18 Month Check-Up

You'll notice this post is not titled "15 Month Check-Up", nor was there a previous post with that title because I forgot to schedule it.  Oops!  I'll take my Mother of the Year trophy now please.  What do they do at the 15 monther anyway?  Not sure and the doctor luckily didn't make me feel like a terrible person when I told him, so it must not be too important.

We had our 18 month appointment last week and it was such a different experience walking in there with Owen holding our hands and talking to everyone.  At the 12 month appointment he was a brand-new walker and talker and didn't pay as much attention to everything around him.  He was hamming it up with the nurses and doctors and was amazingly well-behaved.  When it came time for a finger "prick" (that's what they call it but they take a vial of blood out of that poor little finger!) and the shots, it took forever for him to cry.  He just sat in my lap and stuck his bottom lip out as far as it would go.  By the 3rd shot he couldn't tough it out any longer and he let out a wail and his face turned beet red.  But then the nurse slapped on the Dora band-aids, Teague held up his pacifier, and Owen started laughing.  Such a good sport!

Owen continues to be tall and lean like his Dad with a big ol' head like his Mama.  He weighs close to 24 pounds (10 to 25th percentile), has a head circumference of 50cm (or nearly 21 inches for those of you that live in the U.S. and have no idea how big a centimeter is) which is the 95th percentile, and his height is 34 inches (90th percentile and over 50% of my height).  I think the height may be a little on the high side because it's impossible to get an 18 month old to lay down on the table next to that silly ruler perfectly straight with his head in the right spot, but it was close.  Next appointment is the 2 year mark, I can't believe it!

So what's new in the life of Owen these days?  Here are the highlights:

• He is now fully mobile and able to walk up and down stairs by holding your hand or a railing and can walk fast, close to a jog.  He can't jump, but his current talent is that he can walk with his hands linked behind his back, which they teach him at school so that the kids keep their hands to themselves.  He says, "Back", and then puts his hands behind his back and starts walking.  He gets pretty determined to keep this going and the other day he walked all the way to the park with his arms like that, refusing to hold my hand to cross the street, go over steps or go down stairs.  It was ridiculous and frustrating and of course, adorable.  It's a 15 to 20 minute walk at Owen's pace, so it was also pretty impressive!
• He loves to use a "Poon" and "Rwork" and is getting pretty good at it.  It's hard to describe how to use a fork so we kept telling him to stab his food, now he says, "Stab it" every time he takes a bite with his fork.  It works well but it sounds violent.
• We had a few rough nights the past few weeks where Owen woke up in a tantrum and would not go back to bed, no matter what we tried, either due to a bad cold or nightmares.  We let him cry, we let him scream, we tried to comfort him, we tried Tylenol, showed him his sad face in the mirror, offered books/water/etc., nothing would calm him or even get him to focus on us.  Finally in desperation (it was 2am after all) I asked him if he wanted to go watch Elmo.  He stopped screaming and thrashing around, the tears immediately dried up, his face lit up like it was Christmas morning and he looked at me innocently and excitedly and said, "Elmo?!?" and we all went downstairs.  After an hour of Elmo and graham crackers, it was time for a few books and back to bed, at least for Owen it was back to bed; a few days this occurred around 4 or 5am so I just got up and got ready for work.  Coffee anyone?
• He can now say a few phrases and Teague taught him how to say, "Mommy, where aaarrrre youuuuuuuu?" one night during bathtime.  This has now progressed to, "Daddy/Sock/Shoes/Adam/Papa/etc., where aaarrrre youuuuuu?"  He says it in the same tune each time and it's so funny.
• Last week as I was walking out the door he finally said, "Love you Mommy!" - cue heart melting.
• You can literally see the gears turning in his head all the time now.  When I sing a song or talk to him, he watches my mouth and says, "Again" so that I repeat it over and over until he can say it himself.  He can now sing the ABC's, Eight Little Monkeys, Wheels on the Bus, and It's Raining, It's Pouring.  He doesn't say all the words, but he knows key parts and says the sounds and the tune.  I need to catch this on video.

He is doing so much more but I can't think of it all and need some sleep, so here are some pictures for now and I'll post more soon.

He insisted on sitting in this box, not my idea.

Loved pushing the wheel barrow with Grandpa George.

Not good on the back, but Owen had fun!

So much bigger than the picture in his chair at the top of the blog!

Looking sharp for school pictures, don't worry Teague,
we tucked in the collar before we left.