Here is the 18 month old:
Being silly at the table
Doing stickers (someone has been watching his brother!)
Andy continues to be one busy, busy little guy. He is active, talkative, vivacious, silly, good-natured, affectionate (he loves to give hugs and kisses), goofy, happy, and fun.
Andy's vocabulary has just exploded, especially this past week. He has added a lot of new words the past month: yum, berry, ear, up, boot, Matt, box, fan, bowl, light, wall, butterfly (although he may be calling them birds), truck, and off. He is saying more two-word phrases. He had been saying "more please" or "more (something)" or "(something) please," but now he says "Ma(tt) bye bye" when Matt leaves, "cat bed" to point out the cat is on the bed, and "cat sleep" to point out a napping cat.
On a related note, he also is making more and more connections between things he sees or does. He is in general more aware of things. That has its drawbacks: the other night it was a bit of a struggle to convince him to go to sleep because he kept getting distracted by the dinosaurs on his pajamas. He has really made a lot of developmental leaps the past couple of weeks especially.
Andy is finally starting to show more interest in books and want to have them read to him, not just listen to something read to Matt as he plays with something else. He will pick out a book and sit through it more often. He likes to hear the same book several times in a row, too.
Andy remains a big fan of dinosaurs ("rawrs") as well as cars and trucks. He likes trains and is starting to show an interest in Thomas in particular. He also likes Winnie the Pooh and friends, Curious George, and the Disney Pixar cars - basically what Matt likes. He likes animals and is starting to realize they might make different noises; his default animal noise is "rawr" (whether it's a giraffe, goat, or lion). Andy's favorite animal is still the cat. Unlike Matt, who is wary of the cat after a few too many scratches, Andy continues to pursue the cat enthusiastically. One day perhaps she will appreciate the attention - most likely once it's a little less enthusiastic.
Andy's 18-month well visit appointment is coming up, so we'll learn soon exactly how much he has grown. He's still in 2T clothes and size 6 shoes, but we'll see how much longer that lasts. He is leaning out a little because he is so active but remains quite tall for his age.
