18 Months

October 29, 2011

Dear Riggins,

You are now one and a half years old!  (Which means only 6 more months until you are TWO!  Impossible!)  We continue to be amazed at your growth and development, and getting to know the little person you are becoming is such a joy.

This month, you continued to add to your vocabulary.  New words include night night (nih nih), hot, more, bye bye, boy, egg, tractor, bubble, "baa" for sheep, baby, oh wow, and my personal favorite, wowee!  You are particularly fond of greetings these days, and rarely pass up an opportunity to say "Hi!" or "Bye!" with a wave to anyone or anything making an entry or exit.  Such a friendly little guy!  You started saying "Mommy and Daddy" more than "Mama and Dada," which is funny because we never taught you that!  You have taken an interest in learning letters through Starfall.com, to the point that we have to be careful when we get out the laptop or you will assume that it is time to practice your letters; you get very excited and quickly disappointed if we don't follow through!  You have also increased your attention to your magnetic Leap Frog letters and Letter Factory DVD, so we are feeding that curiosity as much as you want!

One of my favorite things about you is your tender-hearted, compassionate personality.  You are generous with hugs and kisses, and are very attuned to the feelings of others.  When a little friend was having a hard time missing his mama while playing at our house, you quickly gave him a hug and laid your head on his shoulder as we prayed for him to feel better.  You give Weber kisses as often as she will sit still enough to receive them.  Apparently she your love for animals extends beyond Weber, because when we saw a kitten the other day, you approached very slowly, stooped down, said a soft hello, gently tickled its back, and then slowly leaned in to kiss its nose!  I was shocked by your instinctive gentleness!  You are all boy, and yet you have a soft side that is just so sweet and kind.

I have a feeling that quality will make you a wonderful big brother!  You said "baby" for the first time recently, and now regularly walk up to me, lift up my shirt, point to my tummy, and say "baby!"  The other day, you did the usual routine, but said "BOY!"  Next week we will find out if you were right!  Each night we pray for the baby, and you say "baby baby baby" and pat my belly as we pray.  So precious.

Physically, you weigh 24.4 lbs (29%) and are 33 inches long (72%).  You wear a size 18 month clothing and a size 5 diaper.  You eat well, though your appetite varies from day to day.  Favorites are any cheese, any fruit, Goldfish, muffins, pancakes and waffles, pot roast, and meatballs.  This month I discovered that you will eat canned green beans; I had been feeding you frozen, which I guess were too tough, but you are throwing down the canned ones like a champ!  You drink milk at meals and water in between.  You are still flexible on your nap routine, taking one afternoon nap on the days when we are out and about in the morning, but sometimes taking a morning cat nap if we are home and you seem sleepy.  You sleep from around 7-8 at night until about 7 in the morning.  Two new teeth arrived this month, and boy were those top molars brutal!

We had lots of fall fun this month!  We have visited a pumpkin patch, gone on a hayride, carved jack o' lanterns, taken nature walks to look at leaves, made caramel apples, pies and cookies, taken lots of trips to Starbucks for mommy's pumpkin spice lattes, and watched football with Daddy.  Your Grammy and Grampy visited from Arkansas this month, and you had so much fun with them at the zoo and pumpkin patch!  It is very important to me that you develop close relationships with both sets of grandparents; you are such a lucky boy to have such doting grandparents who will be wonderful examples for you!  

At 18 months, you love: Weber, your friend Isaac (you call him "I"), going to BSF, playing outside, watching big kids, going on runs with Daddy in the Bob, playing on our bed, flipping through your books (after removing ALL of them from the shelf!), listening and dancing to music, baths, tractors and trucks, animals, airplanes, your yellow blanket, your red rocking chair, the metal cooling rack that I use for baking (you get it out at least once a day and drag it around the house), the salad spinner, helping in the kitchen, your sound machine (which you call "nigh nigh"), your wooden train and shape sorter cube, and Praise Baby or Baby Einstein DVDs.

You dislike: going to the nursery (for the last two months you struggled with separation anxiety, but two weeks ago you finally turned the corner and are having fun at all of our activities!), waiting to be fed, being reprimanded (especially in regard to touching the DVD player), brushing your teeth, and holding hands when walking (we're working on this habit and you're getting better!).

If you haven't noticed, your Daddy and I like you a lot.  We still go into your room each night before we head to bed just to look at you sleeping.  We giggle at the funny positions we find you in and the sweet expressions on your face, and after we've tip-toed back out to the hall and shut your door, I say, "Have I mentioned how cute he is?" or "Have I said before how much I love that kid?"  And your Daddy just laughs, because I say how cute you are and how much I love you at least 1,000 times per day.  And I probably kiss your cheeks twice that much.

So like I said, in case you've missed the memo in the last year an a half, we love you to pieces, Riggs, and we're going to spend the rest of our lives showing you!  (But I promise I'll stop commenting on your cuteness in front of your friends at some point...I'll still be thinking it, but I won't say it out loud ;)

A Bushel and a Peck,
Mommy