Baby Love!: 18 months...WOW!

Drew and I are having such a great summer together! Last year at this time I remember wondering what he would be like this summer. What would he be interested in? What would we be doing? What kind of personality would he have?

Oh, BOY! Nothing could have prepared me for the amount of joy I feel in being able to have a job where I get to spend the summer with my child. Drew is my little buddy and I am already dreading going back to work in a little over a month. I just have to keep counting my blessings and looking on the bright side. :)

So, what is Drew like these days? He is a full-blown, rambunctious, into-everything, curious, helpful, funny, personality-plus toddler!

Barefoot in the grass 7/18/12

I am lucky enough to be able to send Drew to daycare two days each week this summer, just so he can still be around other kids and have some structure in his days. Recently, he was moved up to the 2 year old toddler room, where he will mostly likely stay until he is about 2 1/2. Two of his little friends from his previous room moved with him, all because the teachers felt they were developmentally ready to take on the "big kids". Drew is definitely the size (or bigger) than the kids in his new class. It's amazing to see how far along these kids are with their language and development. I can't wait to see Drew be able to do the things these kids are doing! It's only a short matter of time before he will be stringing words together with meaning, feeding himself efficiently, and improving his coordination. Such fun things to come!

One thing all of Drew's teachers have said is that he is very helpful, which we see at home as well. He always helps pick up his toys and even helps mommy put the laundry into the dryer.

Helping mommy "clean" the windows

Since I'm a special ed teacher, I think I may be a little more neurotic about developmental milestones. At Drew's 15 month appointment, I spoke to his pediatrician because I was concerned about Drew's language development. It didn't seem like Drew was speaking with meaning a whole lot. He basically said "ball" and "dog" consisitently, but still wasn't saying "mama" or "dada" discriminately. After speaking with the doctor, he reassured me that Drew is doing just fine developmentally with his language. I realized that he is using the sign language they are teaching him in daycare and that his receptive language (how he receives language) is VERY strong, which will in turn help to develop his expressive language (how his language comes out).

Since his 15 month appointment, I still feel like his language development is maybe a little slow, but I'm not as worried. One of his little "friends" at daycare who is a few days younger than him was saying "vacuum" the other day. I was like, "Seriously?!?" Vacuum?!? We're still working on "dog" and "mama"!!!".

Words Drew can say consistently:

"ba"- which means ball or bye-bye
"da"- which can mean dog, done, there (when he points to an object he wants)
"mama" and "dada"- he is more consistent with saying dada
"nak"- snack
"ish"- fish
"mmmm-baa"- means I want to get up on something

Words Drew can sign: more, eat, bye-bye, milk, all-done, and blow kisses :)

Signing that he wants "more" iPad :)

My best friend pointed out the other day that while Drew may not be able to say many words right now, he is totally understanding what we are asking him or what he is being told. I think that's why I'm not as worried anymore, because he is so smart when you ask him to get something or if you tell him to do something. He is definitely comprehending language, which is a relief to this slightly neurotic mama!

Maybe he's not saying so much because he's getting all these new teeth, too! Drew's molars came in around 16 months, which added to his top 4 front teeth and his bottom 2 front teeth. In the last week, it seems like all the other "filler" teeth have started erupting through his gums. Right now he has 6 teeth coming through, but he is taking it like a champ. Besides excessive drooling, he seems unaffected. I'm pretty sure this is why God gives us all our teeth when we are babies. Adults would not be able to stand the pain and babies don't remember it!

Fun with yogurt. Look at all those chompers!

In other areas of development, Drew is doing just fine. He's walking and running around, picking up and throwing balls, stacking blocks, starting to use a spoon to eat (very messy!) and is almost exclusively on the sippy. He wipes his face after eating and helps me brush his teeth. He's become interested in the potty all of a sudden, too. He wants to flush the toilet every time we go in the bathroom. I decided it was time to buy Drew his own potty, just to get used to for the moment. We're not starting any potty training yet, but I want him to associate the potty with what's going on in his diaper. :)

He would play with this all day if I let him :)

I just can't get over how BIG he is. At his last doctor visit, he was almost 30 pounds and 34 inches long. He is going to be a big boy! He's comfortably wearing 2T clothes and will probably be wearing 3T by the fall. His current sandals are a size 6, but he'll probably need a 7 for the fall. It's insane how fast he's growing!!!

Drew has definitely become a "mama's boy" this summer and has been my little buddy. We've had so much fun playing with his water table outside, hanging out with friends, going to the zoo, and visiting family. I'm just so glad we have a little summer left, because there is still so much fun to be had with my boy! :)