IJG is 18 months old!

IJG is now 23.5 pounds and 31” (2 ft 7 in). He is a little guy compared to most his age.

IJG started saying "truck", "stick", and "go" this month, bringing his total to 13 words. I realized that I don’t count mama or dada in his word count yet, even though he can say them and can identify us by them, he doesn’t “use” the words to call for us or get our attention yet. He did start saying mama a lot in the last week or so maybe he’ll start using them soon. He also started making animal sounds. He can “roar” like a lion, “baa” like a sheep, “ssss” like a snake, “bzzz” like a bee, “moo” like a cow (started as a “boo”), “quack” like a duck (kind of), "cluck" like a chicken (kind of), and he’s been making his dog noise for months. It’s strange, but every time our dogs or other dogs bark he makes a high pitch “huh” noise. That's his bark.

IJG is getting better with puzzles but still just likes to get the piece where it belongs without actually fitting it in place. He is finally incorporating arm movements into his dancing. He does hand movements to “the wheels on the bus” song. I always poke his tummy when “the horn goes beep beep beep” but I never expected him to start poking his own tummy for the horn! He throws and kicks balls nicely and his teacher says his over the head throwing is quite advanced for his age. He still loves books and will sit in my lap and have me read him books for hours if I let him. He loves to climb and realized he could climb onto our bed via the trunk at the end. He attempts to climb up our headboard and onto our side tables every morning.

He has become obsessed with trucks and looks for them while we are driving or outside and yells “TUK” when he finds one. His obsession started when we went to the RV park in Austin, where he first started using the word and calling all of the RVs trucks. He enjoys putting our shoes on and walking around. He no longer likes to swing at parks but now loves slides and will get into position and go down on his own. He also loves the seesaw and vehicles/animals on springs and rocks himself nicely. He received a tricycle for Hanukkah but can’t quite reach the pedals nor understands the concept of steering.

He gives proper kisses on our mouth or cheek when he feels like it. If he is in the mood he will give them when requested. He still gets his timing off sometimes and kisses the air before he makes contact. His kisses are usually in slow motion. He will also just start kissing the air and want me to kiss back at him repeatedly. He still hugs whenever requested and just made it into a game where he will repeatedly hold his arms up and out and run at you for a hug. This morning, when I brought him to school, he ran at one of the girls, hugged her and pulled her down with him to the floor. I’ve never seen him do this. He then chased her around the room for more but she wasn’t having it.

IJG has been sleeping about 11 hours each night, 8:00 pm to 7:00 am. His nap typically ranges from 1.5 to 2 hours but sometimes he surprises us.

His eating schedule has remained the same although dinner is pushed back to 5:30 pm typically. He surprised me this month by eating raw kale and cooked collard greens. I’ve also begun giving him raisins.

We attempted some potty learning again this month but all it accomplished is having IJG pee on the floor a few times. I'll try again soon.

He is still unpredictable with other children, sometimes swatting, pushing, or hair pulling. But he is getting a bit better with being gentle and will often “pet” his classmates when I remind him to be gentle. He still gets physical with us when he is upset by not being able to do something he wants to do.

IJG has been sick zero times this month! He has had strange bowel habits, with once daily explosions upon waking each (sometimes every other) morning. But it doesn’t seem to be related to an illness or problem. Hopefully it’s just a stage.