It's just a few days shy of Evan's 18 month birthday, and he has changed a lot since I last wrote about all his milestones at 13 months!

Here is a recap of his milestones from the last several months!

13.5 months

• Evan had another case of pinkeye. Poor little man - luckily the eyedrops helped.
• Evan loves bath time!! All we have to do is say "bath time!" and he runs excitedly across the house to stand by the bathroom door. He rubs his belly, his little sign for bath.
• He is really into dancing - it's so cute to see him get excited about music and bop up and down, moving his hands back and forth. He likes to dance to "Taking Care of Business," just like Seth.
• He's gotten much better at walking. He is getting more steady on his feet. He goes so fast that we are always running after him to make sure he doesn't fall. He has his own little soundtrack as he runs, constantly making noise. It's very cute!
• He's picked up several more baby signs that he uses often - help, where is it, more, bath, dance/music.

14 months

• 2 more teeth - he got his top 2 molars, for a total of 10 teeth.
• He is getting more confident with eating - he likes to hold and take bites of crackers.
• He likes playing Peekaboo.
• He is getting better with his fine motor skills - he can put toy rings on a post, put big legos together, and roll balls down a chute.
• He is picking up lots more receptive vocabulary; he can follow directions more and more.
• He can touch his head on command.
• He is showing preference for certain songs, like The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Open and Shut Them, and Patty Cake.
• He makes this little throat gurgly noise when he is trying to make certain sounds.
• He is a little monkey/rascal!! He is so busy - he is always on the go go go! He does not sit still for more than a few minutes at a time, and is always on the move.
• He's learned to say "bye bye."
• In Hawaii, he picked up a few more words: "do" (dog), "bo" (book), "bye bye", "ba" (ball/bowl/bottle).

14.5 months

• Evan likes to feed himself. It is funny - he will pick food up with his hand and then place it on his spoon.
• He can say "da" for dance.
• He can blow kisses - so cute!
• He can push himself up to standing from sitting on the floor now - he does not have to push against the wall anymore.
• Poor Evan had a little accident. He likes to walk with toys in his hands, and we are always running after him to take things away. This one time he was walking with a toy and both his hands were occupied. He fell on his face and tore his frenulum (piece of skin between upper teeth and lip). The dentist told us it was not a problem - his was tight and would probably have needed to be cut anyway!

15 months

• Evan's bottom 2 molars are coming in. Soon he will have 12 teeth!
• He nurses just in the morning now. It is nice to hold onto one last nursing session each day. He loves to drink cow's milk, too! He can really drain his sippy cup.
• At his 15-month doctor's appointment, he weighted in at 21 pounds 14 ounces (14%ile) and was 30" tall (17%ile).
• He seems to have stopped using his baby signs at this point, and uses several words. He can say "uh-oh", "ba ba" (barn for Big Red Barn), "ba ba" for ball (he loves balls!). At times he can say a couple words/signs together like "bye bye ma ma" or "milk ma ma."
• For the most part, though, he has stopped calling me Mama and calls everyone he loves Dada. I am trying not to take it personally! :)
• When we ask him what a cow says, he says "mmmm." So cute!
• When he rolls cars on the floor, he says "vroom."
• He tries to get into his little blue chair he got from Geema by himself.
• He can bounce a ball.
• When we put him to bed, he likes to give us a kiss and point his little finger. He likes his routine of books, songs and kisses.
• He still has a great receptive vocabulary!
• He likes to imitate us, like by pouring water on himself in the bath.
• Evan likes to lie his head against us and snuggle (briefly) or lie his head against pillows or the couch.
• Around 15.5 months, we transitioned Evan to one nap a day. He was starting to get resistant to his second nap, so we thought this was a good time. It took a few days (at daycare he would go to the nap room at his usual nap time), but then he settled into the schedule pretty easily. If only he would get up later than 5am!!

16 months

• Though Evan is always on the go, he can sit for a few minutes and entertain himself with rings, blocks, etc. We take any chance we get to sit for a couple minutes!
• Evan is still really enjoying feeding himself, using a spoon and taking bit bites of things.
• He likes to put his toys away where they go, then take them right out again!
• He can get into his blue chair all by himself! So proud!
• He likes to be read to - he'll sidle up to us and sit in our lap. Favorites are Very Busy Spider, "Ba (Big Red Barn) and "Mmm" (Moon).
• He likes to initiate play with us - sometimes to snuggle, sometimes to jump around with Daddy and Seth.
• He loves this cool caterpillar toy he got from Auntie Carolyn. He likes us to push it across the floor for him, and he shrieks and runs to get it.
• He won't sit still in the stroller for walks - he always pulls off one shoe and sock - always the left. We call him "Shoedini!"
• Evan has started nodding sometimes if we ask him a question.
• Evan likes to imitate Seth - shaking a piece of cheese in his mouth. Sometimes these imitations are good, sometimes not so good! :)
• Lots of interest in fine motor skills - fitting his shape blocks into place.
• He's been more snuggly than usual, running to us for hugs, snuggles at bedtime, and giving open-mouthed kisses.
• He has adjusted to one nap a day, lasting anywhere from 1 to 3 hours. He usually sleeps at night from about 7/7:30pm to 6/6:30am.

16.5 months

• Evan has pretty much given up nursing at this point. It was a little bittersweet, but not traumatic. It happened naturally, and this was as it should be!
• He can help take his clothes off for bath time.
• His baby signs are coming back, especially more and help.
• He still only has a handful of words he uses reliably - "dada", "Seth", "this", "ba" (ball), "bye bye", "ba" (barn). He can says a cow says "mmm" and a lion says "rrr"
• We're teaching him the signs for "please" and "thank you".
• He's making lots of cognitive/physical strides: he likes to sit down on the floor cross-legged (so cute - he uses his hand to cross his feet), he's even better at getting in little chairs, he is trying to climb, he puts his sippy cup down on the floor the right way (though he purposely pours milk on his high chair tray), and he's been stacking on his own - blocks and cups 5 or 6 high! He's so determined!
• He's making strides in music class: he'll tap his knees during "Hello Everybody" and he'll put away the instruments in the bin at clean-up time without crying (mostly)
• He does some things we remember Seth doing at this age: throwing out his own diaper in the diaper bin, playing with Fridge Farm, and discovering how to spin in circles.

17 months:

• Evan has made a few more strides in language. He still has an excellent receptive vocabulary. He has started saying "all done" and "dance" (while bouncing up and down), and he is getting the beginning sounds of up/down, on/off, open/close. He has also added some new signs: "please" and he's working on "thank you."
• He can point to many parts of his face - eyes, nose, mouth, head, feet. He can also do animal sounds for cow, lion, and duck.
• He's getting better and better at stacking.
• He's just discovered he can climb onto the couch - oh no!!
• He nods yes and no a lot.
• He's added the word "diaper" into his repertoire - especially when he wants to throw out his own diaper.

Right at 18 months:

• He can scribble with a crayon or with chalk.
• He can imitate us.
• His can follow lots of receptive directions.
• He can walk fast/run and climb.
• He is still a little baby of extremes - he is either really happy or really unhappy. Seth had a much more level temperament when he was Evan's age. It is interesting how every chid is so different!
• He takes one nap a day, usually 2-3 hours. After a month or so of getting up anywhere from 4:30 to 5:30 am, we think we may have found a groove where he is getting up at 6:15/6:30. Please please please continue!!!
• He loves to be busy - he is always playing with something. He also loves to play with Seth! He wants to be near him, wants him to sit next to him in their chairs.
• He likes to feed us when we are feeding him, and he doesn't let us get away with pretending to take a bite!
• He likes to stick out his tongue and lick food like ketchup, hummus, etc.
• He likes to run around with his toy ice cream cone and have us pretend to take licks.
• He is still a little blondie - he has a lot of curls in the back, and he gets a little sweaty head in the summer. He won't keep his hat on!
• Evan is very opinionated! He makes his wishes known, many times by shrieking!
• He won't eat as much of a variety of foods as when he was nine-months-old, but has his favorites - yogurt, avocado, eggs, crackers.
• We think he will come into speaking in his own time. Though Seth was saying a lot of words at this age, we know every child is different. Evan understands so much receptively, and nods yes or no vehemently to answer questions. He does lots of baby signs (help, more, open, please, thank you) and says a handful of words reliably (dada, Seth, this, bye bye, all done, diaper, ball, barn). He's starting to say words like down and up. He can point to body parts and make animal sounds. We think one of these days he's going to bust out with a full sentence, like he's been observing and waiting for the right moment!

We love little Evan so much. He is so much fun and is so full of energy. Can't wait to see what comes next!