18 Months

Carder turned a year and a half while we were in California. As soon as we got home we had his 18 month doctors visit. He weighed just a little over 23 lbs (14th percentile) and was 35 inches tall (98th percentile). So as the doctor says he is tall and skinny (two adjectives I can only dream about describing me!)

At 18 months he:

* Is busy as ever...seriously this kid has more energy than a 6 pack of Rockstar Energy drinks

* His love affair with the wiggles is as strong as ever (though I do love the guys for making the 10 hour road trip to California super slick).

* He talks nonstop. The doctor actually said since he is so advanced linguistically we could think about starting to potty train him...maybe if I am brave after the holidays!?!

* He has started speaking in phrases, he says things like "watch the wiggles," "drink of water please," and "excused please" to be excused from eating (my obsession with emily post and all things etiquette is finally starting to click with him, well at least in one facet).

* Is obsessed with DVD's or how he says it "DBD's"...he needs to be holding the case, and to my dismay has learned how to open them and also how to take out the covers. We have paper remnants of Greg, Anthony, Jeff and Murray (the Wiggles DVD covers) all over our house.

* His favorite toy is his toothbrush. He has 3 or 4 around the house and every time he even gets a glimpse of one of them he will say "brush my teet...brush my teet" until we give one to him. Then he carries it around sometimes for hours brushing his teeth. Ever since he was little he has been fascinated with peoples teeth always wanting to check them out, so with this new tooth brush love affair as well I think we may have a future dentist on our hands.

* He can make all his animal sounds (snake, sheep, cow, lion, fish, bird, chicken, bear, duck, etc.)

* Knows most of his shapes (triangle, heart, star, oval, diamond, circle, rectangle, square, though he will overextend the word "triangle" for some of them sometimes)

* He can count up to 15 if help him along by doing every other number to keep him going

* loves to sing songs...he even makes up his own in the car or as I am rocking him to sleep

* loves to dance...and his moves crack us up

* loves to talk to Mimi and Ja Ja on the computer (skype)

* wants to help with everything...laundry, dishes, vacuuming

* continues to be obsessed with Halloween...he thinks all the snowflakes on our Christmas tree are ghosts...(or anything that is white and translucent and kind of floaty)...he'll point it out and say "ghost...wooOooo"

* Loves to kiss and cuddle and call you his "Honey Bunny"

* Is the friendliest and most loving kid ever (for example we went to this Christmas party last night and a Mom who has a little boy in nursery came up to me and told me that her son (who is a few months older than Carder) was having a hard time staying in there, and was really wanting to leave. So I guess Carder sees this and comes over to him and rubs the side of his arm and then just gives him a big hug so he'd feel better)

We just love him and couldn't be happier to have him in our lives!