18 Months!

Ben turned 18 months old on Tuesday (which was also his cousin Gabriel's 5th birthday!). I can't believe Ben is a year and a half old already! We've been very lucky to be mostly healthy this Winter, but Ben and I got hit the past 2 weeks by a stomach flu, cold and then ear infections. I *think* Ben is feeling better (hopefully I didn't just jinx us). It's been a long couple weeks, especially since Ben dropped his morning nap right when all the sickness started.

He had his 18 month check-up on Tuesday and he is 34 inches tall and 26lbs8oz (still 60% for weight and 90% for height). We knew he was getting taller because he can now reach the top of our kitchen counters and actually pulled an empty coffee cup off the counter and broke it last week.

Here's his 18 month update:

Sleeping - Other than the past couple weeks, Ben is a great sleeper! He's been waking between 6 and 7, goes down for his nap around 11 and sleeps until 1 or 1:30. Bedtime is 8 and he usually falls asleep immediately.

Eating - Ben is still a good eater, but he's getting a little picky. He current favorites are cheesy rice, corn, turkey dogs, sweet potato fries, ham and eggs, oranges, peaches and of course cantaloupe. He LOVES his milk and would gladly drink it all day but we limit it to first thing in the morning, before his nap, and before his bath. Otherwise he drinks water. He's getting better at feeding himself with a spoon (if I load it up with food).

Behavior/Playtime - Ben is generally a good-natured boy, but he definitely has his toddler moments and went through a phase of tantrum -throwing at 16 months. That has gotten better but we've been dealing with some food-throwing (this started when he was recovering from his stomach virus). Ben thinks it's HILARIOUS when we "yell" at him so that makes it a challenge to get him to stop. Ben loves playing with toys, especially his singing duck, singing Donald (yes, he has 2 different singing ducks!), blocks, farm, and books. He loves to chase us and be chased and we play hide and seek often. He loves to play outside and tries to open the sliding door by himself. I can't wait for the weather to warm up so we can play outside more. Ben makes us laugh all the time with the funny things he does. Tonight at dinner I asked him if he liked the song that was on the radio. He was putting food in his mouth with one hand so he did a half-clap. I could not stop laughing!