completely out of control for a good few minutes as we pass by. I can't help but laugh every time.

He can now say so many words and is talking a TON! Last week, most of the things he could say started with D or B. Dog, drink, daddy, bubbles, bath, Buzz, basket ball, banana, and more I can't remember but this week he's started saying everything, water, milk, cheese, shoes, hot dog, Matthew, Walter, Jennifer (people and dog that live around us), the list goes on and on. He's also moved on from telling me after he's gone potty to telling me while he goes potty.

He still LOVES his nightly bath. I can get him to stop doing anything including crying if I say bath! He's also a great helper with cleaning up. If he spills water in the kitchen he gets a towel and cleans it up. He loves to help vacuum and clean up his toys. He LOVES to read and is obsessed with books.

He will eat just about anything. He doesn't love most fruits and veggies especially if they are cold and slimy. He'll eat bananas and carrots, corn on the cobb and apples, but other than that, it's usually squished and thrown. He doesn't like to drink out of sippy cups and gets mad when he asks for a drink and you are holding a cup and get him a sippy cup. He'll throw it at you.

We've moved him out of the crib this week in preparation for baby brother. He's done really well. The best thing is he is too short to reach the door knob. Isabelle did awesome until she figured out the door knob 3 days after her transition. Michael has a few months. I've been making sure to hit bed time almost perfectly and made sure to wear him out all week for both nap and bed time and that helped too. He's so tired he crashes quick. Ahh the things you learn with experience. I'm sure I'll have a few new tricks for #3 too.

You can't quite see it very well, but he's laying on the return air vent. Most nights when we go to bed this is where I find him. He even has the lines in his face.

My grown little boy.