21 Months

This was a pretty enjoyable month in the life of Noah. The first week and a half I was still on Winter Break. Our families all came to visit for the holidays this year as we had no interest in making a cross-country trip with an active toddler and dog. It was extremely nice to be with Noah every day, and at such a fun age! He's very social, so when we're out and about he tries to get attention from everyone. If little kids are around, he likes to run up to them and observe. If they respond, sometime he'll goof around but otherwise he'll come back to us. Noah insists on walking everywhere, so the stroller is slowly being retired unless we're at the mall. On warm afternoons after work he enjoys walking around the neighborhood. It's incredibly slow going since he feels compelled to stop at every rock and pick them up in his mittened hands. But it's pretty much adorable so I don't mind the pace.

Noah has also figured out how to play peek-a-boo with his hands. He thinks it's really funny to cover his eyes with his hands, but sometimes if I do it back, he yells "no!" at me. (Still one of his favorite words.) Speaking of talking, I can't possibly keep up with his expressive language anymore. He's truly a parrot and can repeat pretty much anything we say (of course not always perfectly, but close enough that I can understand it). He just started repeating "love you" which melts my heart. We hear a lot of attempts at two word sentences, and occasionally a three word sentence (tonight he came up with, "Look, my dada!"). At times Noah also sings spontaneously, which usually comes out as one long "oooooooooooooooooh saaaay" (the "oooh" part is high and shrill, then the "saaay" part is low and often sung with head down and eyes glaring upward). And then other times I'll sing with him and he'll say, "no sing!" He is truly a man who knows what he wants, and he's NOT afraid to tell you when he doesn't like something. Sometimes I wonder if he'll ever pick up on the word "yes". Sheesh!

His biggest interests these days continue to be trucks, cars, and animals. Brian downloaded an app on his iPad which shows pictures and videos of all different kinds of animals. Noah will request to look at it by asking, "Elephant?" The way he says that word is so darned cute, with the emphasis on the "funt." Does he really have to grow up anymore than this?? Bath time is also still a big hit, and he loves to play with his bees and whales while soaking. Getting him out of the bath can be a challenge, but once out he thinks it's fun to continue playing naked while sitting on his towel.

When it comes to food, Noah is starting to branch out a little. He still spits out the "chunk"s when eating yogurt, but he happily scarfs broccoli, mandarin oranges, and occasionally agrees to meatloaf now. These are things he wasn't always thrilled about. At his 18 month appointment the doctor encouraged me to broaden the textures we expose him to so I've been trying to diversify all of our diets with new foods and recipes. It seems to be helping. I still rely on the food pouches to get in more fruits and veggies though. Noah has never been the biggest eater, and has never been on the chunkier side of the percentiles, so he's just now outgrowing some 18 month clothing. His 18 month footie pajamas still fit, but 12-18 month jeans are getting too short (despite being just fine in the waist). Seems to run in this family I guess. He also hasn't been a big hair-grower after most of it fell out at 5 weeks old. The hair that stuck around ended up turning into a baby mullet, so this month he got his first haircut. All it was was a tiny snip in the back to remove what many of my friends lovingly referred to as his "rat tail." It barely counted as a first haircut, and I doubt he'll need a true haircut until at least 2 years old.

Noah has been a bit clingy with me this month when going to daycare, which I suspect has to do with being home with me for 2 weeks straight, but he still loves the little girl he's with and doesn't want to leave when daddy comes to pick him up. Part of it may also be due to how poorly he was sleeping and feeling at the beginning of the month. Noah had a nasty, nasty cough which pretty much only showed up at night. It woke both of us up several times a night for about 2 weeks, and at times left him whimpering with exhaustion in his crib. It brought me to tears a couple of times, but a chest x-ray showed nothing significant so we had to just tough it out. Now both Brian and our daycare provider have pneumonia (which I was suffering through in October/November), so I still wonder if Noah wasn't dealing with that as well. I'm just glad he's sleeping ok again.

All in all, I love these early toddler years and am in NO rush for Noah to get any older. It's crazy how fast time flies!